1. Installation Process: One key difference between Conan and GitLab is the installation process. Conan requires users to install and set up the Conan client on their local machine in order to manage dependencies, while GitLab provides a hosted solution where users can manage their code repositories, CI/CD pipelines, and other software development tools directly on the GitLab platform without the need for additional installations.

2. Focus on Dependency Management: Conan is primarily focused on managing dependencies for C/C++ projects, providing a centralized repository for developers to store and retrieve libraries and other dependencies for their projects. On the other hand, GitLab is a comprehensive DevOps platform that covers a wide range of software development and deployment processes, including version control, issue tracking, CI/CD pipelines, and more. While GitLab does offer some dependency management features, it is not as robust or specialized as Conan's offering.

3. Licensing Model: Another key difference between Conan and GitLab is their licensing models. Conan is an open-source project released under the MIT License, allowing users to freely use, modify, and distribute the software. In contrast, GitLab offers both a Community Edition with an open-source license (MIT License) and a paid Enterprise Edition with additional features and support for enterprise customers.

4. Integration with Other Tools: GitLab is known for its strong integration capabilities with a wide range of third-party tools and services, allowing developers to easily connect GitLab to their preferred tools for monitoring, testing, project management, and more. On the other hand, while Conan does offer integrations with some build systems and package managers, its integration options are more limited compared to GitLab's extensive list of supported integrations.

5. Collaboration Features: GitLab is designed to facilitate collaboration among team members working on the same codebase, providing features such as merge requests, code reviews, and inline comments to streamline the code review process. Conan, on the other hand, is more focused on providing a centralized repository for dependencies and does not offer the same level of collaboration features as GitLab.

6. Support and Documentation: GitLab has a large and active community of users and contributors, providing extensive documentation, tutorials, and support resources to help users get started with the platform and troubleshoot any issues they may encounter. While Conan also has a dedicated community and support channels, the level of support and documentation available for GitLab tends to be more comprehensive due to its larger user base and broader focus.

In Summary, when comparing Conan and GitLab, key differences include the installation process, focus on dependency management, licensing model, integration capabilities, collaboration features, and support/documentation resources available to users.