GitLab vs GitHub : Key Differences in 2025

GitLab is a Git-based version control system (VCS) that emerged in 2011. The hosted GitLab.com service started out as a beta in 2012. The platform lets you store Git repositories, access them through a web browser, and collaborate on changes using a merge-based workflow.

GitLab also strongly emphasizes CI/CD-driven automation. The platform includes a powerful built-in CI/CD implementation that’s closely integrated with your repositories. Pipelines are defined in simple YAML files.

GitLab’s Ultimate tier offers many advanced security and compliance features that have helped the platform succeed in global enterprises. The system is now marketed as a complete DevSecOps solution capable of managing all aspects of modern software delivery. Over 40 million users are registered on GitLab.com.

Key features of GitLab

• Built-in CI/CD — GitLab offers a native continuous integration and deployment system, allowing automated testing, builds, and releases directly within the platform.
• Complete DevOps lifecycle support — It provides end-to-end tools for planning, coding, testing, deploying, and monitoring — removing the need for multiple separate tools.
• Auto DevOps — This feature automatically detects project settings and configures pipelines, making it easier to deploy applications with minimal setup.
• Integrated container registry — GitLab includes a secure, private Docker registry that integrates directly with your CI/CD pipelines, simplifying container management.

GitHub is the largest and best-known Git hosting solution. It launched in 2008 and now has over 100 million users. The system’s simplicity and ease of use means it’s a popular choice with developers, particularly for public open-source projects.

GitHub’s pull request workflow makes it easy to collaborate on changes, while the platform also has a strong social community side. GitHub Actions, a built-in CI/CD implementation, debuted in 2018 and has achieved widespread popularity for its modular, composable architecture.

GitHub is a software development standard used by teams worldwide for all kinds of projects. However, newer alternatives like GitLab have eaten into some of GitHub’s market share by prioritizing features for specific use cases, particularly around the DevOps lifecycle and compliance management.

Key features of GitHub

• Collaborative code hosting — GitHub excels in version control and collaboration, with features like pull requests, code reviews, and branch protection for team workflows.
• GitHub Actions (CI/CD) — GitHub Actions allows users to automate workflows, from testing to deployment, directly within the platform using YAML-based configuration.
• Extensive integration ecosystem — It supports thousands of integrations and third-party apps, making it highly flexible for diverse development environments.
• Large developer community and open source support — GitHub is the go-to platform for open source, hosting millions of public repositories and fostering collaboration at scale.

Both GitLab and GitHub allow you to centrally store your Git repositories and collaborate on them via a web-based interface. However, while they offer similar basic functionality, they also have several distinguishing factors. Let’s look at how they approach ten key DevOps features and priorities.

1. Git repository management

GitLab and GitHub both have excellent suites of core Git repository management features. You can browse and edit code within their respective user-friendly interface.

Both tools make it easy to submit, review, and accept requests to merge code, including from repository forks. GitHub calls this process a pull request, whereas GitLab terms it a merge request, but the difference is purely semantic.

The two solutions each include an issue tracker that lets you manage upcoming features, improvements, and bug fixes. GitLab has a more powerful but complex implementation, including sub-tasks, epics, swimlanes, and iterations in its paid plans. GitHub’s structure is comparatively simpler and less prescriptive, but issues can still have labels, milestones, iterations, and custom fields assigned. Both platforms support a Kanban-style issue board layout.

Cloud development environments are now available in both GitLab and GitHub. GitLab refers to them as Workspaces, whereas GitHub calls them Codespaces. The experience is similar in each, providing a full web-based IDE that’s based on the same basic technology as Visual Studio Code.

2. CI/CD features

GitLab and GitHub both offer built-in CI/CD features so you can automate your release process. GitLab has included CI/CD since its earliest versions, making it a core part of the platform’s historical appeal. GitHub Actions didn’t appear until 2018, but is now a mature and popular solution too.

Arguably,  GitHub has led more recent developments in the CI/CD space. GitHub Actions pipelines are quick and easy to write as a sequence of composable steps. You can easily reference and extend prebuilt actions published to the GitHub Marketplace. GitLab is also pursuing similar features via its CI/CD Catalog, but it offers a limited number of available components.

Both solutions use YAML to define pipeline syntax. Jobs within a pipeline can execute sequentially or in parallel to optimize performance. Self-hosted runners are supported by either platform, letting you maintain your own CI/CD infrastructure to reduce build times further or improve security controls.

3. Operations management

GitLab includes a suite of features designed for app operators and infrastructure teams. It can directly integrate with your Kubernetes clusters via an in-cluster agent component and Flux CD. You can then view deployed Kubernetes resources on dashboards within GitLab. The platform can also store your Terraform state files, eliminating the need to set up a separate solution.

These capabilities give GitLab a clear edge over GitHub, which lacks equivalent features. You’ll need to use external solutions to manage infrastructure and observe your deployments. 

