GitLab Reviews

“organized daily workflow”

Pros

CI/CD works really well and installing it on-premise is easy. It gives us the full development lifecycle in one place, including source control and task tracking which makes day-to-day work much more organized.

Cons

Not many downsides but it would be even better if the tools for importing source code from other systems were stronger when moving over to this platform.

“User review”

Pros

It feels very similar to GitHub for source control which made it a really good free alternative for me. It has supported what I needed it for and has been helpful in covering my use cases.

Cons

I only use it for small personal projects so there really isn't much for me to complain about and I still haven't taken the time to explore the integrations yet.

“Desktop repo control at your fingertips”

Pros

Being able to manage the remote repository right from the desktop or inside applications is really convenient for me. It also connects well with a lot of services and DevOps tools which makes integration easy.

Cons

When several people are working on the same feature branch, coordination is necessary; otherwise, merging changes can become a problem.

“Organized group repositories”

Pros

Creating groups is easy and it lets us set up repositories for each specific team without much effort.

Cons

The branches section was a bit hard to locate.

“refined design and practical workflow”

Pros

The design and overall usability is excellent. It gives me simple, practical solutions in places where GitHub has been struggling and that really stands out. These days, I regularly recommend it instead especially for personal projects.

Cons

That said a few features are still missing or not fully implemented in the app and the limited funding makes it harder for the platform to grow and be viable for full-time use. Because of that, I would not suggest it for large projects and would rather stick with the classic GitHub in those cases. For most other situations though, it works well.

“helpful code checking”

Pros

I appreciate that it lets you check your code.

Cons

A downside with the tool is that some features are only available in the paid version.

“free hosting and private repos”

Pros

One thing I really appreciate is that it lets you create private repositories at no cost and it also gives you a way to host your website for free.

Cons

That said the web application's interface still feels a bit cluttered to me and not as clean as it could be.

“powerful DevOps toolkit”

Pros

Having a broad range of DevOps tools that connect nicely with it has been really useful. It is a modern alternative to older, more complicated CI platforms such as Jenkins.

Cons

There are a lot of tools packed into one platform so getting familiar with everything can take time. Since it is still relatively new, finding people who already know the product well can also be difficult.

“Team collaboration simplified”

Pros

Works really well for development teams of any size. It also comes with strong collaboration features and useful code review tools.

Cons

Rolling it out across the entire team can take some effort at first but the advantages still far outweigh the downsides.

“Easy code sharing”

Pros

Setup is simple and easy to understand. The pull and push functions are also accessible and sharing code through this tool is easier as well.

Cons

It's interface feels a little complicated when it comes to reviewing.

“simple User-interface”

Pros

An outstanding feature of this tool has been it's UI. A lot of our developers are moving over from other platforms like GitHub and Bitbucket for the first time and a common piece of feedback is how simple and easy it is compared to what they used before. That makes the transition feel very natural every time. It is also a very feature-rich product. It includes a wide range of tools that I have found both excellent and high quality. The code review workflow works really well especially with options to resolve or reopen discussions, respond to individual comments or entire threads and even suggest, apply and commit code directly from the UI which is a huge advantage. The IDE is amazing and the file editor works efficiently as well. CI/CD integration with GitLab Runners works smoothly and the notification system is excellent. I receive an email whenever a test fails. Having all of this inside one system means I do not have to rely on CircleCI or another external provider and that keeps the interface and overall experience consistent.

Cons

At the moment, I have not run into any feature gaps or issues that have negatively affected my experience.

“Built-in task manager”

Pros

Using it on an external project, a few things immediately worked really well for me: 1) It's easy and pretty self-explanatory. Setting up and configuring a new repository is very simple. 2) The built-in CI/CD is a huge plus. Keeping the repository together with the pipeline setup is really convenient since everything tied to builds and deployments lives alongside the code. I've used Bamboo before and this is one feature I genuinely value a lot. It may not be perfect but it's extremely useful. 3) The unlimited private Docker registry is excellent. Being able to host your own private registry at no cost is incredibly valuable. 4) To support the CI/CD workflow, it lets you create restricted-access tokens, such as read-only ones so code or Docker images can be downloaded without exposing personal credentials. 5) It also includes its own task manager. 6) On top of that, there are free agents available to run builds and deployments so you don't need to supply your own infrastructure.

