Code hosting and CI · Comparison
GitHub vs GitLab vs Bitbucket: GitHub leads at 9.2; 10 developers from $40 to $290
We read the pricing, security and docs pages of three code hosting and CI services on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. How each one bills, what 10 developers and 3,000 CI minutes cost, and who should pick which.
On this page8 sections
On six indicators read from each vendor's public pages, GitHub scores 9.2, GitLab 7.2 and Bitbucket 6.2 out of 10. For our reference scenario, 10 developers with private repositories using 3,000 Linux CI minutes a month, GitHub lists the lowest price ($40 on Team), Bitbucket comes to $46.50 on Standard, and GitLab to $290 on Premium, billed annually, because its free plan stops at five users. GitHub tops four of six items: the scenario price, a free plan without a user cap, compliance with EU data residency at a listed price, and pricing clarity. GitLab leads on CI minutes and team controls: 10,000 minutes, SAML SSO and audit events on its entry paid plan.
All three price per user, but put SSO, audit logs and security scanning on different plans or add-ons, so the scenario figures are not like for like. The scores measure what the public pages commit to, not code review, pipeline features or how a product feels to use, and we did not sign up for any of the three.
At a glance
| GitHub | GitLab | Bitbucket | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Repos and Actions CI, per user | One DevSecOps platform, per user | Git and Pipelines, linked to Jira |
| Free plan | Unlimited users, 2,000 CI minutes | 5 users, 400 CI minutes | 5 users, 50 build minutes |
| 10 developers, 3,000 CI minutes/mo | $40 (Team) | $290 (Premium, annual) | $46.50 (Standard + 1,000 minutes) |
| CI minutes, entry paid plan | 3,000; then $6 per 1,000 | 10,000; then $10 per 1,000 | 2,500; then $10 per 1,000 |
| SAML SSO | Enterprise (from $21/user) | Premium | Atlassian Guard add-on |
| EU data residency | Enterprise (GHE.com) | GitLab Dedicated, by demo | Not listed for Bitbucket |
| Self-managed | Enterprise Server, in Enterprise | Free, Premium, Ultimate | Not sold to new customers |
| Score (public pages) | 9.2 Excellent | 7.2 Good | 6.2 Good |
What the public pages show
GitHub prices per user a month: Free ($0, 2,000 CI minutes), Team ($4, 3,000) and Enterprise (from $21, 50,000). Free has unlimited private collaborators. Team adds required reviewers and code owners in private repositories; Enterprise adds SAML SSO, data residency on GHE.com (EU, Australia, US, Japan), SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2 reports and GitHub Enterprise Server. Secret Protection ($19) and Code Security ($30) are add-ons per active committer.
GitLab has Free (five users per private group, 400 compute minutes), Premium ($29 per user billed annually, 10,000 minutes) and Ultimate (custom pricing, 50,000 minutes). The docs put SAML SSO, group audit events and approval rules on Premium; basic SAST and secret detection run on every tier, and full scanning is in Ultimate. The same tiers run self-managed, and GitLab Dedicated hosts in a region you choose. GitLab.com is hosted in the USA.
Bitbucket has Free (up to 5 users, 50 build minutes), Standard ($3.65 per user, 2,500 minutes) and Premium ($8, 3,500 minutes, enforced merge checks and IP allowlisting). SAML SSO and the organization audit log need Atlassian Guard, which showed $3 per user at 10 users. Bitbucket Cloud is in scope for Atlassian's SOC 2 and ISO 27001, but not on its data residency list.
Strengths and things to know
GitHub. Strengths: the lowest listed price in the scenario, a free plan with no user cap, the cheapest extra Linux minutes, EU residency at a listed price, and an audit log on every organization plan. Things to know: SAML SSO needs Enterprise, scanning is priced per active committer, Copilot code review uses Actions minutes, and larger runners are always billed.
GitLab. Strengths: SAML SSO, audit events and approval rules on the entry paid plan, the most included CI minutes, self-managed at the same listed price, and basic scanning on every tier. Things to know: ten developers need Premium at $290 a month, hosted runners on Free need a card, Ultimate is priced by sales, and EU hosting means Dedicated.
