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GitLab vs Octopus Deploy: What are the differences?
Introduction:
GitLab and Octopus Deploy are two popular software development tools that serve different purposes in the development process. GitLab is a web-based Git repository management solution that provides version control functionalities, while Octopus Deploy focuses on continuous deployment and release automation. Despite their overlapping functionalities, there are key differences between the two platforms that make them suitable for different stages of the development workflow.
Integration with Different Tools: GitLab offers a comprehensive set of features for source code management, project management, continuous integration, and continuous deployment, all within a single tool. It provides a seamless integration of all these functionalities, allowing developers to manage their entire development process in one place. On the other hand, Octopus Deploy focuses solely on deployment and orchestration, providing integration with various tools like Jenkins, TeamCity, and Bamboo, enabling developers to automate their release pipeline efficiently.
Version Control vs. Deployment and Release Automation: GitLab is primarily a version control tool that allows developers to track and manage changes to their source code. It provides functionalities like branching, merging, and code review, facilitating collaboration and version control. However, Octopus Deploy is dedicated to deployment and release automation, focusing on simplifying the process of deploying applications to different environments while maintaining control and visibility over the release pipeline.
GitLab's Emphasis on Collaboration and Code Management: GitLab places a strong emphasis on collaboration and code management, offering features like code review, issue tracking, and project management functionalities. It provides a platform for developers to work together, manage their code efficiently, and track issues and progress using agile methodologies. Octopus Deploy, on the other hand, is designed to streamline deployment workflows, focusing on release automation, environment management, and deployment orchestration.
Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment Capabilities: GitLab provides built-in continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) capabilities, allowing developers to automate the process of building, testing, and deploying their applications. It provides a pipeline configuration file called
.gitlab-ci.ymlthat enables developers to define their CI/CD workflows and automate the entire process. While Octopus Deploy integrates with CI tools, it does not provide built-in CI functionalities and is primarily focused on the deployment and release aspects of the development process.Scalability and Flexibility: GitLab is known for its scalability and flexibility, offering both self-hosted and cloud-hosted options. It can be configured according to the requirements of the development team and can handle projects of any size, ranging from small teams to large enterprises. Octopus Deploy also offers scalability, but it is more suitable for medium to large-sized organizations where deployment and release automation are crucial aspects of the development process.
Pricing and Licensing: GitLab has a transparent pricing model and offers both free and paid options based on the features and services required. It provides various licensing options, including self-managed and cloud-hosted solutions. Octopus Deploy follows a licensing model based on the number of deployment targets and users. It offers a free version for small teams and paid options for larger organizations, making it more suitable for enterprise-level deployments.
**In Summary, GitLab is a comprehensive platform for version control, project management, and CI/CD, while Octopus Deploy focuses on deployment and release automation, providing integration with various tools and emphasizing deployment workflows.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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!
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.
Pros of GitLab
- Self hosted508
- Free431
- Has community edition339
- Easy setup242
- Familiar interface240
- Includes many features, including ci137
- Nice UI113
- Good integration with gitlabci84
- Simple setup57
- Has an official mobile app35
- Free private repository34
- Continuous Integration31
- Open source, great ui (like github)23
- Slack Integration18
- Full CI flow15
- Free and unlimited private git repos11
- All in one (Git, CI, Agile..)10
- User, group, and project access management is simple10
- Intuitive UI8
- Built-in CI8
- Full DevOps suite with Git6
- Both public and private Repositories6
- Integrated Docker Registry5
- So easy to use5
- CI5
- Build/pipeline definition alongside code5
- It's powerful source code management tool5
- Dockerized4
- It's fully integrated4
- On-premises4
- Security and Stable4
- Unlimited free repos & collaborators4
- Not Microsoft Owned4
- Excellent4
- Issue system4
- Mattermost Chat client4
- Great for team collaboration3
- Free private repos3
- Because is the best remote host for git repositories3
- Built-in Docker Registry3
- Opensource3
- Low maintenance cost due omnibus-deployment3
- I like the its runners and executors feature3
- Beautiful2
- Groups of groups2
- Multilingual interface2
- Powerful software planning and maintaining tools2
- Review Apps feature2
- Kubernetes integration with GitLab CI2
- One-click install through DigitalOcean2
- Powerful Continuous Integration System2
- It includes everything I need, all packaged with docker2
- The dashboard with deployed environments2
- HipChat intergration2
- Many private repo2
- Kubernetes Integration2
- Published IP list for whitelisting (gl-infra#434)2
- Wounderful2
- Native CI2
- Supports Radius/Ldap & Browser Code Edits1
Pros of Octopus Deploy
- Powerful30
- Simplicity25
- Easy to learn20
- .Net oriented17
- Easy to manage releases and rollback14
- Allows multitenancy8
- Nice interface4
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Cons of GitLab
- Slow ui performance28
- Introduce breaking bugs every release9
- Insecure (no published IP list for whitelisting)6
- Built-in Docker Registry2
- Review Apps feature1
Cons of Octopus Deploy
- Poor UI4
- Config & variables not versioned (e.g. in git)2
- Management of Config2
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