Which is cheapest — GitHub, GitLab, or Gitea?

Gitea is cheapest for teams of 5+: self-hosted at $30–50/month infrastructure costs (no per-user fees) vs GitHub Team at $4/user/month or GitLab Premium at $29/user/month. For a 10-person team: Gitea ≈ $40/month (VPS), GitHub Team = $40/month, GitLab Premium = $290/month. GitHub and Gitea tie at 10 people; Gitea wins at 20+ people.

Is GitHub free plan enough for teams?

GitHub Free supports unlimited public and private repositories, unlimited collaborators, 2,000 CI/CD minutes/month, and GitHub Packages. The main limits: no code owners, no protected branches (needed for GitHub Actions restrictions), and no SAML SSO. For small teams of 2–5, GitHub Free is often sufficient. For teams needing branch protection rules and code review assignments, GitHub Team at $4/user/month is worth it.

What is Gitea and how does it compare to GitHub?

Gitea is an open-source, self-hosted Git service similar to GitHub but running on your own server. You pay for infrastructure (a $5–20/month VPS) instead of per-user fees. Gitea is 50–75% cheaper than GitHub/GitLab for teams of 5–50 people. Trade-offs: no GitHub Pages, no GitHub Actions (uses Gitea Actions, less mature), community support only, and you manage the server. Gitea is ideal for cost-conscious teams comfortable with DevOps.

GitLab vs GitHub — which has better CI/CD?

GitLab has more comprehensive built-in CI/CD: container registry, security scanning (SAST/DAST), and native Kubernetes integration are all built in. GitHub Actions is more popular with a larger marketplace (14,000+ actions). For enterprises needing security scanning and compliance, GitLab Premium ($29/user/month) provides more out-of-the-box. For teams using GitHub's ecosystem, GitHub Actions with the large marketplace is more practical.

GitHub vs GitLab vs Gitea Pricing 2026 — Full Comparison

Quick Price Comparison (10-person team)

Platform	Tier	Monthly Cost	Cost/Person	Hosting
GitHub	Pro	$40/mo	$4/person	GitHub-hosted
GitHub	Team	$210/mo	$21/person	GitHub-hosted
GitLab	Premium	$290/mo	$29/person	GitLab-hosted
GitLab	Ultimate	$500/mo	$50/person	GitLab-hosted
Gitea	Self-hosted	$30–50/mo	$3–5/person	Your infrastructure

Feature Matrix: What You Get

Feature	GitHub	GitLab	Gitea
Repository Hosting	✓	✓	✓
CI/CD Pipelines	✓ (Actions)	✓ (native)	✓ (limited)
Built-in Registries	✗ (paid)	✓	✗
Merge Request Approvals	✓ (Team+)	✓	✓
Issue Tracking	✓	✓	✓
Wiki	✓	✓	✓
Security Scanning	✓ (Advanced)	✓ (Premium+)	✗
SAML/OIDC SSO	✗ (Enterprise)	✓	✓
Vendor Lock-In	△ High	△ High	✓ None
Data Sovereignty	✗	✗	✓

Cost Scenarios by Team Size

Scenario 1: Solo Developer

GitHub Free $0/mo (unlimited public & private repos)

GitHub Pro $4/mo (better CI minutes, advanced security)

GitLab Free $0/mo (unlimited public & private repos)

Gitea (Docker on Heroku/Railway) $5–20/mo (minimal infrastructure)

Winner GitHub or GitLab Free ($0)

Scenario 2: Small Team (5 people)

GitHub Team $105/mo ($21/person × 5)

GitLab Premium $145/mo ($29/person × 5)

Gitea (self-hosted) $30–50/mo (flat rate, unlimited users)

Gitea vs GitHub savings $55–75/mo (50% cheaper)

Scenario 3: Growing Team (20 people)

GitHub Team $420/mo ($21/person × 20)

GitLab Premium $580/mo ($29/person × 20)

Gitea (self-hosted HA) $100–150/mo (managed database, backups)

Gitea vs GitHub savings $270–320/mo (65% cheaper)

When to Choose Each

🏆 Choose GitHub if:

You want the largest ecosystem (most integrations, app marketplace)
You prefer simplicity and don't want to manage infrastructure
You're a solo developer or very small team (Free tier sufficient)
You need GitHub Actions for CI/CD with lots of free minutes
Team collaboration with non-technical users (best UX)

🏆 Choose GitLab if:

You want built-in Container Registry (vs GitHub's paid option)
You need native CI/CD that's more powerful than GitHub Actions
You prefer "everything in one platform" (no third-party tools)
You need advanced security scanning and compliance features
You want a single vendor for source control + deployment

🏆 Choose Gitea if:

You have 5–50 people and want to save 50–75% vs GitHub/GitLab
You need data sovereignty or compliance (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.)
You want to avoid vendor lock-in with an open-source solution
You have DevOps expertise to manage self-hosted infrastructure
You need unlimited CI/CD minutes (no usage metering)

Total Cost of Ownership: 1 Year

5-person team

GitHub: $1,260/year

GitLab: $1,740/year

Gitea: $360–600/year

Gitea wins by $660–1,380

20-person team

GitHub: $5,040/year

GitLab: $6,960/year

Gitea: $1,200–1,800/year

Gitea wins by $3,240–4,860

Solo/Free tier

GitHub: $0–48/year

GitLab: $0/year

Gitea: $60–240/year

GitHub/GitLab wins

Key Insights

GitHub cheapest for solo developers: Free tier is unlimited. Pro ($4/mo) adds security features. Nothing to beat for individuals.
Gitea dominates for 5–50 person teams: Fixed infrastructure cost (~$30–150/mo) beats per-user scaling of GitHub/GitLab by 50–75%.
GitLab stronger for enterprise workflows: Container Registry, native CI/CD, and security scanning out-of-the-box. GitHub charges extra for these.
Gitea's real cost: DevOps overhead: Self-hosting means someone maintains backups, security patches, and infrastructure. This labor isn't cheap.
GitHub raised pricing (Jan 2026): GitHub Actions standard rates increased. Advanced security features now require Team plan.

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