GitLab Reviews

“CI is the reason we never left”

Pros

Across all of our internal projects, we rely on this one and it has been a free and easy tool to work with. CI is really the feature that puts it ahead of other options. Having a self-hosted repository with built-in CI integrations gives us unlimited repos and unlimited CI build minutes.

Cons

Running it on your own server does take a lot of resources. It needs a decent amount of CPU and memory to perform well.

“impressive runner function”

Pros

The software really surprised us with how complete it is and the GitLab Runner system is amazing.

Cons

No negative points stood out with this tool.

“convenient repos management”

Pros

Adding continuous integration scripts to repositories is pretty easy which makes working with the repos much more convenient.

Cons

Website's UI/UX could be much better. It feels too plain and poorly organized and moving between repositories and projects can be somewhat confusing.

“CI that runs anywhere”

Pros

CI built right into the platform and defined in a yaml file is a big plus. It can run on any runner in any location which makes it really convenient and adaptable for different setups.

Cons

It doesn't offer as much flexibility as some other CI tools when it comes to how you can use it. The product is clearly centered on integrated code CI rather than serving as a wider automation platform.

“works well even for non-techs”

Pros

Even without a technical background, I was able to use it without any trouble and the versioning features are really excellent.

Cons

Preview support for design tools like Sketch and Adobe could be improved since it would be helpful to have better pre-visualization there.

“Quick to learn”

Pros

Easy to use, quick to learn, very powerful and it runs well in all our supported browsers.

Cons

Smart card support is only available for Premium and Ultimate users.

“Good branch tracking”

Pros

Keeping track of every uploaded file and branch version is one of the things this does really well.

Cons

It handles its core purpose very well but I do think it would be better with more features especially integrations with other platforms.

“Impressive for project tracking”

Pros

Project management side of this platform is excellent. Even the free version gives you a lot to work with, with impressive capabilities and very few limitations. Being able to assign an image to repositories is a small feature but it is incredibly useful for spotting them quickly. Keeping everything organized is also very basic.

Cons

Getting started with the CI/CD setup can be a bit challenging and it takes quite a bit of time going through the documentation before it clicks.

“quick task completion”

Pros

I find it easy to use. The design is amazing, most of our tasks get done quickly and it's works fine for us.

Cons

The code review process feels a bit weak and definitely has room for improvement.

“Great experience for modern Ops teams”

Pros

Using it has been a really positive experience. On top of all the usual Git benefits, one of the biggest advantages is how quickly it lets you set up a CI/CD pipeline. If you work in Ops, it makes things much easier when you're trying to follow modern development practices.

Cons

It does go down and the response time can get pretty slow. That becomes a real problem when your entire infrastructure is hosted on their service.

“not built for sprints”

Pros

It offers a very well managed repository and makes issue tracking easy for us.

Cons

This isn't particularly well-suited to typical, everyday development sprints.

“Saves me money”

Pros

Free account with access to plenty of private repositories was a big advantage for me especially since I used to pay for that on GitHub. Because of that I started using it for many of my personal projects.

Cons

Lack of custom roles really limits its functioning. Once you're working with a more complex team setup, that becomes pretty important. There are several preset roles available but being able to create your own role with a custom name and very specific permissions would make a big difference.

“Mission-critical code stays safe here”

Pros

This has become an essential part of our organization for keeping mission-critical source code secure and the CI pipelines have helped our team ship software much faster.

Cons

UI can be a little slow at times since it's built with Ruby but it's not a major issue.

“Easy branching all around”

Pros

Navigating through the source code on this platform is really easy and checking codes is simple. Creating branches and merging them also works in a smooth way.

Cons

Developers can use it without much trouble and the interface looks good for users.

“Good version control”

Pros

Managing the same coding project as a team is much easier with this Git tool and its version control system works really well.

Cons

Pricing is a bit expensive for me and there also are not that many tutorials available online.

“everything we need in one tool”

Pros

Brings together Git, CI/CD, task tracking, a wiki and plenty of other tools in one place. Developers on our team tend to prefer it over some other task management platforms because it stays simple while still offering a lot of flexibility. Using labels to organize tasks and boards makes the workflow highly customizable so each team can set things up in a way that fits them. It also keeps getting regular updates and improvements. One of the newer changes I really appreciate is the ability to reply directly to comments which creates proper threads instead of a bunch of separate comments that you have to manually connect. Since the codebase is visible right alongside project management and QA work, PMs, QAs and engineers can all jump in when needed without any extra setup. Gitflow is handled really well and the built-in CI/CD gives the whole team clear visibility into pipelines from a single place. Overall my entire team genuinely loves using this software.

Cons

The wiki feels pretty basic and is missing some features, mentions did not work properly for us and keeping content organized can be difficult. There is also a bit of a learning difficult at the start for less technical team members especially when they need to get comfortable with markdown. That said it is not a major issue and can usually be handled with a few tutorials and some reference material.

“writing my experience”

Pros

This tool covers pretty much everything needed for software development in one platform. It offers both a self-managed version and a community edition and both are available at no cost. It also includes Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment which is why I rely on it for most of my projects. The built-in issue boards and milestones are really useful for tracking development progress. Another feature I appreciate is the built-in Web IDE which makes it convenient to edit files online. The groups and sub-groups for repositories also help a lot with organizing projects, assigning users, handling permissions and managing access. On top of that, the UI is quite nice.

Cons

There are no major downsides with it since the free edition already includes most of what I need. That said a few things do come up from time to time. With the Community Edition, we occasionally run into downtime. The wait time for CI pipelines can also be longer than expected at times. On top of that, the paid version feels a bit expensive for smaller agencies like mine.

“simple connectivity with other devices”

Pros

It goes well beyond simple code hosting and covers the whole lifecycle of a project. Since the platform already manages the code, it makes sense that it also offers tools for development and shipping code to production. Connecting it with other services is pretty simple. It includes GitLab CI for CI/CD workflows powered by a YAML file and the integrations with Prometheus and Kubernetes make deployment and monitoring much easier to handle.

Cons

It could still use a little more refinement. Because there are so many features packed into it, tracking down a specific setting can be frustrating and usually takes some digging. Parts of the documentation could also be clearer and more helpful.

“best source code collaboration”

Pros

It has become the best source code collaboration platform I've used especially with how its feature set keeps expanding. It makes updating code really simple and supports real-time teamwork for teams of any size.

Cons

Their system gets updated every month and at times the interface changes feel a bit too extensive.

“Unlimited private repositories”

Pros

Not capping private repositories is a major advantage compared with GitHub. The interface looks polished and works very well without sacrificing features, no matter what device you're on, thanks to its strong responsive design. It also brings project management features together with version control in a very natural way so everything feels connected instead of scattered across separate tools. Another big plus is the built-in continuous delivery feature that comes integrated directly into the platform.

Cons

It still isn't as widely adopted so many developers continue to prefer other repository platforms like GitHub. That smaller user base ends up working against it because most software releases and related tools tend to focus on platforms with the largest communities.