The Best GitHub AlternativesTop Version Control Systems & Source Code Hosting Services like GitHub

GitHub is described as 'Web-based Git hosting service facilitating collaboration, with features like issue tracking, social networking, and wikis for project management' and is a leading Version Control system in the development category. There are more than 100 alternatives to GitHub for a variety of platforms, including Web-based, Self-Hosted, Linux, Windows and Mac apps. The best GitHub alternative is GitLab, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like GitHub are Gitea, Bitbucket, Codeberg and SourceForge.

filter to find the best alternatives

GitHub alternatives are mainly Version Control Systems, but if you're looking for Source Code Hosting Services or Project Management Tools you can filter on that. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to GitHub.
GitHub iconGitHub
  1696
  • ...

Web-based Git hosting service facilitating collaboration, with features like issue tracking, social networking, and wikis for project management.

More about GitHub
More about GitHub
GitHub alternatives page was last updated Apr 8, 2025
Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
  1. GitLab icon

    GitLab

     735 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Provides a robust platform for on-premise or hosted Git repository management, integrating seamlessly with various dev tools, facilitating efficient workflow through offerings like issue tracking, code reviews, continuous integration, CI/CD pipelines, and option for unlimited private repositories.

    107 GitLab alternatives

    License model

    • Freemium • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Online
    • BSD
    • Self-Hosted
    • Ruby
    • Cloudron
    Activity stream

    Properties

    1.  Security-focused

    Features

    1.  Unlimited private repos
    2.  Continuous Integration
    3.  Continuous Deployment
    4.  Private repositories
    5.  Continuous builds
    6.  Kanban Board
    7.  CI/CD
    8. Git icon  Git Support
    9.  Unlimited users
    10.  Two-factor Authentication
    11.  Dark Mode
    12.  Ad-free

    GitLab VS GitHub

     
    Comments about GitLab as an Alternative to GitHub
    Comment summary: GitLab is frequently praised for its open-source core, free private repositories, and strong CI/CD features. Some users appreciate GitLab's independence from Microsoft and find its self-hosted option favorable. However, criticism arises due to GitLab's UI complexity and perceptions of being bloated compared to GitHub. GitLab's evolution into a comprehensive DevOps platform is noted, positioning it as both a functional and competitive alternative to GitHub.
    Top Positive Comment
    milkdoes
    Jul 29, 2019
    6

    No limit on collaborators of private repositories.

    Most Recent Comment
    Guest
    Positive Jan 5, 2025
    0

    Not controlled by the privacy-hostile (many times) convicted felon Microsoft.

    ub
    Positive Jul 27, 2024
    3

    why is github not open source? all of your code was stolen and used to train co-pilot, thanks microsoft.

    Show more comments
    3 of 20 comments
    GitHub Icon
    GitLab icon

    • Almost everyone thinks GitLab is a great GitHub alternative.

    • GitLab is the most popular Web-based, Linux & Self-Hosted alternative to GitHub.

    • GitLab is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to GitHub.

    • GitLab is Freemium and Open SourceGitHub is Freemium and Proprietary
  2. Gitea icon

    Gitea

     171 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Gitea is a fork of Gogs, lightweight code hosting solution written in Go and published under the MIT license.

    45 Gitea alternatives

    License model

    • Freemium • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • BSD
    • Self-Hosted
    • Raspberry Pi
    • Cloudron
    • Chocolatey
    Gitea screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Private repositories
    2.  Included wiki
    3.  Importing from Git
    4.  Webhook support
    5.  Support for MarkDown
    6.  LDAP support
    7.  Rebase merging
    8.  FIDO U2F (2FA) support
    9.  Task Time Tracking
    10. Git icon  Git Support
    11.  Dark Mode
    12.  Two-factor Authentication

    Gitea VS GitHub

     
    Comments about Gitea as an Alternative to GitHub
    Top Positive Comment
    6543
    Oct 28, 2019
    7

    gitea v1.9.4 and newer has all features you want and know from github ... but selfhosted and lightweight! And if there is one feature missiong its sure on a list

    Most Recent Comment
    Pierre LeBaux
    Positive Jul 11, 2022
    0

    Self-hosted, simple, great.

    Freeplay
    Positive Jun 25, 2021
    2

    You can run your own instance, but you can use other instances like Codeberg as well!

    Show more comments
    3 of 6 comments
    GitHub Icon
    Gitea icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Gitea is a great GitHub alternative.

    • Gitea is the most popular Windows & Mac alternative to GitHub.

    • Gitea is Freemium and Open SourceGitHub is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Gitea is Lightweight and Privacy focusedGitHub is not according to our users
  4. Bitbucket icon

    Bitbucket

     405 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Code collaboration version control. Offers hosted (freemium) for limited (5) users, and a commercial self-hosted for a subscription. Free licenses are available for qualified open source projects, nonprofits, and classrooms.

    78 Bitbucket alternatives

    License model

    • Freemium • Proprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • AU flagAustralia

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Bugtracker

    Bitbucket Features

    1.  Private repositories
    2. JIRA icon  Jira integration
    3. Git icon  Git Support
    4.  Mercurial support
    5.  Real time collaboration
    6. Git icon  Git integration
    7.  Hg hosting

    Bitbucket VS GitHub

     
    Comments about Bitbucket as an Alternative to GitHub
    Top Positive Comment
    jamilsonjunior
    Jun 3, 2017
    1

    Unlimited private repositories makes Bitbucket perfect for personal and scholar projects.

