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GitKraken vs GitLab: What are the differences?

Introduction

GitKraken and GitLab are both widely used tools in software development. While they both serve the purpose of version control, there are some key differences between the two.

  1. Integration with Git providers: GitKraken is a Git GUI client that integrates with various Git hosting providers like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. On the other hand, GitLab is a web-based DevOps platform that provides a complete set of tools for managing and hosting repositories, issue tracking, CI/CD, and more. GitLab offers its own self-hosted solution, while GitKraken can be used with multiple Git providers.

  2. User Interface: GitKraken provides a visually appealing and intuitive user interface that makes it easy for both beginners and experienced developers to visualize and understand Git workflows. It offers features like drag-and-drop commit merging, interactive commit graph, and seamless commits and pushes. GitLab, on the other hand, has a web-based UI that offers a range of functionalities beyond version control, including issue tracking, code review, and continuous integration.

  3. Collaboration and Project Management Features: GitLab has built-in collaboration and project management features that allow teams to work efficiently. It provides issue tracking, code review, and merge request functionality, making it easier for team members to collaborate and review code changes. GitKraken focuses solely on version control and does not provide these additional project management features.

  4. Hosting Options: GitLab offers both self-hosted and cloud-based options, giving users the flexibility to choose the deployment option that best suits their needs. The self-hosted option allows organizations to have complete control over their GitLab instance, while the cloud-based option eliminates the need for server maintenance. GitKraken, on the other hand, relies on external Git hosting providers for repository hosting.

  5. Pricing Model: GitLab offers different pricing tiers, including a free community edition for self-hosted deployments, as well as paid plans for additional features and support. GitKraken also has a free version that is limited in terms of the number of repositories and features available. It offers a pro version with additional features, as well as a enterprise version for organizations with specific requirements.

  6. Extensibility and Integrations: GitLab provides a wide range of integrations with popular development tools like Jira, Jenkins, and Slack. It also has an extensive API that allows users to extend its functionality and integrate with custom tools. GitKraken also offers integrations with various tools, but its focus is primarily on providing a seamless Git GUI experience.

In summary, GitKraken is primarily a Git GUI client that integrates with multiple Git hosting providers, while GitLab is a web-based DevOps platform that offers a comprehensive set of tools for managing repositories and project workflows. GitLab provides built-in collaboration and project management features, offers hosting options, and has a flexible pricing model. GitKraken, on the other hand, provides a visually appealing and user-friendly interface for Git workflows with integrations across different Git hosting providers.

Decisions about GitKraken and GitLab
Weverton Timoteo

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?

See more
Weverton Timoteo

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?

See more
Weverton Timoteo

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.

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Kamaleshwar BN
Senior Software Engineer at Pulley · | 8 upvotes · 650.7K views

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.

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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!

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Nazar Atamaniuk
Shared insights
on
DeployPlaceDeployPlaceGitHubGitHubGitLabGitLab

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.

