The short answer
- GitHub if you want someone else to run everything, need GitHub Actions, or work in public open source.
- GitLab if a larger team wants planning, CI/CD and code review in one self-hosted platform, and has a server with room for it.
- SORN GIT if you want your repositories private, on your own machine, with almost no upkeep: one command to install, backups and updates handled for you.
Side by side
| GitHub | GitLab (self-managed) | SORN GIT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where your code lives | GitHub's cloud (Enterprise Server can be self-hosted) | Your server, or GitLab's cloud | Your server |
| Setup | Sign up | Install a package, then configure | One command, then create your account in the browser |
| Server size | Not your concern | Several GB of memory (GitLab's requirements) | About 50 MB of memory for SORN GIT itself |
| HTTPS | Included | Built-in Let's Encrypt option | Automatic on your domain; a local certificate on your network |
| Backups | Run by GitHub | Backup tools you schedule and test | Nightly, practice-restored every week, encrypted off-site copies |
| Issues and pull requests | Yes | Yes (merge requests) | Coming in v1.1 |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions | GitLab CI/CD | Not built in |
| AI agent accounts | Via tokens and apps | Via tokens | Built in: own branch area, limits, one kill switch |
| Licence | Proprietary | Open core (Community Edition is MIT) | Open source, Apache-2.0 |
| Price | Free and paid plans (pricing) | Free edition and paid tiers (pricing) | Free |
Prices and requirements for GitHub and GitLab change; follow the links for their current details.
When GitHub fits
GitHub is the easiest place to share code with the world and the home of most open-source projects. You don't run anything, and GitHub Actions covers building and testing. The trade-off is that your code lives on someone else's computer, under their terms and their outages.
When GitLab fits
GitLab puts code, issues, CI/CD, package registries and more into one platform, and you can run it yourself. That breadth needs a well-sized server and someone to look after upgrades and backups. It suits teams that will use most of what it offers.
When SORN GIT fits
SORN GIT is for people and small teams who want their repositories private and at home, without becoming server administrators. It installs with one command on a small VM or a mini PC, sets up HTTPS and SSH itself, backs up every night, proves the backups work every week, and installs signed updates that roll back on their own if something goes wrong.
Using them together
You don't have to choose only one. SORN GIT can import your repositories from GitHub or GitLab, keep a pull mirror in sync, or push every change to a copy on GitHub, so your own server stays the original and the cloud is the copy.