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Developer Tools3 alternatives·~$29/mo to replace

3 Best GitLab Alternatives for Small Teams (2026)

GitLab averages $29/user/month. Below are 3 hand-picked alternatives (3 of them free or open-source) with verified pricing and honest pros and cons. Ranked by potential savings.

Quick pick

If you’re short on time, the best free pick is Gitea (Open source) — Lightweight self-hosted Git service. Includes issues, pull requests, CI/CD, packages, and wiki. Written in Go.

For a deeper read, scroll the full list below. Each entry covers price, what type of alternative it is, and the official website.

All 3 alternatives, ranked by savings

  1. #1

    Gitea

    Open sourceFree · saves 100% vs GitLab

    Lightweight self-hosted Git service. Includes issues, pull requests, CI/CD, packages, and wiki. Written in Go.

    gitea.io ↗
  2. #2

    Forgejo

    Open sourceFree · saves 100% vs GitLab

    Community-driven Gitea fork. Self-hosted Git with CI/CD, packages, and federation support.

    forgejo.org ↗
  3. #3

    OneDev

    Open sourceFree · saves 100% vs GitLab

    Open-source DevOps platform with Git hosting, CI/CD, issue tracking, and Kanban boards. Self-hosted.

    onedev.io ↗

How to actually pick one

Three-question filter:

  1. Can you self-host? If yes, the open-source picks usually win on cost and data ownership.
  2. Will the alternative cover ≥80% of your current use case? Don’t switch for a 50% feature match — the hidden cost of workflow re-learning outweighs the savings.
  3. What does the renewal math say? Calculate 12 months of cost on the alternative vs. GitLab, then subtract switching cost (estimated at ~1 work week).

See also