GitHub vs GitLab: Which Is Best in 2025?

Git Explained: The Power Behind GitHub & GitLab

Now that everyone is much more focused on speed and optimization, let’s shift our focus to more cloud-based platforms. Wondering what a cloud-based platform is. Well, it is more of a collaborative platform that gives developers a free space to easily collaborate on projects with code repositories, view and work on branches created by others, and review change requests such as pull or merge to integrate code from one branch to another. In other words, development to production. It is not just restricted to hosting and managing code, but it is beyond that.

These platforms offer expanded features like CI/CD functionality that directly creates a bridge between the development and operational teams, project management tools, and spaces for discussions, bug reporting, and much more. With that foundation in place, we can explore the two key platforms in this space, which are GitLab or GitHub.

What Is GitHub?

The most popular platform for Git was established in 2008 and purchased by Microsoft in 2018. For its extensive and vibrant community, it gained recognition among open-source developers and their projects. Also, the features and integrations that have been introduced over time have gained it a reputable position in the tech industry.

Furthermore, if we look at the price planning for whether individual or organizational, the cost of the GitHub plan that is useful for an individual simply falls in between $10/month or $100/year, and the Plus version is $39/month. But if the case is different and the plan is required at the organizational level, then the cost of GitHub may fall at $19/user/month, and its Pro Plus version might cost $39/user/month.

Let's find out what GitLab is and what the estimated cost of GitLab is that comes with the wider range of plans.

What Is GitLab?

GitLab was founded in 2011, which is a little newer than GitHub and has more of an emphasis on DevOps and CI/CD features, even though it isn't as well-known for open-source projects. Instead of relying as heavily on third-party integrations as GitHub may require, GitLab aims to be your one-stop platform for your project.

Moreover, there comes GitLab with its two platforms that are named as individual plan or organizational plan, just like GitHub. But there is a slight difference in the cost of GitLab; it comes with the free plan for the individual that has limited features, but the pro and pro plus versions fall in a different range of the scale, which is estimated to be $10 per month or more.

Since we have a better idea of GitHub and GitLab, it is important to have a clear understanding of Git along with its cloud-based repositories. This is helpful for the early birds, either for hosting themselves with the Git capabilities or looking to provide benefits to the established organizations.

Git and Cloud-Based Git Repositories

Before picking one from GitLab or GitHub, it is important to learn about the fundamentals of Git. Well, what is the basic education about the version control system (VCS) and code repository, and how can one know what GitLab is used for and what GitHub does in the app development lifecycle?

The very first thing to know is whether the project is in need of a version control system (VCS) or not. What exactly is VCS? A smooth source management system that makes the app development workflow easier for all the developers involved, directly or indirectly. It is more like a system that ensures that everyone involved in the project stays on the same page while having access to the code along with the permission to track and modify the code.

As our thoughts about Git and its repositories are clear, we move forward with the differences that help in making informed decisions to pick up the procedure according to the project needs and requirements.

What’s The Difference Between GitHub & GitLab?

Coming from the same ground, which is Git platform such as gitlab or github, they differ in focus, features and hosting flexibility. Before we hop on to the tabular form that shows the clear difference between gitlab and github, let's look at the key features of both platforms.

GitLab: Your All-in-One DevOps Powerhouse

Developed by GitLab Inc., GitLab is a repository hosting manager application used in software development. It offers a range of management tools that allow us to optimize our teamwork in order to finish the software development lifecycle. Additionally, it enables us to import the repository from Bitbucket, Google Code, and other platforms.

Key Features:

• Repository management platform that is open-source community.
• Repositories are easily maintained on a server.
• Offers tools like Group Milestone and a tracker to track time issues for a streamlined development procedure.
• Additional capabilities for authentication and an intuitive user interface.
• Improved protection for branches and user permissions.

GitHub: The World’s Largest Developer Playground

GitHub is a solution for handling and maintaining repositories that offers access control and easy team collaboration. It is a site where developers or coders collaborate to host open-source projects and fix bugs in real time. GitHub was created with developers in mind to assist them in tracking changes that are made to a project via the repository.