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Pros of GitKraken
Pros of GitLab
  • 59
    Dark theme
  • 34
    Best linux git client
  • 29
    Great overview
  • 21
    Full featured client
  • 20
    Gitflow support
  • 19
    Beautiful UI
  • 18
    Very easy to use
  • 16
    Graph
  • 13
    Works great on both linux and windows
  • 13
    Effortless
  • 6
    Easy Merge Conflict Tool
  • 5
    Amazing Github and Bitbucket integration
  • 4
    Great UX
  • 3
    Integration with GitHub
  • 3
    Automatic Repo Discovery
  • 3
    Submodule support
  • 3
    Easy to Learn and Setup
  • 3
    Super fast
  • 2
    Fuzzy find (CTRL P)
  • 1
    Very user friendly
  • 1
    Much more stable than source tree
  • 1
    Great for non-dev users
  • 1
    Because it has Linux client
  • 1
    Command palette (CTRL Shift P)
  • 507
    Self hosted
  • 429
    Free
  • 339
    Has community edition
  • 242
    Easy setup
  • 240
    Familiar interface
  • 137
    Includes many features, including ci
  • 113
    Nice UI
  • 84
    Good integration with gitlabci
  • 57
    Simple setup
  • 34
    Free private repository
  • 34
    Has an official mobile app
  • 31
    Continuous Integration
  • 22
    Open source, great ui (like github)
  • 18
    Slack Integration
  • 14
    Full CI flow
  • 11
    Free and unlimited private git repos
  • 10
    User, group, and project access management is simple
  • 9
    All in one (Git, CI, Agile..)
  • 8
    Built-in CI
  • 8
    Intuitive UI
  • 6
    Full DevOps suite with Git
  • 6
    Both public and private Repositories
  • 5
    Integrated Docker Registry
  • 5
    Build/pipeline definition alongside code
  • 5
    So easy to use
  • 5
    CI
  • 5
    It's powerful source code management tool
  • 4
    Unlimited free repos & collaborators
  • 4
    Security and Stable
  • 4
    On-premises
  • 4
    It's fully integrated
  • 4
    Excellent
  • 4
    Issue system
  • 4
    Mattermost Chat client
  • 4
    Dockerized
  • 3
    Great for team collaboration
  • 3
    Free private repos
  • 3
    Because is the best remote host for git repositories
  • 3
    Low maintenance cost due omnibus-deployment
  • 3
    Not Microsoft Owned
  • 3
    Built-in Docker Registry
  • 3
    Opensource
  • 3
    I like the its runners and executors feature
  • 2
    Multilingual interface
  • 2
    Powerful software planning and maintaining tools
  • 2
    Review Apps feature
  • 2
    Kubernetes integration with GitLab CI
  • 2
    One-click install through DigitalOcean
  • 2
    Powerful Continuous Integration System
  • 2
    Native CI
  • 2
    HipChat intergration
  • 2
    Many private repo
  • 2
    Kubernetes Integration
  • 2
    Published IP list for whitelisting (gl-infra#434)
  • 2
    Wounderful
  • 2
    Beautiful
  • 2
    Groups of groups
  • 2
    The dashboard with deployed environments
  • 2
    It includes everything I need, all packaged with docker
  • 1
    Supports Radius/Ldap & Browser Code Edits

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Cons of GitKraken
Cons of GitLab
  • 3
    Extremely slow when working with large repositories
  • 3
    No edit/fixup in interactive rebase
  • 3
    Hangs occasionally (not as bad as sourcetree)
  • 2
    Not as many features as sourcetree
  • 2
    Do not allow to directly edit staging area
  • 2
    Does not work like a Mac app
  • 28
    Slow ui performance
  • 8
    Introduce breaking bugs every release
  • 6
    Insecure (no published IP list for whitelisting)
  • 2
    Built-in Docker Registry
  • 1
    Review Apps feature

Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

What is GitKraken?

The downright luxurious Git client for Windows, Mac and Linux. Cross-platform, 100% standalone, and free.

What is GitLab?

GitLab offers git repository management, code reviews, issue tracking, activity feeds and wikis. Enterprises install GitLab on-premise and connect it with LDAP and Active Directory servers for secure authentication and authorization. A single GitLab server can handle more than 25,000 users but it is also possible to create a high availability setup with multiple active servers.

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Jobs that mention GitKraken and GitLab as a desired skillset
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Blog Posts

What are some alternatives to GitKraken and GitLab?
SourceTree
Use the full capability of Git and Mercurial in the SourceTree desktop app. Manage all your repositories, hosted or local, through SourceTree's simple interface.
Tower
Use all of Git's powerful feature set - in a GUI that makes you more productive.
GitKraken Glo
A more productive way for developers to track tasks and issues from inside GitKraken, VS Code, Atom or a browser! Glo Boards sync in real-time with GitHub Issues, support markdown and offer lots of time-saving features for devs.
GitHub
GitHub is the best place to share code with friends, co-workers, classmates, and complete strangers. Over three million people use GitHub to build amazing things together.
SmartGit
It is a graphical Git client with support for SVN and Pull Requests for GitHub and Bitbucket. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
See all alternatives