GitBucket vs Gitea
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted git hosting & forges options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Gitea
Lightweight self-hosted Git service
| Feature | GitBucket | Gitea |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Git Hosting & Forges | Git Hosting & Forges |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Scala | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,403 | ★ 58,120 |
| First released | 2013 | 2016 |
| Replaces | GitHub | GitHub, GitLab |
What are GitBucket and Gitea?
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
Gitea is a lightweight, self-hosted Git service offering repositories, issues, pull requests, and CI integration. It targets developers and teams who want a fast, easy-to-run code platform. It is deployed via Docker or a single binary.
- Fast single-binary Git server
- Issues, PRs and wiki
- Built-in package registry
- Gitea Actions CI
GitBucket vs Gitea: key differences
GitBucket is written in Scala, while Gitea is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for GitBucket versus MIT for Gitea. Gitea 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 arrived in 2016. Gitea has the considerably larger community, at 58,120 GitHub stars versus 9,403.
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 if…
- Very lightweight
- Easy to deploy
- Familiar GitHub-like UI
Watch out for
- Fewer features than GitLab
- Governance concerns spurred a fork
Frequently asked questions
Is GitBucket or Gitea better?
Neither is universally better. Gitea has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are GitBucket and Gitea free and open-source?
Yes. GitBucket is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Gitea under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run GitBucket and Gitea with Docker?
GitBucket: yes. Gitea: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, GitBucket or Gitea?
Gitea 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.