While this can make it harder to centralize your processes, it also means GitHub is a more focused solution designed to do a few things well. Many of GitLab’s ops-oriented features are still relatively basic when compared with using a dedicated platform for each task.

4. Supported DevOps lifecycle stages

GitHub is best known as a developer-facing tool targeting the build, test, and release stages of the DevOps lifecycle. Its built-in issue tracker can also accommodate planning workflows. However, the platform’s lack of operations management features makes it less useful for post-delivery monitoring and analysis tasks.

On the other hand, GitLab emphasizes compatibility with the entire DevOps lifecycle as one of its key selling points. The GitLab platform is designed to consolidate all DevSecOps work, giving every stakeholder a single shared destination to manage software projects. 

You can plan requirements, develop and deploy code, and run infrastructure workflows within the system, then use built-in observability and value stream analytics dashboards to drive continual improvements.

As we’ve already touched on above, GitLab’s expanded scope does mean there are significant variations in the depth of its features. It’s possible that using separate tools for individual DevOps stages could be the more versatile option in the long term, but GitLab gives you everything you need to get started in one place.

5. Self-hosting and licensing/open-source options

GitLab and GitHub have significantly different licensing models. Both operate generous free tiers, but only GitLab is open-source. Despite playing a key role in realizing the modern open-source era, GitHub’s own code is not available, and the platform’s use is always subject to its commercial terms of service.

Nonetheless, GitLab’s form of open-source is actually based on an open-core model. GitLab Community Edition (CE) is built from open-source repositories and contains only free GitLab features, while GitLab Enterprise Edition (EE) includes the closed-source enterprise capabilities available in the platform’s paid tiers.

Any GitLab edition can be self-hosted on your own hardware, permitting absolute control over your data. As an option for large organizations, GitLab also offers dedicated cloud instances — essentially a private managed cloud installation of its self-hosted package. 

GitHub only supports self-hosting via its enterprise-oriented Enterprise Server plan. It’s not possible to host your own GitHub instance for free.

6. Package registries and releases

GitLab and GitHub both include built-in package registries that you can use to publish and distribute your software artifacts. GitLab supports the most popular package types, including Composer, Maven, npm, NuGet, PyPI, Ruby gems, Terraform, and more, whereas GitHub is limited to Gradle, Maven, npm, NuGet, and Ruby gems. Container images and other OCI assets can be pushed to either service.

The platforms can also host your project’s releases. GitLab and GitHub both allow you to publish release notes and upload assets such as compiled binaries. Users can then access the resources directly from your project’s page. You can use each platform’s CI/CD system to automate the release process. There are no significant differences between the services in this respect.

7. Scalability

GitLab and GitHub both have proven scalability. Their public platforms are used for mission-critical software by millions of users around the world. Whichever one you pick, you shouldn’t need to worry whether you’ll be able to scale up your projects.

Scalability is more complicated for self-hosted GitLab. The platform is relatively demanding, with at least 8 vCPU cores and 16 GB of RAM recommended for up to 1,000 users. However, smaller teams can typically deploy GitLab with fewer resources, there are even official packages and an installation guide for the Raspberry Pi. 

At the other extreme, GitLab also provides a reference architecture and documentation for scaling up to 50,000 users.

8. Security and compliance

GitLab and GitHub both include features to secure your development process. With GitHub you get automated vulnerability scans, secret detection scans, and outdated dependency alerts. These allow you to find and resolve security issues in your repositories efficiently.

GitLab offers similar capabilities (but notably lacks a direct equivalent to GitHub’s Dependabot dependency update alerts), as well as built-in static and dynamic application security testing scans. The platform also has built-in components for API fuzz testing and operational container scanning within Kubernetes clusters.

GitHub Enterprise plans provide critical compliance controls such as branch protection rules, audit logs, and RBAC-based user permissions. 

These capabilities are also available in GitLab. You can also define custom project compliance frameworks that you can monitor and manage at the group level, ensuring continual adherence to your regulatory and internal standards. Combined with the ability to self-host GitLab, this means it’s often the better choice for large organizations with precise compliance requirements.

9. Community and support

GitLab and GitHub are both mature platforms with active communities. Nonetheless, GitHub is the clear leader in adoption terms, with its 100 million users more than double GitLab’s 40 million. Although open-source projects, including GNOME, Inkscape, and F-Droid have adopted GitLab, GitHub is still the default destination for most developers to publish and collaborate on open-source work. It may be easier for you to attract users and contributors when using GitHub instead of GitLab.

GitLab has achieved significant traction in the enterprise space. Organizations including Airbus, NVIDIA, and Siemens use GitLab, with many also choosing to self-host their own environments. GitHub supports global companies, too, claiming the likes of American Airlines, Spotify, and Stripe. 

So, your decision should be based on which platform offers the best implementations of the features you use most. GitHub and GitLab both offer premium support options on their enterprise plans.

