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AWS CodeStar vs GitLab: What are the differences?
AWS CodeStar vs GitLab
AWS CodeStar and GitLab are two popular platforms used by developers for code hosting, collaboration, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) purposes. While both platforms offer similar functionalities, there are several key differences between AWS CodeStar and GitLab that developers should consider when choosing a platform for their development needs.
Integration with AWS Services: One major difference between AWS CodeStar and GitLab is the deep integration with other AWS services offered by CodeStar. AWS CodeStar provides seamless integration with various AWS services such as AWS Lambda, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, AWS CodeCommit, and AWS CodePipeline. This integration allows developers to easily leverage these services to build, test, and deploy applications directly from the CodeStar platform. On the other hand, GitLab is more agnostic and can be used with various cloud providers, but it doesn't have the same level of AWS-specific integrations.
Hosted vs Self-hosted: Another key difference between AWS CodeStar and GitLab is the hosting aspect. AWS CodeStar is a fully-managed service provided by AWS, which means that AWS takes care of the underlying infrastructure and maintenance tasks. This can be beneficial for developers who prefer a fully-managed solution and don't want to worry about infrastructure management. On the contrary, GitLab can be self-hosted, allowing developers to have more control over the infrastructure and customization options. This self-hosted feature can be advantageous for companies that require on-premises hosting or have specific security or compliance requirements.
Pricing Model: AWS CodeStar has a pricing model based on the usage of AWS services and resources used within its platform. This means that the cost of using AWS CodeStar is directly tied to the usage of underlying AWS services like compute instances, storage, and data transfer. In contrast, GitLab provides a flexible pricing model, allowing users to choose between a self-managed version (Community Edition) or a hosted version (GitLab.com) with subscription plans based on the number of users. This flexibility provides more options for developers based on their budget and specific needs.
Development Ecosystem: AWS CodeStar is part of the larger AWS ecosystem, providing developers with access to a wide range of AWS tools and services. This ecosystem includes services like AWS CloudFormation for infrastructure management, AWS CodeCommit for version control, and AWS CodePipeline for CI/CD pipelines. These integrations can streamline the development process for AWS-based projects. In contrast, GitLab has its own ecosystem, with features such as GitLab CI/CD, issue tracking, and project management tools integrated into a single platform. GitLab also has a large community of developers and a marketplace for additional integrations and extensions.
Scalability and Performance: AWS CodeStar is built on top of AWS's global infrastructure, which offers high availability, scalability, and performance. AWS CodeStar leverages AWS services like Amazon EC2 for compute resources, Amazon S3 for storage, and Amazon RDS for database management. This infrastructure allows developers to scale their applications and handle high traffic loads effectively. GitLab, on the other hand, relies on the infrastructure chosen by the user, whether it's self-hosted or a cloud provider. While it can be scaled to handle large projects, the performance and scalability of GitLab can depend on the choice of infrastructure and its resources.
Community and Support: GitLab has a large and active community of developers, with many open-source projects and resources available. The GitLab community provides support, documentation, and continuous improvement of the GitLab platform. Additionally, GitLab offers various support options for enterprise users, including priority support services, and access to GitLab's professional services team. AWS CodeStar also benefits from the larger AWS community and support network, with extensive documentation, online forums, and access to AWS support services.
In summary, AWS CodeStar offers deep integration with AWS services, is a fully-managed solution, has a usage-based pricing model, and is part of the larger AWS ecosystem. On the other hand, GitLab provides more hosting flexibility, has a customizable pricing model, has its own ecosystem, relies on the infrastructure chosen by the user, and has an active community of developers.
Do you review your Pull/Merge Request before assigning Reviewers?
If you work in a team opening a Pull Request (or Merge Request) looks appropriate. However, have you ever thought about opening a Pull/Merge Request when working by yourself? Here's a checklist of things you can review in your own:
- Pick the correct target branch
- Make Drafts explicit
- Name things properly
- Ask help for tools
- Remove the noise
- Fetch necessary data
- Understand Mergeability
- Pass the message
- Add screenshots
- Be found in the future
- Comment inline in your changes
Read the blog post for more detailed explanation for each item :D
What else do you review before asking for code review?
