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GitLab Ultimate is the highest tier of GitLab’s DevSecOps (Development, Security, Operations) platform. It is designed for enterprises that want a service that combines repo hosting, CI/CD, and a full security toolchain (SAST, DAST, IaC scan, secret detection) into one license.
With built-in compliance support, software supply chain security and vulnerability management, and further extensions through add-ons, it is a strong pick.
However, GitLab competitors do not rest, and high cost of ownership, complexity, and its less intuitive interface may persuade some organizations to look for suitable alternatives.
I compiled a list of GitLab alternatives for this review, read recent reviews, browsed documentation and talked to peers to find the services that I consider the best options for businesses.
What option to choose?
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What is GitLab Ultimate for source code management?
Put simple, GitLab Ultimate is a web-based tool that helps development teams build, test, and share software securely. Teams can track projects, manage code, and perform source code management, automate tests, and collaborate from a single location.
It offers advanced security features, like automated security scans to find bugs and security issues, compliance tools, integrated issue tracking, and code review to support collaboration and quality assurance, or AI to boost productivity.
Why should development teams look for GitLab Ultimate alternatives?
Organizations, especially SMBs, may seek GitLab alternatives because of several concerns that they may have regarding cost, usability, and how well it fits with the tech setup.
- High cost: GitLab Ultimate’s price per person adds up quickly for small businesses. Cheaper options like GitHub or free tools like Gitea help keep expenses low.
- Usability concerns: GitLab Ultimate offers plenty of features that make the service versatile. The downside is that setup is more complex, which can affect smaller teams specifically.
- Tech setup: Businesses that use AWS services or Microsoft’s may find other solutions, such as AWS CodeCommit and Azure DevOps, to work better with those.
- Privacy and compliance: GitLab’s online version is based in the United States, which may be of concern to businesses from the EU or other places with tight data protection laws.
Using multiple tools for different DevOps tasks can increase context switching and complexity, which is a common reason organizations look for integrated, all-in-one solutions.
GitLab Ultimate Alternatives Comparison: A Quick Look at Other Options Part 1
| Category |
GitLab Ultimate |
GitHub Enterprise Cloud |
Azure DevOps Services |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Features |
All-in-one tool for coding, testing, deploying, and managing projects. Includes AI coding help, continuous integration, security scans, project tracking, and team collaboration. Open source project and self hosted options available. |
Code hosting with AI coding assistant (Copilot), collaboration tools, and CI/CD. Huge community and 2000+ integrations. |
Coding, CI/CD, project boards, and testing tools. |
| Pricing |
Custom pricing. |
$21 per user and month, Advanced Security $49 per month |
$6 per user and month, with test plans $52 per user and month |
|
Security |
MFA, encryption, SAST, DAST, container scanning, secret detection. AI-driven vulnerability analysis. |
MFA, SSO with SAML or OIDC, role-based access control, personal access tokens, audit logs, IP allow lists, data encryption |
MFA, Azura AD, personal access tokens, audit logs, Azure monitor integration, role-based access control, permission management, IP restrictions, data encryption |
| Compliance |
GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA. Compliance tools for audits. |
GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001. Tools to meet compliance, but less built-in. |
GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA. Strong for Microsoft ecosystems. |
|
Usability |
Complex interface, learning curve for small teams. |
Simple, intuitive interface, great for all skill levels. |
Familiar for Microsoft users, but complex for others. |
|
Best For |
Businesses needing a complete, secure DevOps solution with EU compliance, cloud native teams, and advanced devops workflows. |
Teams that need easy collaboration, open-source community support, and cloud native applications. |
Companies using Azure or Microsoft 365, and those needing advanced devops tools. |
GitLab Ultimate Alternatives Comparison: A Quick Look at Other Options Part 2
| Category |
Bitbucket |
Harness Platform |
JetBrains Space Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Main Features |
Feature rich code hosting with Jira/Confluence integration, CI/CD and deployment pipelines, and basic project tools. |
Focused on automating code delivery (CI/CD), with AI-driven testing and cloud cost tools. |
All-in-one platform for code hosting, team chat, blogs, and CI/CD, integrated with JetBrains IDEs. |
|
Pricing |
$6.60 per user and month. |
Custom pricing. |
$125 per user and month |
|
Security |
MFA, encryption, IP allow list, permissions, Project access tokens. |
MFA, encryption, policy-driven security, continuous verification. |
MFA, encryption, role-based access, but fewer scan types. |
|
Compliance |
GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001. |
GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001. Strong compliance for regulated industries. |
GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001. |
|
Usability |
Easy for Atlassian users, basic for others. |
Moderate learning curve, needs DevOps knowledge. |
Clean, IDE-friendly interface, but limited for non-JetBrains users. |
|
Best For |
Teams using Atlassian tools (e.g., Jira), and those needing strong collaboration and compliance requirements. |
Firms prioritizing fast, secure deployments, cloud native, and multi-cloud support. |
Developers using JetBrains tools (e.g., IntelliJ), and teams needing integrated devops workflows. |
For cloud native teams and organizations deploying cloud native applications, Harness and GitLab offer advanced deployment strategies, Kubernetes integration, and seamless support for container registries.
GitLab, GitHub, and Azure DevOps are fully-featured CI/CD platforms supporting devops workflows, source code management, and integration with external git providers and third party tools.
