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GitLab

GitLab is a Git hosting platform made by GitLab Inc., built around the idea of a single "DevOps platform" that covers source control, merge requests, built-in CI/CD, and issue tracking without stitching together separate tools. It's the #3 most-used dev collaboration platform, reported in roughly 35.6% of developer surveys. Teams choose it especially when they want to self-host their entire toolchain, since GitLab ships as an open-core product you can run on your own servers.

Quick facts
Type: Git hosting + integrated DevOps platform (merge requests, CI/CD, issues, security scanning)
Made by: GitLab Inc.
Cost: Freemium — free tier for individuals/small teams; paid Premium/Ultimate tiers add advanced CI/CD, security, and compliance features; self-hosted Community Edition is free and open-source
Best for: Teams that want self-hosting control or an all-in-one DevOps toolchain, from small teams to large enterprises
Primary use case: Git repository hosting with merge-request review and native CI/CD pipelines in one product

Jump to: Example Getting started Best for

Example

GitLab's built-in CI/CD is configured with a .gitlab-ci.yml file at the repo root, defining stages and jobs that run in GitLab Runners.

stages:
  - build
  - test
  - deploy

build-job:
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "Building the app..."
    - npm install

test-job:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm test

deploy-job:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - echo "Deploying to production..."
  only:
    - main

Getting started

# self-hosted GitLab via Docker
docker run --detach --hostname gitlab.example.com \
  --publish 443:443 --publish 80:80 --name gitlab \
  gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest

# or just push to gitlab.com
git remote add origin https://gitlab.com/username/my-repo.git
git push -u origin main

Best for: Teams that want to self-host their entire DevOps stack under one roof — source control, CI/CD, and security scanning together — rather than integrating separate best-of-breed tools.