    Top Negative Comment
    Korwin
    Jul 6, 2022
    2

    I wouldn't recommend one FOSS adversary as an alternative to another FOSS adversary.

    Most Recent Comment
    Ron Bowman
    Positive Feb 15, 2019
    0

    Great if using other Atlassian products. Still very good if using it on its own.

    Show more comments
    3 of 7 comments
    GitHub Icon
    Bitbucket icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Bitbucket is a great GitHub alternative.

    • Bitbucket is Freemium and ProprietaryGitHub is also Freemium and Proprietary
  5. Ad
    Screenshot
    Backlog icon
    Backlog

    Backlog is a project management and collaboration tool for teams that want higher productivity, greater visibility, and simple project tracking. Development teams can work together with Design, Marketing, IT, and more to release ...

    https://backlog.com
    Learn More
  6. Codeberg icon

    Codeberg

     91 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    A free Git source code hosting service with the objective to give the open-source code that is running our world a safe and friendly home, and to ensure that code remains free and secure forever.

    49 Codeberg alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Online
    Short Landing page.

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1. Git icon  Git Support
    2.  Non profit
    3.  Web-Based
    4.  Issue Tracking
    5.  No Tracking
    6.  Ad-free
    7.  Dark Mode
    8.  Wiki
    9.  Kanban Board
    10.  Support for @mentions
    11.  Syntax Highlighting
    12.  Support for MarkDown

    Codeberg VS GitHub

     
    Comments about Codeberg as an Alternative to GitHub
    Top Positive Comment
    nezort11
    Apr 19, 2022
    3

    In my opinion the best alternative to "GitHub" as a repo hosting service. Because it is managed by non-profit organization (.org TLD) compared to commercial companies (.com TLD).

    Most Recent Comment
    Subscribe6225
    Positive Apr 8, 2025
    0

    Free, Open Source, European.

    Buster_Blue
    Positive Mar 24, 2025
    0

    Codeberg is FOSS and it's run by a non-profit organization. This makes it a fitting home for open source projects.

    Show more comments
    3 of 5 comments
    GitHub Icon
    Codeberg icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Codeberg is a great GitHub alternative.

    • Codeberg is Free and Open SourceGitHub is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Codeberg is Lightweight and Privacy focusedGitHub is not according to our users
  7. SourceForge icon

    SourceForge

     338 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    SourceForge empowers open source developers to create powerful software and share it with the world. They also feature a business software comparison directory that lists over 50,000 software titles.

    73 SourceForge alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Online
    Homepage 2013

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  App Discovery
    2.  Hg hosting
    3. Git icon  Git Support
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  File Versioning
    6.  User Rating
    7.  Mercurial support
    8.  Subversion Support

    SourceForge VS GitHub

     
    Comments about SourceForge as an Alternative to GitHub
    Top Positive Comment
    Guest
    May 29, 2018
    5

    SourceForge has been consistent & reliable, thus a very capable alternative to GitHub.

    Top Negative Comment
    RemovedUser
    Dec 8, 2021
    6

    I would not trust SourceForge because of the past controversies involving malicious activity.

    Most Recent Comment
    Erik Estrada
    Sep 10, 2021
    4

    A few years ago Sourceforge hijacked projects and bundled malware in them. It's supposed to be clean now but who knows...

    Show more comments
    3 of 7 comments
    GitHub Icon
    SourceForge icon

    • Some users think SourceForge is a great GitHub alternative, some don't.

    • SourceForge is Free and ProprietaryGitHub is Freemium and Proprietary
    • SourceForge is LightweightGitHub is not according to our users
  8. Gogs icon

    Gogs

     135 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    The easiest, fastest, and most painless way of setting up a self-hosted Git service. With Go, this can be done with an independent binary distribution across ALL platforms that Go supports, including Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and ARM.

    42 Gogs alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • CN flagChina

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
    • Go (Programming Language)
    • Cloudron
    Gogs screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1. Git icon  Git Support
    2.  Web interface
    3.  Wiki

    Gogs VS GitHub

     
    Comments about Gogs as an Alternative to GitHub
    Guest
    Positive Sep 11, 2020
    0

    Self-hosted and really light weight. Installs on docker in just a few minutes. Super excellent!

    petardudas
    Positive Feb 14, 2017
    0

    It's very simple to set up.

    GitHub Icon
    Gogs icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Gogs is a great GitHub alternative.

    • Gogs is Free and Open SourceGitHub is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Gogs is LightweightGitHub is not according to our users
  10. Forgejo icon

    Forgejo

     42 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Beyond coding. We forge. Forgejo is a self-hosted lightweight software forge. Easy to install and low maintenance, it just does the job.

    54 Forgejo alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Go (Programming Language)
    Short landing page

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Community-based
    2.  Ad-free
    3. Git icon  Git Support
    4.  Federated
    5.  Issue Tracking
    6.  Dark Mode
    7.  Decentralized
    8.  Kanban Board
    9.  Support for @mentions
    10.  Two-factor Authentication
    11.  Support for MarkDown
    12.  No Tracking

    Forgejo VS GitHub

     
    Comments about Forgejo as an Alternative to GitHub
    Subscribe6225
    Positive Apr 8, 2025
    0

    Open Source, European, Self-hosted

    GitHub Icon
    Forgejo icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Forgejo is a great GitHub alternative.

    • Forgejo is Free and Open SourceGitHub is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Forgejo is Lightweight, Privacy focused and DecentralizedGitHub is not according to our users
7 of 100 GitHub alternatives