Bitbucket offers strong source control, project planning, and collaboration features, making it ideal for software development teams and larger teams with compliance requirements.
JetBrains Space is best for developer-centric workflows and integrated project planning. All platforms support multiple environments and are suitable for modern software development lifecycles.
What option to choose?
GitHub Enterprise Cloud + Advanced Security – my top pick
GitHub Enterprise Cloud with Advanced Security is a platform for hosting code, collaboration, and automating workflows. It also supports collaborative development through Git repositories and code review, enabling teams to efficiently manage version control, branching, and merging. Highlights include AI-powered Copilot suggestions, GitHub Actions for CI/CD pipelines, and project boards to track tasks.
GitHub supports over 2,000 integrations and is home to one of the largest communities of developers, making it a great choice for development teams.
Key Strengths over GitLab Ultimate:
- Excels in collaboration and third-party application support.
- Extensive integration with third party tools to streamline workflows and enhance automation.
- User-friendly with quicker onboarding time.
- Github vs Gitlab pricing: Lower costs per month, even with Advanced Security, which is a must add as it integrates dynamic application security testing, secret detection, security scanning, and dependency scanning among other features.
- Includes 50,000 CI/CD minutes / month, free for public repositories.
Gitlab vs Github differences: GitHub is less expensive and offers better collaboration features and integrations with third-party services and tools.
Verdict: Choose GitHub for price, simplicity and community.
Azure DevOps Services
Microsoft’s Azure DevOps Services platform offers comprehensive coding, building, testing, and deployment options. It includes Azure Repos for code storage, Azure Pipelines for CI/CD automation, artifacts for package management, and Test Plans for quality assurance.
As a Microsoft product, it integrates well with Microsoft 365, Azure and other company tools.
Key Strengths:
- Best in class integration within Microsoft’s ecosystem.
- Offers free tier up to five users and 180,000 free minutes per year Azure Pipelines.
- Security policies align with Microsoft’s enterprise security standards and best practices.
Azure DevOps Services vs. GitLab Ultimate: Azure DevOps Services shines for organizations that use Microsoft products already. It is an affordable solution offering security and compliance at a fraction of the cost of GitLab’s. Less comprehensive than GitLab Ultimate’s end-to-end DevOps on the other hand.
Verdict: Choose Azure DevOps Services for SMBS and enterprises integrated into Microsoft’s ecosystem.
Bitbucket Cloud Premium
Bitbucket Cloud Premium is a Git-based platform for code hosting, collaboration and automating workflows. It includes access to Bitbucket Pipelines for CI/CD (3,500 minutes per month) and deep integration with other Atlassian tools.
Key Strengths:
- Best integration with other Atlassian tools and services.
- Affordable pricing.
Bitbucket Cloud Premium vs. GitLab Ultimate: Strong integration within Atlassian’s ecosystem, better usability, and lower costs. Less comprehensive than GitLab. Lacks advanced features, such as portfolio management or advanced monitoring. Also, integrations are not as extensive.
Verdict: Ideal pick for organizations already invested in Atlassian’s ecosystem.
Harness Platform
Automate software delivery with CI/CD pipelines, AI-driven test inteliigence, cost optimization, and GitOps infrastructure management.
Key Strengths:
- Supports a diverse set of deployments
- Software Engineering Insights to find bottlenecks and issues.
- Modular design that supports popular tools, including Jira and GitLab.
Harness Platform vs. GitLab Ultimate: Offers an affordable AI-driven CI/CD solution, ideal for smaller teams. Good usability but requires integrations for code hosting and advanced security.
Verdict: Best pick for SMBs and enterprises needing a fast, AI-driven CI/CD solution with secure multi-cloud deployments.
JetBrains Space Enterprise
JetBrains Space Enterprise is a collaboration platform for coding, teams, and project management. It supports Git hosting, CI/CD pipelines, team chat, code reviews, project tracking and more.
Key Strengths:
- Integrates best with IDEs from JetBrains, e.g., IntelliJ and PyCharm).
- Automated meeting scheduling and other teamwork enhancing features
JetBrains Space Enterprise vs. GitLab Ultimate: JetBrain’s platform is not a full DevOps platform. It lacks advanced monitoring, extensive CI/CD compared to GitLab, and portfolio management.
Verdict: Ideal for teams that are already invested in the JetBrains’ ecosystem.
What option to choose?
Conclusion: What is the best alternative to GitLab Ultimate?
GitLab Ultimate is a popular sophisticated solution that offers an all-in-one DevOps platform with code hosting, security scans, AI integrations, portfolio management, monitoring, and automated compliance.
Potential downsides are that it is expensive, has a complex user interface, and therefore also a steeper learning curve, and limited integrations, when compared to some of the other platforms mentioned in this comparison.
There is no alternative that is best for everyone. It depends on price, supported platforms and ecosystem, and other requirements.
I recommend looking at GitHub or Azure DevOps Services first. Both are cheaper and offer better usability. However, Azure DevOps Service is only ideal for companies and teams that are already invested in Microsoft’s ecosystem.
GitHub Enterprise Cloud with Advanced Security comes close to GitLab Ultimate’s pricing and it offers a great balance of features. It is my top pick, especially if you use multiple development environments and tools, and are not heavily invested into a particular environment.
