GitHub Actions vs GitLab comparison

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GitHub Logo
1,044 views|963 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
GitLab Logo
9,551 views|7,786 comparisons
98% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between GitHub Actions and GitLab based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Build Automation solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed GitHub Actions vs. GitLab Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The level of automation achievable is really good. So, the custom workflow creation and Marketplace Actions improved our project's efficiency.""Creating workflows in YAML format is straightforward and easy to comprehend. This includes both understanding and writing workflows. Additionally, the downloading aspect for third-party instances can also be easily done. It's worth noting that vulnerability analysis and similar tasks should be part of our automation through data workflows. Furthermore, we can break down our processes step by step, starting from building, then moving on to analysis, testing, and finally deploying in production and the clear environment. All of these tasks can be efficiently managed within this platform.""The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a good product that offers stability and performance.""The main benefit is collaboration. It allows us to easily collaborate with other developers, regardless of location. For example, we can collaborate with both our African and German colleagues seamlessly. It's platform-agnostic, so it is flexible and not tied to any OS, so we can work on Linux, Windows, web, and even Oracle applications. It's flexible, reliable, and overall an excellent tool for our needs.""I have optimized job execution time by running test scripts in parallel and creating multiple pipelines; we've significantly reduced execution times. What could take 50 minutes can be cut down to just 8 to 10 minutes through these optimizations.""It offers numerous built-in features for pipeline management, release management, and even work item tracking on boards, which makes it a versatile tool that seamlessly integrates with hardware and facilitates optimization."

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"GitLab is very well-organized and easy to use. Also, it offers most features that customers need.""Of all available products, it was the easiest to use and easy to install.""As a developer, this solution is useful as a repository holder because most of the POC projects that we have are on GitLab.""Git hosting has an integration with ACD which is why we liked this solution in the first place.""Their CI/CD engine is very mature. It's very comprehensive and flexible, and compared to other projects, I believe that GitLab is number one right now from that perspective.""The important feature is the entire process of versioning source code maintenance and easy deployment. It is a necessity for the CI/CD pipeline.""The code merging capability is something that we use very frequently.""It is scalable."

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Cons
"There is a part that detects outdated libraries. If that feature could be more intuitive and informative, that would be nice.""We can leverage this database tool to manage everything within our environment and data burners, allowing for customization and execution. An additional advantage is the capability to modify aspects like file size, making processes more efficient and faster across the pipelines. Regarding improvements or implementations, I believe there should be enhancements made to the deployment tool. It should be integrated as part of the solution. Infrastructure-wise, we already have tools like GitHub and RobSpot, and data enables us to automate various processes, which is quite beneficial. As for further enhancements, I'm uncertain. I've shared everything I know. However, if there's something specific you'd like to see in future releases, a feature that may not exist yet but would be desirable, I can't provide any input on that matter.""The reporting capabilities are somewhat limited.""The solution's integration capabilities and UI are areas of concern where improvement is required to make the product more user-friendly.""The UI could be better.""The primary area for improvement I see is in artifact management, especially for saving screenshots or videos from failed tests or data-driven actions. Currently, the configuration for saving these artifacts is complex."