Cons

A few parts could definitely be improved: 1) Managing build variables feels quite messy and the implementation isn't ideal. I haven't found a way to assign different values based on the branch which makes handling multiple environments more difficult than it should be. 2) Although having CI/CD directly tied to the codebase is very convenient, it also creates some limitations. If you already have a deployment process used across many projects and you want to update or improve it, you have to apply those changes in every repository and in every branch you deploy from. So while the feature is very good, it lacks flexibility. 3) The task manager is somewhat disorganized and I couldn't find a way to use a shared board. 4) It also seems to offer fewer software integrations than I would like. As I mentioned, I've used Bamboo before and I really prefer the broader integration options available there.

“free private repos done right”

Pros

Being able to keep software Git repositories private at no cost is a big plus. Unlike GitHub which used to charge for private repositories, this gives me that option for free. The interface looks really nice, it includes a wiki and committing from Linux works without any issues.

Cons

One thing it's missing is a dedicated app for making commits like GitHub has so you pretty much have to rely on the command line. That usually isn't a real problem for programmers though. The community also feels less developed so you'll still end up going to GitHub when you want to browse and discover more software repositories.

“Feature-packed tool”

Pros

Packed with features, this platform gives me everything I already rely on in services like GitHub, plus extras such as time tracking, boards and pipelines. The interface is simple to work with but still customizable which makes it comfortable for different workflows. I also really appreciate having code, documentation and continuous integration all in one place. On top of that, it supports free private projects, it is FLOSS and the option to self-host makes it even more appealing.

Cons

Honestly I have not come across anything I dislike about it. If anything, my only frustration is that so many projects are still hosted somewhere else.

“Code review is top notch”

Pros

It covers pretty much everything you'd want for hosting project repositories. The flow from opening a merge request to assigning reviewers feels about as simple as possible. Using Docker in our pipelines and setting up runners makes deployments really convenient. Compared with similar tools, the UI is another big advantage. it also makes it simple to break down and inspect constantly changing codebases and I'm genuinely happy it's one of the few platforms that actually makes my work easier.

Cons

My only real complaint is the service uptime. It doesn't happen all the time but somehow it tends to happen at the worst possible moment which is what makes it so frustrating. When their systems start having issues, pipelines can get stuck or take an incredibly long time to finish. That's far from ideal when you need to deploy something as quickly as possible.

“fast code sharing and commits”

Pros

Working with it has been one of the quickest and most effective ways to share code across the team and keep everything over time. It comes with all the essential pull and push options and it really stands out when it comes to handling commits. I can jump back to any commit whenever I need and reuse the code without any trouble. Cloning a repository through a link is also possible anytime and from anywhere which is very convenient. The code correction features are helpful too and anyone on the team can review even a specific line of code.

Cons

Something that bothers me is the access control. When I set something to private, I still want to grant certain permissions to selected users but that flexibility is missing. Aside from that, it works well in almost every other area.

“User friendly interface”

Pros

It's interface is very simple so I didn't have to spend much time digging through documentation to understand how to use it. It also comes with some helpful features especially the online IDE and the CI/CD tools.

Cons

After using it for a year, I honestly haven't run into any issues with it.

“Multiple deployment choices”

Pros

Having everything current in my cloud storage is one of the biggest reasons I use this software. It helps me keep all my projects up to date and I can make changes whenever I need to. There's also a broad range of deployment options, with plenty of choices available so different users can pick whatever fits their needs best.

Cons

The configuration side feels messy and not very practical since I haven't been able to find a way to assign different values to them. There also doesn't seem to be any real need to search for a shared board and the task management side is complex and unreliable.

“gives full control on our server”

Pros

Running this open source platform on our own server has been a big advantage. The package can be downloaded and installed locally and the setup, configuration and updates are simple to handle on the server. I also get complete control over the data so there is no need to store anything outside the premises and we can use the whole system without limitations.

Cons

Sometime it is a bit slow to start up after the server has been restarted.

“free private repos and flexibility”

Pros

I originally joined it because they were running a promotion that included free Google Cloud credit and that was what convinced me to sign up. I'm happy I did. At the time, the big selling point was the free private repositories which GitHub only offered with a paid plan back then though they now allow unlimited private repos too. The interface is user-friendly once you get comfortable with it and moving projects over was pretty easy. Another thing I really appreciate is that you can host it on your own server.

Cons

It still doesn't have the same volume of repositories as GitHub, mainly because GitHub is more widely used. It also takes a bit of time to get comfortable with since it isn't quite simple at first.