GitLab Reviews

“all covered in one place”

Pros

Covering a lot in one place, from issues with lists and Kanban boards to milestones and a full CI/CD solution. It also includes wikis, GitLab Pages and the pricing is very appealing.

Cons

With the on-premise plan, there is quite a bit of setup involved. I have also run into some issues when rebasing Merge Requests. On top of that, calling them Merge Requests instead of Pull Requests can be a little confusing since Pull Requests is the more familiar term on other Git platforms.

“appealing UI”

Pros

As an open-source development tool, it works well as a repository manager across all kinds of development platforms. It is typically self-hosted and once it is set up, it is quite manageable for internal use. When the needs grow beyond the internal environment, moving to the Community Edition is fairly easy and helps expand usage with outstanding feature. Its CI features and overall UI are appealing and fairly user-friendly for DevOps teams working in industrial settings even when they have to deal with different environments over time.

Cons

Limited community activity around the tool is a downside because it can make things frustrating at times especially for users who run into issues that are not simple to fix. In some cases, unresolved problems can seriously disrupt an active project. With community usage, random connectivity issues also come up. They are not frequent but when they do appear, they can keep happening in certain infrastructures. The platform has improved compared with where it was in 2018 but there are still a number of recurring bugs. Code reviewing can also be harder than it should be because the interface feels confusing for newcomers entering the industry.

“Private repositories done right”

Pros

This works as a full version control system and includes the same core features you get from other competing platforms. One thing that really makes it stand out is that it gives you private repositories for free. In software projects, confidentiality is a major concern and teams usually want to keep their code hidden from public access. Because of that, it is a very suitable choice for anyone who needs privacy without extra cost.

Cons

I have not run into any actual problems or anything I dislike about the platform itself. The only downside is that not enough people seem to know about it yet and many still choose other version control platforms instead.

“Useful free tool”

Pros

It's nice that the free version is actually usable for individuals. I can also handle control and management from their Android app which is really convenient. The public, internal and private access rights give a lot of flexibility and having unlimited private projects and collaborators is a big plus.

Cons

The only possible downside is the pricing which is often the case with a quality service and the fact that some features come at an extra cost.

“allows us to self-host!”

Pros

Being able to version the system in the cloud is a big advantage and having the option to deploy your own instance makes it even more flexible.

Cons

It can be difficult to use on its own without relying on third-party tools.

“Reliable for years”

Pros

Pretty much everything you'd expect from a fully featured platform is available in this tool. Features like private repositories make it even better for our use.

Cons

I really don't have any issues with it these days. It had a bit of downtime in the earlier years but over the last few years nothing has been concerning.

“feature-rich”

Pros

The journey of this software began as a web-based place to manage version control resources but over time it has grown into a full DevOps platform. It offers a very rich set of features and clearly brings more features than its biggest competitor, GitHub. The wide feature set, along with free hosting for both public and private repositories, is easily one of the best things about this tool.

Cons

It is heavily focused on rolling out new features while many existing bugs remain unresolved. As of the time of this review, around 15,000 bugs and issues were still sitting in the GitLab Community Edition issue tracker waiting to be addressed.

“Organized workspace”

Pros

Everything is organized, without a bunch of unnecessary clutter or wasted screen space. It also does a really nice job of bringing everything together in one place, from version control to CD, issue tracking and more. The interface is quick and responsive especially compared to certain other platforms. I also appreciate how open it is, with plenty of API access and flexibility to work with your data. On top of that, it connected to our existing LDAP setup without much trouble.

Cons

Some of the terminologies are a bit different from other tools in the same space so adjusting to the wording took a little time. Also, a few issue-tracking options do not show up until after an issue has already been created. That may be configurable but it is not very obvious at first.

“our work relies on it”

Pros

Across software teams it has basically become the standard wherever development is happening and Git clients are part of the workflow, with it running on the server side. It feels very lightweight compared with a lot of other alternatives. Like many open-source tools, it is actively maintained by the community which is a big plus. It also works well with all kinds of authentication sources.

Cons

The admin side of the user interface could definitely be improved. I would also really appreciate a better tool for automating the migration of older SVN projects.

“Built-in pipelines”

Pros

CI/CD pipelines built into each project is really useful. It lets me push straight to Google Cloud Repository (GCR) right away and with a bit of setup, I can also deploy to a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster.

Cons

It become bit inefficient when it comes to wiki pages. There still isn't a clear and easy way to create branches for organizing pages.

“LOVE THE FREE VERSION”

Pros

The combination of Git repositories, Scrum and Kanban issue boards and built-in CI/CD runners in one system creates a very feature-rich environment. Its free tier is generous enough for small teams to operate effectively without major limitations. The fact that it is open source further strengthens its appeal.

Cons

Pricing can get expensive especially when the CI features are used heavily.

“Impressed by it since day one”

Pros

Integrated CI/CD tools, a desktop runner, testing, pipelines and plenty of customization options come built in plus plugins that connect well with whatever our team needs.

Cons

It's still not as well-known as GitHub so some people assume it isn't as good. You often end up having to convince the team to give it a chance.

“Excellent merge request design”

Pros

I really appreciate it's large community which makes it easier to interact, share ideas and collaborate with others. The merge request interface is also excellent and feels very well designed. On top of that, the integration with continuous integration and continuous deployment tools works really well.

Cons

One downside is that users in the community edition are not able to edit their performances.

“Replaced GitHub for us at no cost”

Pros

Fast and simple to work with and it covers everything we need for collaborating on software projects. It has basically replaced GitHub for us since it handles all the same things GitHub does but without the cost.

Cons

The interface could use some improvement because I still think it's a bit harder to navigate. Other than that though, there really isn't much to complain about with the tool.

“easy for anyone already used to Git”

Pros

Using it feels very easy and it follows the same patterns you already expect as a Git user. Nothing feels unnecessarily different so getting started and working with it is pretty natural.

Cons

Push and pull operations can take us quite a while at times.

“Private server hosting that just works”

Pros

Because we need to run our own Git servers at work, we chose it to host our private repositories internally. Setting up and customizing local servers was easy and it has been working really well for us.

Cons

The merge conflict interface can be a bit confusing at times.

“centralized documentation”

Pros

A strong point is the flexible issue visualization, allowing users to toggle between List and Board formats. In Board mode, task movement via drag-and-drop keeps workflow management simple and labels can be applied efficiently. The wiki further supports collaboration by keeping documentation centralized.

Cons

I really haven't come across any downsides with this application. It's very user-friendly and simple enough that just about anyone can understand how to use it.

“love the collaboration tools”

Pros

The collaborative setup works really well and the follow-up tools along with issue status updates are especially useful features for my team.

Cons

Connecting it with some CI/CD solutions can be a bit challenging because the documentation and examples are lacking.

“customzied management hub”

Pros

Stable configuration management tool to store and commit software changes for our project has been really useful. We can access different branches for our builds and it also lets us download various data files from one place. It feels like having 2-3 systems combined into a single platform.

Cons

One thing that can be tricky is that the paths are somewhat complex and not very easy to navigate when a developer is not precise enough. Our builds are generated on the fly from the committed changes in the software but the builds themselves are not actually stored there. That said it does offer the option to store them which I do appreciate.

“full insights into work”

Pros

Even in my role as a Scrum Master, I could clearly see what work had been completed, when it was finished and which branch and feature details were tied to the code.

Cons

There really is not much to complain about. It is very simple to use although I did need a bit of help at the beginning to understand the basics.