Bitbucket. Strengths: the lowest price per user, Jira integration on every plan, SAML SSO through Guard without an enterprise plan, and free self-hosted runners. Things to know: no self-managed option for new customers, no data residency, enforced merge checks need Premium, and annual plans start paying for extra usage on Dec 3, 2026.
Pricing reality
All three charge per user, plus CI minutes beyond the plan. Reference scenario: 10 developers with private repositories using 3,000 minutes a month on the default hosted Linux runner, no security add-ons, at the lowest listed rates.
| Service | Plan | Monthly cost | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub | Team | $40 | 10 × $4; 3,000 minutes included |
| Bitbucket | Standard | $46.50 | 10 × $3.65 = $36.50, plus $10 for 1,000 more minutes |
| GitLab | Premium | $290 | 10 × $29, billed annually; 10,000 minutes included |
Bitbucket's figure rests on an assumption its pricing page cannot settle: it says you can buy 1,000 more minutes for $10, but not whether 500 extra minutes are billed per minute. Billed per minute at the same rate, Standard would be $41.50 (our arithmetic). GitLab's Free plan stops at five users in a private group, so ten developers need Premium.
The ranking changes once you add controls. With SAML SSO, GitHub moves to Enterprise at 10 × $21 = $210, GitLab stays at $290, and Bitbucket Standard plus Atlassian Guard Standard ($3 per user at 10 users) comes to $76.50. Code and secret scanning on GitHub add 10 × ($19 + $30) = $490 for 10 active committers; full scanning on GitLab is in Ultimate, priced by sales.
How we scored them
Every product in this category is scored on the same six indicators, read from the vendor's own pricing, security or docs pages, with fixed formulas. The overall score is the plain mean. Our methodology page explains how these scores work.
| Indicator | GitHub | GitLab | Bitbucket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing clarity | 9 | 7 | 7 |
| Free tier | 10 | 6 | 4.6 |
| Price for 10 developers and 3,000 CI minutes | 9 | 2.4 | 8.5 |
| CI minutes and runners | 8.2 | 9 | 7.2 |
| Compliance and data residency | 10 | 9 | 6 |
| Team and control | 9 | 9.5 | 4 |
| Overall | 9.2 | 7.2 | 6.2 |
GitLab loses most on the scenario price, because ten developers need Premium, and on clarity, because Ultimate is priced by sales. Bitbucket loses most on team and control: SSO and the organization audit log are an add-on, enforced merge checks need Premium, and no self-managed version is sold to new customers. It also loses three clarity points for gaps on its pages. GitHub's lost points come from SSO starting on Enterprise, an Enterprise price given only as "starting at", fewer included minutes than GitLab, and a scenario price above the $30 top of the scale.
The rubric rewards what a buyer can confirm before signing up. It has no item for security scanning depth, where GitLab Ultimate and GitHub's add-ons go further than the pricing pages can show, or for Jira integration, Bitbucket's main draw. Hands-on runs will add that later.
Who should choose which
- Choose GitHub if price per developer matters most, you want a free plan for more than five people, or you may need EU data residency or a self-managed server later. Look elsewhere if you need SAML SSO without an Enterprise seat.
- Choose GitLab if you need SSO, audit events and approval rules on the entry paid plan, use more than 3,000 CI minutes a month, or want the same platform self-managed. Look elsewhere if you want the lowest price for a small team.
- Choose Bitbucket if your team plans in Jira and wants the lowest per-user price, with SSO through Atlassian Guard. Look elsewhere if you need EU data residency or a self-managed code host.
Bottom line
From public pages alone, GitHub covers the reference team for the least money and lists the most compliance options at a published price. GitLab costs most for 10 developers but includes the most CI minutes and team controls in its entry paid plan. Bitbucket is the low-cost choice for Jira teams, with SSO as an add-on and no data residency.
How we checked
We read the vendors' pricing pages, billing and licensing FAQs, security or trust pages and documentation on Oct 15, 2026, and set Atlassian's team-size selectors to 10 users for the Bitbucket and Guard prices. We did not sign up, push code or run a pipeline. Facts the pages did not state, such as whether Bitbucket asks for a card to use free build minutes, are left out rather than guessed. Every figure is on the vendors' pages as of that date or, where marked, computed from them.
