Instead of a subscription

Self-hosted alternatives to GitLab

GitLab bundles repositories, CI/CD, registries and issue tracking into one platform, hosted or self-managed on substantial hardware. The lighter forges here cover the same day-to-day workflow on a server that does not need a fleet behind it.

2 applicationsFilter the catalog by GitLab Compare these applications

Catalog

Recipes that cover it

Fully verified57,748

Development

Gitea

A lightweight Git service for repositories, issues, and collaboration

512 MB RAMamd64 / arm64GoMediumMITVersion 28.2.0

Alternative to: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket

Open

Fully verified5,411

Development

Forgejo

A self-hosted Git service for code, issues, and collaboration

512 MB RAMamd64 / arm64GoMediumGPL-3.0-or-laterVersion 16.0.5

Alternative to: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket

Open

Requirements

Side by side

Requirements and recipe status of the applications on this page
Application	Minimum RAM	Disk estimate	Database	Installation difficulty	Backup	Recipe verification	License
Gitea	512 MB RAM	5 GB	PostgreSQL	Medium	Yes · Restore tested	Fully verifiedCheck is current	MIT
Forgejo	512 MB RAM	5 GB	PostgreSQL	Medium	Yes	Fully verifiedCheck is current	GPL-3.0-or-later

The bill

The subscription against a server

Both figures are editable, because only you know which of them you actually pay. The server is sized from the figure the recipe recommends — the same one the catalog calls a comfortable fit on your profile — and not from the cheapest row of a price list.

Subscription, $ per monthSeatsReplaced byServer, $ per month

Gitea asks for 1 GB of RAM, 1 vCPU and 5 GB of disk — $6 a month on DigitalOcean Basic.

The difference

Per month: $23
Per year: $276
Over three years: $828

Hosting it yourself is cheaper — $276 a year stays with you.

Not counted: your own time, a domain, and a backup kept anywhere other than that same server. A machine you already run costs nothing extra — set the server to zero.

GitLab · Premium, billed annually, price checked 2026-09-10 Server prices: DigitalOcean Basic, checked 2026-09-10

Migration

What changes when you host it yourself

The data stops leaving your network, and so does the responsibility for it: backups, the restore you have actually tested, and the disk it all sits on.

Feature parity is never exact. Read what each recipe states about limitations and the smoke test before planning a migration.

The bill turns into work: updates, certificates and an eye on the release notes. The catalog shows how much of that each recipe asks for.