COMPARISON 2025
GitHub vs GitLab: Complete Comparison (2025)
Last Updated: December 2025
Quick Comparison
| Feature | GitHub | GitLab |
|---|---|---|
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions | Built-in (superior) |
| Community | 100M+ developers | 30M+ developers |
| Package Registry | Yes | Yes |
| Price | Free / $4/user/mo (Team) | Free / $29/user/mo (Premium) |
| Self-Hosted | Enterprise only | Yes (free) |
⚡
GitHub Overview
GitHub is the world's largest code hosting platform with 100M+ developers, extensive ecosystem, and Microsoft backing.
✓ Pros
- • Largest community
- • Best open source hosting
- • GitHub Actions
- • Copilot integration
- • Best discoverability
✗ Cons
- • Limited free private repos (CI)
- • Microsoft ownership concerns
- • Outages
- • Advanced features cost more
🎯
GitLab Overview
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform with built-in CI/CD, security scanning, and the option to self-host.
✓ Pros
- • All-in-one DevOps
- • Superior CI/CD
- • Self-hosted option
- • Built-in security
- • Better free tier
✗ Cons
- • Slower interface
- • Smaller community
- • Less ecosystem
- • Can be overwhelming
🏆Our Recommendation
Choose GitHub for community, open source, and ecosystem. Choose GitLab for complete DevOps and self-hosting needs.
Conclusion
GitHub is the social home of open source. GitLab offers a more complete DevOps platform with superior CI/CD.