GitLab is an effective, all-in-one solution for version control

Item: GitLab
Rating: 9
Author: Henry Tien

Overall Satisfaction with GitLab

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use GitLab to as our version control solution. We have multiple Git repositories that are store in GitLab. Furthermore, we use GitLab to branch and merge project branches. We are able to effectively collaborate any changes we make through GitLab. Finally, GitLab allows us to centralize our code base and makes it much easier to maintain our "source of truth".

Pros and Cons

Pros

Allows us to host our own GitLab servers on-premise
GitLab comes with the Integrated CI/CD tools as part of the application
Very good documentation
Efficient

Cons

Sometimes, there can be "weird' bugs that can be hard to track down and fix.
Security and compliance can be hard to understand and implement at times.
SSO needs some improvement

Return on Investment

GitLab has save us hundreds of hours in tracking down the "source of truth" for a file. With copies of files everywhere, GitLab has made it much easier to locate the "latest and greatest" copy.
Gitlab has saved us money year after year, by running the self-hosted free solution. That is a great ROI.
The self-hosted version also includes unlimited CI/CD minutes, as well as storage, so we do not have to worry about that.

Alternatives Considered

GitHub

GitLab allows a self-hosted version that is easy to setup and configure. It is also open-source as compared to GitHub. The integrated CI/CD tools is a plus, since we do not have to worry about those tools, unlike Github. The All-in-one solution of GitLab made sense for our company. Furthermore, GitLab has a very active community and their documentation is extensive, allowing us to take control of our version control solution.

Security

We have not yet used GitLab's paid plans, although we have been looking into that, and will consider it possibly in the near future, if our use cases warrants it.

Continuous Integration

We have not yet enabled continuous integration into our practices. We are actively discussing the possibility and are working through the details of it. We are trying to shift the mindset of our users, and to adhere to DevOPS best practices, but still have a ways to before that happens. But it is in our future plans

Key Insights

Do you think GitLab delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with GitLab's feature set?

Yes

Did GitLab live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of GitLab go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy GitLab again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Delinea Privilege Manager, Splunk Cloud, Zscaler Private Access, FortiClient, SecureCRT, Amazon WorkSpaces, VMware Horizon, Microsoft Teams, A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy), AlmaLinux OS, Rocky Linux, Tenable Nessus, VMware Carbon Black EDR

Likelihood to Recommend

GitLab self-hosted solution is well suited for organization that have strict security policies that prohibit company information from leaving the company networks. By self-hosting GitLab, all traffic remains internal to the company. It's also well suited for small to medium sized departments that need an open-source version-control software. It's easy to use and setup, and most administrator can deploy it without much hassle.

GitLab Feature Ratings

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