GitLab vs GitHub
pricing comparison · 2026 · Updated April 2026
GitLab pricing ranges from $0–$29/user/month, while GitHub ranges from $0–$21/user/month. GitHub is typically 86% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.
Sources & confidence
Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.
Plans at a glance
Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.
What users say
Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.
GitHub and GitLab are the two dominant source control and DevOps platforms, both offering Git hosting, CI/CD, code review, and security scanning. GitHub is owned by Microsoft and is where the majority of open-source projects live, with the largest developer community and ecosystem. GitLab is a more complete DevOps platform — it ships with built-in CI/CD, container registry, security scanning, and issue tracking that GitHub provides through separate products or third-party integrations.
The price difference is significant: GitHub Team is $4/user/month while GitLab Premium is $29/user/month. That premium buys more built-in features but may not matter if you're already paying for GitHub Actions and separate security tools.
Plan-by-Plan Pricing
| Plan | GitLab | GitHub |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free /user/month | Free /user/month |
| Premium | $29 /user/month | $4 /user/month |
| Ultimate | Custom | $21 /user/month |
Cost at Scale
Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.
GitLab
5 scenariosGitHub
5 scenariosMarket Intelligence
GitLab
- Median annual cost
- $430
- Based on
- 51 deals
GitHub
- Median annual cost
- $1,188
- Based on
- 161 deals
Contract Terms
| Term | GitLab | GitHub |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-renewal | — | — |
| Cancellation | — | — |
| Minimum commitment | — | — |
| Price escalation | Users report a 50% licensing cost increase when GitLab raised prices and eliminated the Bronze/Starter tier. No published annual uplift schedule found in sources. | — |
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Our Verdict
GitHub wins for most teams on price alone — at $4/user/month vs $29/user/month, you'd need to spend $25/user/month on additional tools before GitLab Premium becomes better value. GitHub's ecosystem (Copilot, Actions marketplace, npm, VS Code) is also unmatched. GitLab is the right choice for teams that need built-in security scanning, compliance tools, or a more complete self-managed DevOps platform — its all-in-one approach reduces the integration overhead of stitching together GitHub with separate security products.
Frequently Asked Questions
01 Is GitLab free?
Yes. GitLab Free includes unlimited public and private repositories, 400 CI/CD minutes/month, a container registry, and basic security scanning. GitLab Premium ($29/user/month) adds advanced CI/CD, compliance features, and priority support.
02 Does GitHub have free CI/CD?
Yes. GitHub Free includes 2,000 GitHub Actions minutes/month (5x more than GitLab Free). GitHub Team ($4/user/month) includes 3,000 minutes/month. Minutes beyond the allotment are billed at $0.008-$0.16 per minute depending on OS.
03 Which is better for open-source projects?
GitHub hosts the vast majority of open-source projects and has the largest developer community. If you want maximum discoverability and contribution, GitHub is the clear choice for open-source work.
04 Can I migrate from GitHub to GitLab?
Yes. GitLab provides an import tool that migrates repositories, issues, merge requests, milestones, and labels from GitHub. CI/CD pipelines need to be rewritten for GitLab CI syntax, which is the main migration effort.