Git Hosting Platforms

GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket — key differences and recommendations.

Platform Overview

Free Plans

GitHub has the best free plan for individuals.

CI/CD

# .github/workflows/main.yml (GitHub Actions)
name: Python Tests
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: '3.12'
      - run: pytest

• GitHub Actions — 2000 free minutes, huge Marketplace, most flexible
• GitLab CI — built into the platform, simple syntax, Auto DevOps, only 400 free minutes
• Bitbucket Pipelines — great Jira integration, only 50 free minutes

Code Review

GitHub has the best UI/UX for code review.

Security

GitHub has the best free security features.

Self-Hosted

• GitHub Enterprise Server — expensive, from $21/user/month
• GitLab Self-Managed — free Community Edition, the best self-hosted option
• Bitbucket Data Center — expensive, from $2300/year

Recommendations

GitHub suits most developers: best free plan, maximum visibility for open source, portfolio building, GitHub Education for students, best free security.

GitLab — if you need all-in-one DevOps, self-hosted (Community Edition is free), powerful built-in CI/CD, or compliance requirements.

Bitbucket — if you already use Jira and the Atlassian ecosystem; free for teams up to 5 people.

Stack Overflow Developer Survey: GitHub — 87% of developers, GitLab — 32%, Bitbucket — 19%.

Migration

# From GitLab to GitHub
git clone --mirror https://gitlab.com/username/repo.git
cd repo.git
git push --mirror https://github.com/username/repo.git

# From Bitbucket to GitHub
git clone --mirror https://bitbucket.org/username/repo.git
cd repo.git
git push --mirror https://github.com/username/repo.git