Using an inclusive language is crucial for fostering a diverse culture. Git has changed the naming conventions to be more language-inclusive, and so you should change. Our development tools, like GitHub and GitLab, already supports the change.
SourceLevel deals very nicely with repositories that changed the master branch to a more appropriate word. Besides, you can use the grep linter the look for exclusive terms contained in the source code.
As the inclusive language gap may happen in other aspects of our lives, have you already thought about them?
One of the magic tricks git performs is the ability to rewrite log history. You can do it in many ways, but git rebase -i is the one I most use. With this command, It’s possible to switch commits order, remove a commit, squash two or more commits, or edit, for instance.
It’s particularly useful to run it before opening a pull request. It allows developers to “clean up” the mess and organize commits before submitting to review. If you follow the practice 3 and 4, then the list of commits should look very similar to a task list. It should reveal the rationale you had, telling the story of how you end up with that final code.
Out of most of the VCS solutions out there, we found Gitlab was the most feature complete with a free community edition. Their DevSecops offering is also a very robust solution. Gitlab CI/CD was quite easy to setup and the direct integration with your VCS + CI/CD is also a bonus. Out of the box integration with major cloud providers, alerting through instant messages etc. are all extremely convenient. We push our CI/CD updates to MS Teams.
Gitlab as A LOT of features that GitHub and Azure DevOps are missing. Even if both GH and Azure are backed by Microsoft, GitLab being open source has a faster upgrade rate and the hosted by gitlab.com solution seems more appealing than anything else! Quick win: the UI is way better and the Pipeline is way easier to setup on GitLab!
At DeployPlace we use self-hosted GitLab, we have chosen GitLab as most of us are familiar with it. We are happy with all features GitLab provides, I can’t imagine our life without integrated GitLab CI. Another important feature for us is integrated code review tool, we use it every day, we use merge requests, code reviews, branching. To be honest, most of us have GitHub accounts as well, we like to contribute in open source, and we want to be a part of the tech community, but lack of solutions from GitHub in the area of CI doesn’t let us chose it for our projects.
Pros of AWS CodeStar
- Simple to set up3
- Manual Steps Available2
- Flexible1
- Integrations1
- GitHub integration1
Pros of GitLab
- Self hosted508
- Free431
- Has community edition339
- Easy setup242
- Familiar interface240
- Includes many features, including ci137
- Nice UI113
- Good integration with gitlabci84
- Simple setup57
- Has an official mobile app35
- Free private repository34
- Continuous Integration31
- Open source, great ui (like github)23
- Slack Integration18
- Full CI flow15
- Free and unlimited private git repos11
- All in one (Git, CI, Agile..)10
- User, group, and project access management is simple10
- Intuitive UI8
- Built-in CI8
- Full DevOps suite with Git6
- Both public and private Repositories6
- Integrated Docker Registry5
- So easy to use5
- CI5
- Build/pipeline definition alongside code5
- It's powerful source code management tool5
- Dockerized4
- It's fully integrated4
- On-premises4
- Security and Stable4
- Unlimited free repos & collaborators4
- Not Microsoft Owned4
- Excellent4
- Issue system4
- Mattermost Chat client4
- Great for team collaboration3
- Free private repos3
- Because is the best remote host for git repositories3
- Built-in Docker Registry3
- Opensource3
- Low maintenance cost due omnibus-deployment3
- I like the its runners and executors feature3
- Beautiful2
- Groups of groups2
- Multilingual interface2
- Powerful software planning and maintaining tools2
- Review Apps feature2
- Kubernetes integration with GitLab CI2
- One-click install through DigitalOcean2
- Powerful Continuous Integration System2
- It includes everything I need, all packaged with docker2
- The dashboard with deployed environments2
- HipChat intergration2
- Many private repo2
- Kubernetes Integration2
- Published IP list for whitelisting (gl-infra#434)2
- Wounderful2
- Native CI2
- Supports Radius/Ldap & Browser Code Edits1
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Cons of AWS CodeStar
Cons of GitLab
- Slow ui performance28
- Introduce breaking bugs every release9
- Insecure (no published IP list for whitelisting)6
- Built-in Docker Registry2
- Review Apps feature1
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