Github vs Gitlab: Which is right for your team in 2025?

Picking a code hosting platform is one of those big decisions every development team has to make. At first glance, GitHub and GitLab look pretty similar. They’re both built on top of Git, the version control system we all know and (mostly) love. But when you dig a little deeper, you realize they’re selling two very different ways of working.

GitHub gives you a powerful, streamlined core and then lets you build out your perfect workflow using a massive marketplace of tools. Think of it as a flexible, best-of-breed approach. GitLab, on the other hand, aims to be your team’s entire universe, an all-in-one platform for the whole software development lifecycle.

So, this isn’t just about features. This is a real GitHub vs GitLab showdown. We’ll get into the nitty-gritty of their CI/CD, project management, pricing, and overall vibe to help you figure out which one actually makes sense for how your team works.

What is GitHub?

You’ve probably heard of GitHub. Launched back in 2008 and bought by Microsoft in 2018, it’s basically the internet’s home for source code, especially for open-source projects. Its biggest draws are a clean, easy-to-use interface and rock-solid collaboration features like Pull Requests.

A view of the GitHub user interface, showing its clean layout for managing source code.

Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, GitHub focuses on being really, really good at its core job. For everything else, it leans on the GitHub Marketplace and its own automation tool, GitHub Actions. This lets teams pick and choose the exact tools they want, plugging them into their workflow as needed.

What is GitLab?

GitLab showed up in 2011, starting out as an open-source alternative you could host on your own servers. That was its big selling point. Since then, it’s grown into what they call "The DevSecOps Platform." It’s a single application designed to handle everything from planning and coding to CI/CD, monitoring, and security.

The whole idea behind GitLab is to cut down on the number of tools your team has to juggle. By keeping everything in one place, they hope to make your development process smoother and more efficient.

GitHub vs GitLab core features showdown: Collaboration and project management

Both platforms are great for the main event: helping your team work together on code. But how they handle all the work around the code is where you’ll start to see some clear differences.

Version control and code review

Let’s get this out of the way: for the daily grind of coding, both are excellent. GitHub has "Pull Requests" and GitLab has "Merge Requests," but they are functionally the same thing. You get a place to review code, leave comments line-by-line, assign reviewers, and set up rules to protect your main branches. Honestly, for just writing and reviewing code, you’d be happy with either.

Issue tracking and project management

Okay, this is where their paths really start to split. GitHub gives you a simple, no-fuss issue tracker. It’s been beefed up with GitHub Projects, which adds Kanban boards and some basic roadmap views. It’s effective, but if you need serious Agile tools, you’ll likely find yourself reaching for a third-party integration like Jira or Asana.

GitLab goes the other way, packing in a ton of project management features right out of the box. It’s built to handle the complex needs of enterprise Agile teams with things like:

• Multi-level Epics for organizing big chunks of work.

• Roadmaps to visualize project timelines.

• Burndown and burnup charts to see how your sprints are going.

• Issue weighting for teams that use story points.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

Feature	GitHub	GitLab
Kanban Boards	✅ Yes (via GitHub Projects)	✅ Yes
Epics	❌ No (requires integration)	✅ Yes
Roadmaps	✅ Yes (basic timeline view)	✅ Yes
Burndown Charts	❌ No (requires integration)	✅ Yes
Issue Weighting	❌ No (requires integration)	✅ Yes

The GitHub vs GitLab main event: CI/CD, DevOps, and integrations

If there’s one area that defines the GitHub vs GitLab debate, it’s their approach to automation and the DevOps cycle. This is often the deciding factor for many teams.

GitLab’s built-in CI/CD and the all-in-one promise

GitLab was one of the first to build Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) right into its platform. All you need is a single ".gitlab-ci.yml" file in your repository, and you can start defining pipelines to build, test, and deploy your code.

Because CI/CD is a core part of GitLab, it connects beautifully with everything else on the platform. Your pipelines are linked to your Merge Requests, your container registry, and your monitoring tools. This all-in-one approach is a huge plus if you just want things to work without having to stitch together multiple services.

GitHub Actions and the power of the marketplace

GitHub entered the integrated CI/CD game in 2018 with GitHub Actions. It’s not just a CI/CD tool; it’s a super flexible workflow automation engine. Its secret weapon is the GitHub Marketplace, which is filled with thousands of pre-built "actions" from the community.

The GitHub Actions tab, illustrating the marketplace-driven approach to CI/CD in the GitHub vs GitLab comparison.

Want to deploy to AWS, scan for security flaws, or send a notification to Slack? There’s probably an action for that. You can snap these pieces together to build complex pipelines without writing a ton of custom scripts. It might take a bit more initial setup than GitLab’s integrated solution, but the level of customization is a major draw.