Key Features:

• Limited labels and milestones to the project are declared.
• Views of comparisons between branches are permitted.
• Allows hosting and publishing webpages inside GitHub with GitHub Pages.
• Provides syntax highlighting feature.
• Permits cloud hosting and bug tracking through third-party API interfaces.

GitLab vs GitHub: Key Differences

Let’s hop into the tabular form to have a visual representation of the key differences that give an unlimited list of parameters.

Similarities Between GitLab vs GitHub

To have a clear understanding and basic know-how of the platforms, we are going to explore the common features that both sub-platforms carry for easy app development lifecycle and procedure.

With the passage of time and evolution of technologies, GitHub and GitLab are the innovative terms of the Git platform that not only bring the finest capabilities but also make it easier to integrate the software development lifecycle according to the needs and requirements of the software solution.

GitHub vs GitLab Cost in 2025

The two most popular platforms offer developers a vast selection of features and advanced tools to manage their code projects. Also, when we compare the prices, these two platforms

GitHub

A wide range of plans is offered according to the needs and cost of GitHub, which comes in with a list of plans:

• Free Plan — Including public repositories with unlimited collaborators and storage of about 500 MB, this plan provides basic features.
• Team Plan — This plan starts with $4 per month, that includes additional features such as private repositories, advanced tools, and storage per year of 2GB.
• Enterprise Plan — This plan is especially designed for larger organizations that offer advanced security and management services, with pricing starting at $21 per month.
• GitHub One Plan — By requiring an enterprise-level solution across all the GitHub accounts, this plan starts from $21 per month/user.

We have discovered the list of plans for GitHub, to pick the right one and the one that is budget-friendly, let’s explore the cost of GitLab in detail.

GitLab

On the other hand, the cost of GitLab comes in a similar price range with a selection of plans that includes:

• Free Plan — While offering unlimited private repositories, free plan comes with unlimited collaborators along with 10GB of storage.
• Premium Plan — This plan provides additional features, such as code review, issue tracking, and CI/CD pipeline services, in the price range starting from $19 per month/user.
• Ultimate Plan — More advanced features are offered, such as enterprise-grade security and governance, with a price range starting at $99 per month/user.

According to the listing of the prices, GitHub is more cost-effective than GitLab, which comes with ultimate features in its paid plan. And if compared, GitHub plans start from $4 per user/month, whereas GitLab is expensive and comes with a pricing plan that starts from $21 per user/month.

Which One Should You Choose?

Use GitLab If:

When you are in need of a comprehensive DevOps platform that is not just integrated with CI/CD but also has advanced security features, consider an all-in-one solution for the entire software development lifecycle, and lastly, it requires greater control over infrastructure through in-house or self-hosting.

Use GitHub If:

Feel free to consider GitHub if working on open-source projects and willing to take full advantage of the largest community of developers which might need a user-friendly interface with smooth collaboration tools and prefer third-party integrations along with a vast development environment.

Now that we have covered every single thing regarding GitLab or GitHub, the smooth and optimized app development workflow is obtained with the streamlined collaboration between the development and operations team without losing any sources and codes.

Why Appingine is Your Ultimate Development Partner

For experts to ensure the smooth workflow while developing an application, Git-based platforms come with CI/CD automation and secure infrastructure and smooth setups that streamline your entire software development lifecycle. Whether you prefer the vast community of GitHub or the all-in-one DevOps features that are provided by GitLab, We have got your back, and expert product knowledge ensures delivery of secure, scalable and high-performance solutions that are especially designed according to your needs.

Final Words:

Undoubtedly, either Gitlab or GitHub is a powerful platform that is based on Git, which not only enhances collaboration between teams but also streamline workflows and improve code management as well. The developers need to make an informed choice. GitHub stands out, making it an ideal pick for open-source development projects and teams seeking versatility. Whereas GitLab, on the other hand, is perfect for organizations willing for an all-in-one platform and greater infrastructure control. It doesn't matter what is chosen, the key is to align the platform’s strengths with the project goals to ensure secure and scalable development.

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