TrustRadius Insights for GitLab are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Cloud-Based UI and Git Integration: Users have praised the cloud-based UI of GitLab for supporting Git version control, allowing local checkout, and enabling multiple developers to work simultaneously in one file. The reduction of code conflicts and enhanced collaboration are highlighted benefits of this feature.
Integration Features: Reviewers highly value the integration of GitLab with version control, code review, and project management features. They find it easy to configure GitLab runners for running tests and defining permissions using Terraform, which streamlines their development processes effectively.
CI/CD Capabilities: Users find the CI/CD pipelines, merge requests, and open-source nature of GitLab beneficial for their development workflows. They appreciate the platform's integrations with other tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, and Toad. Additionally, they praise its security features for ensuring a safe software deployment environment.
I have used GitLab previously in one of the team project. The built in CI/CD pipeline feature helps a lot where we don't have to worry about deploying the code manually after every change pushed to the repository. The interface was user friendly. One thing that sets GitLab apart is the graph visualization of the milestones completed.
Pros
one can create repository where multiple people in the team can work together and track the progress.
CI/CD pipelines can be created to host the code and handle the deployment in dev/qa/prod servers.
graph visualization of the work that has been completed in the milestones.
Cons
for the first time user, code review is little complicated.
there are some bugs which makes user experience complex.
after creating a PR, it is little complex to approve and merge changes.
Likelihood to Recommend
It is well suited for the projects where you have to deploy in various environments like dev, qa or production. Once a CI/CD pipelines has been created, one can simply push their code by raising a PR from one env to other and deploy theier code to the targeted environment.
Alternatives
GitHub and Atlassian Bitbucket
As mentioned earlier, the features like chart visualization sets it apart from the others. Other than that, GitLab is open source while other are not and comparatively more secure that its other counterparts. Also, GitLab supports adding other types of attachments which is not supported by GitHub. On the top of all this, the user interface makes it stand apart.
My organization is using git for the source code management like pull, push, merge request and changes history. We are also using GitLab to track the issues and resolutions. Its also provide some linking with the other issues tracking tools like MantisBt, Jira, Trello etc. It has options to connect with jenkin and other build creation tools, That helps allot at the time of QA and UAT.
Pros
Source code management
Issues tracking and linking with commits
Intigration with build creation tools and deveopes
Proper documentation of the features and operations
Cons
Some time its taking time in loading
Can improve the UI part
Graph view of commits is littlebit confusing in case of number of branches, It can be little bit improve
Likelihood to Recommend
If some one wants to work with a very high quality and relible platform then they should use GitLab, It can auto merge the source codes without any harmfull action. All the codes and condition will be there. Its very helpfull in case of morethen one developer in a team and all are working on the same file or project.
Alternatives
GitHub and Bitbucket
When i was using the other platform, Some time i face down time, But GitLabs its not happening for single time. GitLab is having easy user interference as compared to other platforms. Pull Request, Code review, Issue tracking, Merging, Access control and User Roles is having a very clean and relative user interference.
Primary use for GitLab is of course source/version control, allowing collaboration on projects such as writing code. But GitLab does much more than that from organizing certain projects allowing the developers to track the issues/goals and the time it takes to achieve them. To easy of continues integration and continues deployment, with easy compared to other solutions.
Pros
CI/CD
K8 Integration
SSO
Cons
Regular UI changes
Resource heavy
CI Token scoping (can't push to repo in CI without creating a token manually)
Likelihood to Recommend
GitLab is an all around great solution, I think every organization would benefit from using it instead of other competitors as it outshines them greatly. Apart from ease of deployment on smaller systems due to it's quite large memory requirements for deployment for smaller things. It's great if you focus on CI/CD integration as it's seamless and also natively supports K8 integrations and it's great runner system.
Alternatives
GitHub
GitLab provides a far superior platform due to it's great integration and CI/CD focus. And while in the beginning the UI might look a bit overwhelming with use you will find it way more useful than it's competitors. The variables and settings also make way more sense and it's simple to setup and use after you use it for a short time.
VU
Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology (Information Technology & Services company, 51-200 employees)
Since I am a Drupal developer I use GitLab almost everyday to organize code related tasks (merge requests, forks, code search, pipelines etc). For some of my Customers also I have to use GitLab as the main code repository. In this case GitLab was selected due to the self hosted option as also its open source culture.
Pros
Merge requests
CI/CD pipelines
Open Source
Integrations
Security
Cons
Code search
App performance
Code review
Likelihood to Recommend
GitLab is currently suited for: - Collaboration - Open source projects - Self hosted - Advanced security (especially for large companies) - Low badgets
On the other hand, GitLab is less appropriate for: - External (3rd party) integrations - Mobile usage - Code search across many repositories - Built in CI/CD actions
Alternatives
GitHub and Bitbucket
For small projects or companies that do work on a few only code repositories selecting one of the git code hosting services like GitLab, GitHub, Bitbicket etc does not make a big difference.
But, if you are on a code development company that handles too many repositories and code hosting is really a big operation cost than you should consider the following in order to choose GitLab.
- Better pricing model - Better security - Self hosted - Open source platform
VU
Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology (Marketing & Advertising company, 51-200 employees)
Everything from code storage, versioning, CI/CD, and integration with other SDLC tools to implement a full software delivery.