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"It would be better if there weren't any outages. There are occasions where we usually see a lot of outages using GitLab. It happens at least once a week or something like that. Whatever pipelines you're running, to check the logs, you need to have a different set of tools like Argus or something like that. If you have pipelines running on GitLab, you need a separate service deployed to view the logs, which is kind of a pain. If the logs can be used conveniently on GitLab, that would be definitely helpful. I'm not talking about the CI/CD pipelines but the back-end services and microservices deployed over GitLab. To view the logs for those microservices, you need to have separate log viewers, which is kind of a pain.""Perhaps the integration could be better.""We are having a few problems integrating with Jira at the moment, which is something that our IT department is investigating.""There was a problem with the build environment when we were looking at developing iOS applications. iOS build require Mac machines and there are no Mac machines provided by GitLab in their cloud. So to build for mobile iOS application, we needed to use our own Mac machine within our own infrastructure. If GitLab were to provide a feature such that an iOS application could also be built through GitLab directly, that would be great.""GitLab could consider introducing a code-scanning tool. Purchasing such tools from external markets can incur charges, which might not be favorable. Integrating these features into GitLab would streamline the pipeline and make it more convenient for users.""When deploying the solution on cloud and the CI/CD pipeline, we have to define the steps and it becomes confusing.""I would like to have some features to support peer review.""GitLab could improve the patch repository. It does not have support for Conan patch version regions. Additionally, better support for Kubernetes deployment is needed as part of the package."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It is free and open platform, so I would rate it 1 out of 10."
  • "Price-wise, GitHub Actions is okay. If I want to use the product's advanced features, then I need to pay the licensing charges for the solution."
  • "For our basic usage, we didn't have to pay."
  • "It's low-priced. Not high, but definitely low."
  • More GitHub Actions Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I think that we pay approximately $100 USD per month."
  • "The price is okay."
  • "It seems reasonable. Our IT team manages the licenses."
  • "Its price is fine. It is on the cheaper side and not expensive. You have to pay additionally for GitLab CI/CD minutes. Initially, we used the free version. When we ran out of GitLab minutes, we migrated to the paid version."
  • "It is very expensive. We can't bear it now, and we have to find another solution. We have a yearly subscription in which we can increase the number of licenses, but we have to pay at the end of the year."
  • "I don't mind the price because I use the free version."
  • "We are using its free version, and we are evaluating its Premium version. Its Ultimate version is very expensive."
  • "The price of GitLab could be better, it is expensive."
  • More GitLab Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:I have optimized job execution time by running test scripts in parallel and creating multiple pipelines; we've significantly reduced execution times. What could take 50 minutes can be cut down to just… more »
    Top Answer:The primary area for improvement I see is in artifact management, especially for saving screenshots or videos from failed tests or data-driven actions. Currently, the configuration for saving these… more »
    Top Answer:I find the features and version control history to be most valuable for our development workflow. These aspects provide us with a clear view of changes and help us manage requests efficiently.
    Top Answer:For small-scale usage, GitLab offers a free tier. For enterprise pricing, GitLab is more expensive than GitHub, as it's not as widely adopted. GitLab is the preferred choice for many developers… more »
    Top Answer:I believe there's room for improvement in the advanced features, particularly in enhancing the pipeline functionalities. Better integration and usability within the pipeline could make a significant… more »
    Ranking
    7th
    out of 41 in Build Automation
    Views
    1,044
    Comparisons
    963
    Reviews
    6
    Average Words per Review
    533
    Rating
    8.3
    1st
    out of 41 in Build Automation
    Views
    9,551
    Comparisons
    7,786
    Reviews
    50
    Average Words per Review
    406
    Rating
    8.6
    Comparisons
    Tekton logo
    Compared 39% of the time.
    Bamboo logo
    Compared 13% of the time.
    AWS CodePipeline logo
    Compared 9% of the time.
    TeamCity logo
    Compared 7% of the time.
    Harness logo
    Compared 7% of the time.
    Microsoft Azure DevOps logo
    Compared 49% of the time.
    Bamboo logo
    Compared 5% of the time.
    SonarQube logo
    Compared 5% of the time.
    AWS CodePipeline logo
    Compared 5% of the time.
    Tekton logo
    Compared 4% of the time.
    Also Known As
    Fuzzit
    Learn More
    Overview

    GitHub Actions makes it easy to automate all your software workflows, now with world-class CI/CD. Build, test, and deploy your code right from GitHub. Make code reviews, branch management, and issue triaging work the way you want.

    GitLab is a complete DevOps platform that enables teams to collaborate and deliver software faster. 

    It provides a single application for the entire DevOps lifecycle, from planning and development to testing, deployment, and monitoring. 

    With GitLab, teams can streamline their workflows, automate processes, and improve productivity.

    Sample Customers
    Information Not Available
    1. NASA  2. IBM  3. Sony  4. Alibaba  5. CERN  6. Siemens  7. Volkswagen  8. ING  9. Ticketmaster  10. SpaceX  11. Adobe  12. Intuit  13. Autodesk  14. Rakuten  15. Unity Technologies  16. Pandora  17. Electronic Arts  18. Nordstrom  19. Verizon  20. Comcast  21. Philips  22. Deutsche Telekom  23. Orange  24. Fujitsu  25. Ericsson  26. Nokia  27. General Electric  28. Cisco  29. Accenture  30. Deloitte  31. PwC  32. KPMG
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Healthcare Company8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm16%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company13%
    Retailer10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization25%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business13%
    Midsize Enterprise25%
    Large Enterprise63%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business44%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise47%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise34%
    Large Enterprise51%
    Buyer's Guide
    GitHub Actions vs. GitLab
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about GitHub Actions vs. GitLab and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    GitHub Actions is ranked 7th in Build Automation with 6 reviews while GitLab is ranked 1st in Build Automation with 70 reviews. GitHub Actions is rated 8.4, while GitLab is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of GitHub Actions writes "Facilitates connectivity for developers and allows us to easily collaborate with other developers, regardless of location". On the other hand, the top reviewer of GitLab writes "Powerful, mature, and easy to set up and manage". GitHub Actions is most compared with Tekton, Bamboo, AWS CodePipeline, TeamCity and Harness, whereas GitLab is most compared with Microsoft Azure DevOps, Bamboo, SonarQube, AWS CodePipeline and Tekton. See our GitHub Actions vs. GitLab report.

    See our list of best Build Automation vendors.

    We monitor all Build Automation reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.