Gitea vs GitLab CE
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted git hosting & forges options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
| Feature | Gitea | GitLab CE |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Git Hosting & Forges | Git Hosting & Forges |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, helm, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 57,266 | ★ 24,000 |
| First released | 2016 | 2011 |
| Replaces | GitHub, GitLab | GitHub, Bitbucket |
Why pick each one
Choose GitLab CE if…
- All-in-one DevOps platform
- Powerful CI/CD
- Mature and feature-rich
Frequently asked questions
Is Gitea or GitLab CE better?
Gitea is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider GitLab CE if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Gitea and GitLab CE free and open-source?
Yes. Gitea is licensed under MIT and GitLab CE under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gitea and GitLab CE with Docker?
Gitea: yes. GitLab CE: yes.