Pros
Code versioning
Code review and automated build
Integration with other SDLC tools
User and group management and access restrictions
Cons
It will be nice to have its own code review features. In the past, we have used Gerrit as a code review tool and integrated it with GitLab.
Dashboard and custom dashboard. It would be nice if we could create a custom dashboard for things like - code repo, SBOM, and other infrastructure management metrics that can be built custom.
Ability to run security scans out of the box without having to integrate with other tools, such as scan for secrets, scan for SAST, etc.
Likelihood to Recommend
Suitable for setting up quickly and hitting the ground. Integrate with all the SDLC and security tools that you need for the Org and to implement security compliance. It would be nice to be able to provide other features such as a custom dashboard, the ability to run adhoc security scans out of the box, etc.
Alternatives
IBM Rational ClearCase and Bitbucket
Software delivery is the key objective and GitLab made it much easier to hit the group quickly. It worked well with automation, and integrations with other SDLC tools used in the Organization and it is really easy to use. It's widely adopted and has the power to deliver what we need.
we use GitLab for maintaining our code base online and we use it for keeping many different repos
Pros
CI/CD
Difference between previous and present code
Labels feature
scheduling in CI/CD
Editor of GitLab where we can insert tables also for mentioning overview
Cons
At times it's server is down so the changes pushed are not reflected at the same time. It should be faster and quick and changes should be visible at the same time
Likelihood to Recommend
1. Best for maintaining different repos 2. can be integrated with JIRA, slack, etc. 3 . CI/CD is awesome. 4. Editor for GitLab is good
Alternatives
GitHub and Atlassian Confluence
1. Easier to use and setup then any other product. 2. CI/CD is also easier in GitLab
VU
Verified User
Engineer in Engineering (Information Technology & Services company, 1001-5000 employees)
We use GitLab as our source control solution. It is the central location of our entire codebase, configured with commit history, versioning, CI configuration and pipelines. We host around 2000 repositories within our department alone, on the platform. Having GitLab as a source control tool allows our entire distributed team to remain in sync for code sharing and collaboration.
Pros
Source control management and real time code collaboration
Configuration of CI CD pipelines and linking them with PR builds. It is easy to create and configure pipelines that can help the software dev lifecycle with minimal manual input.
Great integration support with tools like Jenkins, Teamcity to ease development workflows and automate them.
Cons
Lack of open source support compared to GitHub
In browser IDE experience is not fully seamless
Lack of cross platform support
Likelihood to Recommend
Well suited for - Enterprise level application source code management with requirement for CI CD pipeline setup and code collaboration.
Not well suited for - Small teams that want plug and play type tools or online IDEs.
Alternatives
Bitbucket
GitLab's online IDE and code modification is much better compared to Stash. While pricier than Bitbucket, Gitlab also provides CI CD configuration better than BB.
We've started using GitLab in my organization for hosting git based repositories and slowly we've started using it for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery and as soon as GitLab launched container registry, package registry and dependency proxy we started to use those as well and it went amazing, GitLab is well suited to us since now we have everything in a single platform.
Pros
Hosting Git Based Source Code Repositories
Container Registry, Package Registry, Infrastructure Registry and Dependency Proxy
Service Desk and Issue management on every project
CI / CD
Cons
As per my requirements currently I don't see any scope of improvement
Likelihood to Recommend
We started to use GitLab for hosting git source code repositories of our projects only but slowly we started to use it to store container images, packages, dependency proxy as well infrastucture registry and it is now well suited for Continuous Integration in our projects, It wasn't that good in Continuous Deployment before 12.0 version but after 12.0 it is amazingly good for Continuous Deployment as well since it keeps deployment information in a well organized manner which can be configure in ci yaml configuration.
Alternatives
GitHub
GitLab is rich in features and access control if compared with GitHub also GitHub stands no where in CI/CD if compared with GitLab.
GitLab CI/CD is mature, robust and far better than GitHub actions in all means.
If I talk about quality of support and reponse time of GitLab it is very good and Emergency support is super valuable offering which let's my team to fix issues quickly.
As an electrical engineering student and HCI researcher, I utilize GitLab to address problems and streamline my work. GitLab provides version control for code; collaboration features for peer feedback and documentation capabilities for research organizations. It helps me manage my codebase, collaborate effectively, automate workflows, and maintain thorough research documentation, enhancing productivity and research outcomes.
Pros
GitLab excels in managing code versions, allowing easy tracking of changes, branch management, and merging contributions.
It helps maintain code stability and reliability, saving time and effort in the development or research workflow.
Powerful code review features, enabling collaboration and feedback among team members.
Robust project management features, including issue tracking, kanban boards, and milestones.
Cons
GitLab's interface can sometimes be overwhelming, especially for new users. It would be great if they could make it simpler and easier to navigate, so people can get up and running quickly without feeling confused.
Sometimes struggles with performance when dealing with large repositories or heavy CI/CD workloads.
While GitLab supports various integrations, it would be fantastic if they expanded the list to include more tools and services.
Likelihood to Recommend
GitLab is well suited for team collaboration, CI/CD automation, and version control in software development projects. However, it may be less appropriate for individual projects, non-code projects, or scenarios with limited resources or technical expertise.
Alternatives
GitHub
If you want a comprehensive platform with built-in CI/CD and deployment flexibility, GitLab might be your choice. If you prefer a broader ecosystem and a vibrant developer community, GitHub could be a good fit.
VU
Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology (Research company, 1-10 employees)