Gitea vs GitLab

Hosting

• Gitea: Primarily self-hosted (Docker/binary). Hosted via Gitea Cloud (paid).
• GitLab: Self-hosted (Community Edition free) or cloud-hosted (gitlab.com). Enterprise on-prem available.

Cost

• Gitea: Completely free (MIT license). Only infrastructure costs for self-hosting.
• GitLab: Community Edition free; Premium/Ultimate tiers ~$29–$99/user/month for advanced features (e.g., AI, advanced security).

Resource Usage

• Gitea: Extremely lightweight: ~200–300MB RAM idle; runs on Raspberry Pi or low-end VPS.
• GitLab: Resource-heavy: 8–16GB+ RAM recommended; can idle at 12GB+.

Performance

• Gitea: Fast and responsive due to Go-based architecture.
• GitLab: Powerful but slower on modest hardware; scales well in HA setups.

Core Features

• Gitea: Git hosting, issues, PRs, wikis, package registry, and basic project boards.
• GitLab: All Gitea features + advanced: container registry, Kubernetes integration, security scanning, value stream analytics.

CI/CD

• Gitea: Gitea Actions (GitHub Actions-compatible YAML; introduced 2023, improving but less mature).
• GitLab: Mature, built-in GitLab CI/CD (own YAML syntax; highly robust, scheduled pipelines, artifacts).

User Interface

• Gitea: Clean, minimalist, GitHub-like.
• GitLab: Modern, feature-rich, customizable dashboards.

Integrations

• Gitea: Plugins and webhooks; good but limited ecosystem.
• GitLab: Vast native integrations (Jira, Slack, etc.); extensive marketplace.

Security & Compliance

• Gitea: Community-driven; basic features.
• GitLab: Enterprise-grade: SAST/DAST, secret detection, compliance dashboards (premium).

Community & Popularity

• Gitea: Strong self-hosting community (higher GitHub stars: ~52k vs GitLab's ~24k repo). Fork: Forgejo.
• GitLab: Massive adoption (used by Fortune 500); professional support available.

Best For

• Gitea: Personal use, small teams, home labs, and low-resource environments need simplicity.
• GitLab: Medium/large teams, enterprises requiring a full DevOps lifecycle in one platform.

• Ultra-low resource footprint and easy setup (single container often suffices).
• 100% free with no feature paywalls.
• Fast performance and full data control.
• Growing Actions ecosystem compatible with GitHub workflows.

• CI/CD (Gitea Actions) is newer and less feature-rich than competitors.
• Fewer built-in advanced tools; relies on external integrations for complex needs.
• Smaller ecosystem for plugins/actions.

• All-in-one DevOps platform: seamless CI/CD, security, and project management.
• Excellent for scaling teams with built-in registries and analytics.
• Strong support and frequent updates.

• High resource demands make it unsuitable for low-end hardware.
• Some advanced features are locked behind paid tiers.
• More complex setup and maintenance.

• Choose Gitea for lightweight, cost-free self-hosting where you just need solid Git management (e.g., home labs, small projects). It's ideal if you want something quick and efficient without "enterprise bloat."
• Choose GitLab if you need a comprehensive DevOps solution with mature CI/CD, security tools, and scalability (e.g., professional teams or organizations).

Many users mirror repos between both for backups/redundancy. Gitea is often praised in self-hosting communities as the top lightweight alternative, while GitHub remains the industry standard for cloud hosting.

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