GitHub and GitLab both offer free tiers for public and private repositories, but their philosophies diverge significantly. GitHub wins on developer community — open-source discoverability, the job market's preference, and the GitHub Actions marketplace. GitLab wins on DevSecOps completeness — built-in container registry, dependency scanning, DAST, and a self-hosted option that satisfies strict data residency requirements.
For most startups and individual developers, GitHub is the clear choice for ecosystem and Copilot integration. For enterprise teams in regulated industries requiring self-hosting or needing an all-in-one DevSecOps platform without stitching together external tools, GitLab's self-managed tier provides compelling value.
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