10. AI capabilities

GitLab and GitHub have both been rapidly building AI features in recent years. GitLab calls its implementation GitLab Duo, while GitHub has GitHub Copilot.

The two platforms have similar code generation capabilities. You can install GitLab Duo or GitHub Copilot as an IDE extension, and then generate new code snippets and test cases as you work. Chat features let you request explanations of unclear code or explore different solutions to a problem. 

The tools can also produce summaries of your merge requests (GitLab) or pull requests (GitHub), potentially making it easier to interpret complex changes.

GitLab has also added AI to its enterprise security and compliance capabilities, going far beyond what GitHub offers. For instance, GitLab Duo can analyze detected vulnerabilities and explain their root cause or forecast the trajectory of your software development throughput. You can use your own self-hosted AI models with GitLab Duo if you require behavioral customizations or complete sovereignty over your AI data.

Read more: GitHub Copilot vs. ChatGPT: Developer AI Tools Comparison

Now we’ve learned the main features, similarities, and differences of GitLab and GitHub, let’s wrap up with a quick summary table. Here’s how they compare across basic DevOps and VCS tool selection criteria.

GitHub is widely used for code collaboration and community-driven development, while GitLab offers a fully integrated DevOps platform with built-in CI/CD.

GitLab has a larger scope than GitHub, including integrated infrastructure management, operations, and compliance capabilities. This makes it a good choice for enterprise scenarios demanding control, customization, and consolidation of processes.

Conversely, GitHub’s greatest strengths are its ease of use, convenience, and community. It’s universally familiar and unfailingly supported by third-party DevOps solutions. These qualities mean it’s a natural fit for open-source projects and smaller teams that don’t need advanced project management or compliance features.

If your goal is seamless code collaboration with customizable workflows, GitHub is likely the better fit. If you need an all-in-one platform that supports the full software development lifecycle, GitLab is a strong choice.

Choose based on whether your priority is extensibility and community (GitHub) or built-in DevOps and automation (GitLab).

Can I use both GitHub and GitLab?

Yes, you can use both GitHub and GitLab in parallel, depending on your project needs. Many teams adopt a multi-platform approach to leverage specific features—for example, using GitHub for community collaboration and GitLab for CI/CD pipelines or internal repositories. 

Both platforms support Git-based version control, so it’s feasible to sync or mirror repositories between them.

Why do people prefer GitLab?

People prefer GitLab because it offers a fully integrated DevOps platform that combines source code management, CI/CD, and security in a single application. This reduces toolchain complexity and improves team collaboration. 

GitLab’s automation features streamline the software development lifecycle, from planning to deployment. Its support for self-hosted and cloud deployments also gives teams flexibility and control. This all-in-one approach makes GitLab a strong choice for organizations seeking efficiency and scalability.

Git is a version control system, while GitHub and GitLab are platforms that host Git repositories and add collaboration features. Git allows developers to track changes, branch, and merge code locally or across distributed teams. 

While Git is the foundation, GitHub and GitLab streamline team collaboration and automate parts of the development lifecycle.

Spacelift is an infrastructure orchestration platform that improves developer velocity by offering a powerful policy engine based on OPA, self-service infrastructure, and the ability to build multi-tool workflows with dependencies and output sharing. Spacelift has its own Terraform/OpenTofu provider and also its own Kubernetes operator, which makes it ideal to pair it with an AI-powered coding assistant.

You can easily have AI-powered coding assistants generate Spacelift Terraform/OpenTofu/Kubernetes code by showing them how you would like the code generated (for example, you want to use for_each on your resources and map(objects) variables when you are using Terraform/OpenTofu). 

With Spacelift, you get:

• Policies to control what kind of resources engineers can create, what parameters they can have, how many approvals you need for a run, what kind of task you execute, what happens when a pull request is open, and where to send your notifications
• Stack dependencies to build multi-infrastructure automation workflows with dependencies, having the ability to build a workflow that, for example, generates your EC2 instances using Terraform and combines it with Ansible to configure them
• Self-service infrastructure via Blueprints, or Spacelift’s Kubernetes operator, enabling your developers to do what matters – developing application code while not sacrificing control
• Creature comforts such as contexts (reusable containers for your environment variables, files, and hooks), and the ability to run arbitrary code
• Drift detection and optional remediation

If you want to learn more about Spacelift, create a free account today or book a demo with one of our engineers.

To summarize, the main difference between GitLab and GitHub lies in their approach to DevOps integration. GitLab offers a built-in, end-to-end DevOps lifecycle, including CI/CD, security scanning, and infrastructure automation in a single application. 

GitHub, while widely adopted for code collaboration, relies more on third-party integrations for full DevOps workflows. GitLab is often preferred when teams want a tightly integrated toolchain out of the box. This distinction is useful when evaluating platforms for streamlined AI development and deployment pipelines.