GitBucket vs Gitea Mirror
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted git hosting & forges options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | GitBucket | Gitea Mirror |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Git Hosting & Forges | Git Hosting & Forges |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Scala | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,403 | ★ 1,452 |
| First released | 2013 | 2024 |
| Replaces | GitHub | GitHub |
What are GitBucket and Gitea Mirror?
GitBucket
GitBucket is a Git hosting platform written in Scala that offers a familiar GitHub-style interface, plugin system, and easy installation as a single WAR file. It includes issues, wiki, and pull requests.
- Single WAR deployment
- Plugin ecosystem
- Built-in wiki and issues
- GitHub API compatibility
Gitea Mirror
Gitea Mirror Manager is a tool that automatically discovers and mirrors GitHub repositories and organizations into a self-hosted Gitea instance. It keeps local copies up to date on a schedule.
- Automatic GitHub mirroring
- Organization discovery
- Scheduled sync
- Web dashboard
GitBucket vs Gitea Mirror: key differences
GitBucket is written in Scala, while Gitea Mirror is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for GitBucket versus MIT for Gitea Mirror. Gitea Mirror is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for GitBucket. GitBucket is the more established project (first released 2013), while Gitea Mirror arrived in 2024. GitBucket has the considerably larger community, at 9,403 GitHub stars versus 1,452.
Why pick each one
Choose GitBucket if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.4k GitHub stars
Choose Gitea Mirror if…
- Keeps offline backups
- Simple configuration
Watch out for
- One-way mirroring
- Requires Gitea
Frequently asked questions
Is GitBucket or Gitea Mirror better?
Neither is universally better. GitBucket has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are GitBucket and Gitea Mirror free and open-source?
Yes. GitBucket is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Gitea Mirror under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run GitBucket and Gitea Mirror with Docker?
GitBucket: yes. Gitea Mirror: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, GitBucket or Gitea Mirror?
Gitea Mirror has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for GitBucket. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.