What is GitLab used for?

GitLab is a web platform for Git repositories, code review, CI/CD pipelines and issue tracking; this repository is its Community Edition mirror. It is a good fit for self-hosted source control for a company, and integrated code review and CI/CD in one tool.

Is GitLab open source?

Yes. GitLab is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at gitlabhq/gitlabhq and is written mainly in Ruby.

Yes. GitLab is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $29 per seat per month.

Can I self-host GitLab?

Yes. GitLab can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is GitLab an alternative to?

GitLab is an open-source alternative to GitHub, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps and AWS CodePipeline. Other open-source alternatives to GitHub include Gitea, OneDev and Harness.

Is GitLab actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to GitLab was on 2 October 2026. The project has 25k stars on GitHub.

GitLab: open-source alternative to GitHub, Bitbucket

About GitLab

GitLab is a platform for collaborating on code. This GitHub repository is a mirror of the Community Edition, written in Ruby on Rails, while the canonical source and all development take place on GitLab.com. Issues should be opened on the GitLab.com tracker rather than here. The platform manages Git repositories with fine-grained access controls, merge requests for code review, and per-project issue trackers, boards and wikis.

GitLab includes continuous integration and delivery pipelines to build, test and deploy applications. It follows an open-core model: most of the code is MIT-licensed, while files in the ee directory are proprietary but source-available. Three editions exist: Community Edition, free under the MIT Expat license; Enterprise Edition, with extra features aimed at organizations with more than 100 users and sold by subscription; and JiHu Edition for the Chinese market. A free trial of the Ultimate tier is available.

Key features

Git repository hosting with access controls
Merge requests for code review
Built-in CI/CD pipelines
Issue tracker, boards and wiki per project
Community Edition under the MIT Expat license
Enterprise Edition with subscription support

Good fit for

→Self-hosted source control for a company
→Integrated code review and CI/CD in one tool

Built with: Ruby; Rails
Tags: gitlab; git; ci-cd; code-review; devops; issue-tracker; ruby; open-core

GitLab: questions and answers

What is GitLab used for?: GitLab is a web platform for Git repositories, code review, CI/CD pipelines and issue tracking; this repository is its Community Edition mirror. It is a good fit for self-hosted source control for a company, and integrated code review and CI/CD in one tool.
Is GitLab open source?: Yes. GitLab is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at gitlabhq/gitlabhq and is written mainly in Ruby.
Is GitLab free?: Yes. GitLab is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $29 per seat per month.
Can I self-host GitLab?: Yes. GitLab can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is GitLab an alternative to?: GitLab is an open-source alternative to GitHub, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps and AWS CodePipeline. Other open-source alternatives to GitHub include Gitea, OneDev and Harness.
Is GitLab actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to GitLab was on 2 October 2026. The project has 25k stars on GitHub.