Bridging the gap between support and development

A good DevOps cycle doesn’t end when the code is deployed. It should create a loop where customer feedback gets back to your engineers quickly. This is where things can get a bit clunky.

When a customer reports a bug through a help desk like Zendesk or Freshdesk, someone usually has to manually copy and paste all that info into a GitHub or GitLab issue. It’s slow, boring, and easy to mess up.

This is a perfect spot for some smart automation. For example, an AI agent like eesel AI can connect to your help desk, read the support ticket, and automatically create a perfectly formatted developer issue in either GitHub or GitLab. It can pull in the customer’s message, logs, and other details, seamlessly linking your support and dev teams without anyone lifting a finger.

A workflow diagram showing how an AI agent can connect help desk tickets to a development platform like GitHub or GitLab.

GitHub vs GitLab platform philosophy: Community, hosting, and AI

Beyond the features list, the two platforms just feel different. They have a different DNA that attracts different kinds of teams.

Open source and self-hosting

This has always been GitLab’s territory. The GitLab Community Edition is open source and free to host on your own servers, giving you total control over your code and infrastructure. For companies with strict security rules or data regulations, this is a non-negotiable feature.

GitHub is a closed-source product. While they offer a self-hosted option with their Enterprise Server plan, it comes with a hefty price tag.

The community and ecosystem

GitHub’s biggest advantage is its size. With over 100 million developers, it’s the undisputed center of the open-source world. If you’re launching an open-source project, putting it on GitHub gives you the best chance of getting noticed and attracting contributors. The massive community also means you’ll find more tutorials, integrations, and forum posts for pretty much any problem you run into.

The GitHub vs GitLab AI arms race: Copilot vs. Duo

Both platforms are pouring resources into AI assistants. You’ve likely heard of GitHub Copilot, which uses OpenAI’s models to deliver some seriously impressive code completion and chat assistance. GitLab’s answer is GitLab Duo, which uses a mix of models to do similar things, like suggesting code, writing tests, and summarizing merge requests.

GitHub Copilot's AI providing code suggestions, a key feature in the GitHub vs GitLab AI race.

Right now, Copilot feels a bit more mature, but both tools are getting better at a dizzying pace and are already changing how developers write code.

GitHub vs GitLab pricing in 2025

Both platforms have pretty generous free plans, but their paid tiers are aimed at different customers. GitHub is often a more budget-friendly option for smaller teams, while GitLab’s pricing reflects its all-in-one, enterprise-focused feature set.

GitHub Pricing

Plan	Price (per user/month)	Key Features
Free	$0	Unlimited public/private repos, 2,000 Actions minutes/mo
Team	$4	Protected branches, 3,000 Actions minutes/mo, code owners
Enterprise	$21	Advanced security, SAML SSO, 50,000 Actions minutes/mo

GitLab Pricing

Plan	Price (per user/month)	Key Features
Free	$0	5 users, 400 CI/CD minutes/mo, 5GB storage
Premium	$29	Advanced CI/CD, project management, 10,000 CI/CD minutes/mo
Ultimate	$99	Advanced security, compliance, portfolio management, 50,000 CI/CD minutes/mo

This video offers a detailed comparison of GitHub and GitLab, covering their features, community, and UI to help you decide which is better for your needs in 2025.

GitHub vs GitLab: Which platform should you choose?

After all that, the choice between GitHub and GitLab really comes down to what your team values most. There’s no single "best" platform, but there’s probably one that’s a better fit for you.

• You should probably choose GitHub if: You want flexibility, a huge community, and a lower starting price. You prefer to assemble your own "best-of-breed" toolchain using the marketplace, and you’re involved in open source.

• You should probably choose GitLab if: You want a single, cohesive DevOps platform that works out of the box. Self-hosting is important to you, and you want powerful project management and security features built-in without needing to manage integrations.

Here’s one last look at how they stack up:

Factor	GitHub	GitLab
Best For	Open source, flexibility, community	All-in-one DevOps, enterprise, self-hosting
CI/CD	GitHub Actions (Marketplace-driven)	Built-in CI/CD (Integrated)
Project Mgmt	Basic (relies on integrations)	Advanced (built-in Agile features)
Hosting	Cloud-first (self-hosting is enterprise-only)	Self-hosting available on all tiers
Pricing	More affordable for small teams	More expensive, feature-packed tiers

Connect your dev workflow to your support team

Once you’ve settled on GitHub or GitLab and have your engineering workflow running smoothly, the next step is to plug it into your frontline teams. A slick development process is great, but it’s even better when it’s fueled by real customer feedback.

eesel AI can act as that bridge. It connects to your help desk and other knowledge sources to help automate frontline support. More importantly, it can use AI to understand customer issues and intelligently escalate them as well-documented tickets right into your new dev platform. Give it a try and see how you can create a seamless flow from customer ticket all the way to code commit.