Bitbucket vs GitHub vs GitLab
If you are reading this, chances are you are looking for a solution to your CI/CD problems. Luckily, you have landed on the right web page.
In this blog post, we will provide a factual comparison of Bitbucket, GitHub, and GitLab, the three most popular Git repository hosting services with CI/CD features. We will also provide you with numbers wherever possible to make the comparison unbiased and easy to comprehend.
Overview
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Bitbucket: Bitbucket is a Git repository hosting service that allows you to collaborate with your team while managing your code repositories. Bitbucket offers a free plan with limited features, and the premium plan starts at $3 per user per month.
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GitHub: GitHub is a web-based Git repository hosting service that is widely popular among developers. It offers a free plan for public repositories and a paid plan starting at $4 per user per month.
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GitLab: GitLab is another popular Git repository hosting service that offers various features such as code management, issue tracking, continuous integration, and continuous deployment. GitLab offers a free plan, self-hosted version, and a paid version starting at $19 per user per month.
Pricing Comparison
| Git Hosting Service | Free plan | Paid plan |
|---|---|---|
| Bitbucket | Limited features | Starts at $3/user/month |
| GitHub | Public repositories only | Starts at $4/user/month |
| GitLab | Limited features + self-hosted | Starts at $19/user/month |
CI/CD features
| Git Hosting Service | CI/CD features |
|---|---|
| Bitbucket | Basic CI/CD pipelines with a limited number of free minutes (50), highly scalable, and customizable pipelines. |
| GitHub | Offers a suite of CI/CD tools, with a GitHub Actions framework and support for continuous delivery. |
| GitLab | Offers complete CI/CD capabilities with autoscaling, multiple environments, parallel execution, and integrated performance monitoring. |
Integrations
| Git Hosting Service | Integrations |
|---|---|
| Bitbucket | Integration with JIRA, Trello, Slack, HipChat, and many others |
| GitHub | Integrations with over 1,900 tools and services, including popular ones like Slack, Trello, and Jenkins. |
| GitLab | Integration with JIRA, multiple chat/communication apps, Kubernetes, and more. |
Ease of Use
| Git Hosting Service | Ease of Use |
|---|---|
| Bitbucket | Not the most user-friendly, takes time to set up, and manage repositories. Offers comprehensive documentation. |
| GitHub | Offers a clean and simplistic interface. It's easy to navigate and manage repositories, and also offers exceptional documentation. |
| GitLab | Typically used for enterprise applications, takes time to learn, offers comprehensive documentation. |
Conclusion
All three Git repository hosting services - Bitbucket, GitHub, and GitLab offer extensive features and functionalities for CI/CD pipelines. The selection ultimately depends on your business requirements and budget.
If you have a small team with a minimal budget, Bitbucket might be the best option. However, if you're looking for a hosting service that offers an intuitive user interface and a vast number of integrations, GitHub would suit you the best. Additionally, GitLab, being an enterprise-grade solution, offers complete CI/CD capabilities, allowing you to manage your pipelines more efficiently.
Whatever hosting service you choose, it's essential to remember that once the choice is made, it takes time and resources to migrate your code, so make your decision wisely.