Gitea vs GitLab

Why Switch from GitLab to Gitea?

GitLab has evolved from a simple Git hosting platform into a massive DevOps suite that tries to do everything: source control, CI/CD, container registry, security scanning, project management, and more. While comprehensive, this approach results in a heavyweight application that demands significant server resources, costs more to operate, and introduces complexity that many teams simply do not need. GitLab’s SaaS offering also processes data on US infrastructure, creating data sovereignty concerns for European organizations.

Gitea, maintained by Gitea Limited in the Netherlands, takes the opposite approach. It is a lightweight, focused Git hosting platform that does one thing exceptionally well: hosting and managing Git repositories with a clean, GitHub-like interface. Gitea runs on minimal hardware — a single instance can serve a development team on a machine with just 1 GB of RAM, compared to GitLab’s recommended 8 GB minimum.

For European development teams that want complete ownership of their source code, Gitea’s self-hosted model is compelling. Your repositories, issues, pull requests, and CI/CD pipelines run on your own infrastructure within EU jurisdiction, with no data leaving your control. The MIT license means there are no proprietary features locked behind enterprise paywalls — every feature is available to everyone.

The trade-off is clear: Gitea sacrifices GitLab’s breadth for simplicity, speed, and sovereignty. For teams that need a reliable Git platform without the overhead of a full DevOps suite, that trade-off is well worth making.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Gitea	GitLab
Git repository hosting	✅ Full-featured	✅ Full-featured
Pull/merge requests	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Issue tracking	✅ Yes	✅ Yes (with boards, epics)
CI/CD	✅ Gitea Actions (GitHub Actions compatible)	✅ GitLab CI/CD (mature, comprehensive)
Container registry	✅ Built-in	✅ Built-in
Security scanning (SAST/DAST)	❌ Not built-in	✅ Built-in (Ultimate tier)
Resource requirements	✅ 1 GB RAM, 1 CPU	❌ 8 GB RAM, 4 CPUs recommended
Open source	✅ MIT license, all features free	⚠️ Core open source, premium features paid
Self-hosted ease	✅ Single binary, 5-minute setup	⚠️ Complex, Omnibus or Helm install
Data sovereignty	✅ Your servers, your rules	⚠️ SaaS on US servers; self-hosted option available
Company HQ	Netherlands 🇳🇱	United States 🇺🇸

Pricing

Gitea’s pricing reflects its open-source roots:

• Gitea Self-Hosted (Open Source): Free forever — all features, MIT license, no user limits
• Gitea Cloud Free: Free for individuals — limited repositories and storage
• Gitea Cloud Team: From $9/user/month — managed hosting with support
• Gitea Enterprise: Custom pricing — self-hosted with commercial support and SLA
• GitLab Free (SaaS): Free — 5 GB storage, 400 CI/CD minutes/month
• GitLab Premium: $29/user/month — advanced CI/CD, security, and compliance
• GitLab Ultimate: $99/user/month — full DevSecOps platform

For a self-hosted deployment, Gitea is free regardless of team size. A 50-person development team using Gitea saves approximately $17,400/year compared to GitLab Premium, plus significantly less on hosting costs due to lower resource requirements.

Who Should Switch?

Gitea is ideal for:

• Development teams that want a fast, clean Git platform without DevOps bloat
• European organizations requiring complete data sovereignty over source code
• Small to mid-sized teams that do not need GitLab’s enterprise project management features
• Cost-conscious teams that want professional Git hosting without per-user SaaS fees
• Privacy-focused developers who prefer self-hosted infrastructure they fully control

The European Advantage

Gitea’s self-hosted model provides the strongest possible form of data sovereignty: your source code never leaves your own infrastructure. For European organizations, this means repositories, CI/CD secrets, access tokens, and developer communications stay within EU borders on servers you control, with no dependency on any US-hosted SaaS platform.

Gitea Limited, registered in the Netherlands, develops the platform under EU jurisdiction. The MIT open-source license ensures complete transparency — every line of code is auditable, and there is no risk of a proprietary vendor changing terms, raising prices, or restricting access. This is digital sovereignty in its purest form.

For organizations subject to NIS2, DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act for financial entities), or other EU regulations requiring control over critical software supply chains, self-hosting Gitea on EU infrastructure provides a compliance posture that no US-hosted SaaS platform can match. Your intellectual property — your source code — stays exactly where European law says it should: under your control, in your jurisdiction.

---

Looking for more European developer tools? See also: GitLab vs GitHub and JetBrains vs VS Code.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Gitea and how is it related to Europe?

Gitea is an open-source, self-hosted Git service that started as a fork of Gogs. The company behind it, Gitea Limited, is registered in the Netherlands. The platform is developed by a global open-source community with significant European contributor presence. Being self-hosted, Gitea gives European organizations complete data sovereignty — your source code stays on your servers within EU jurisdiction.

How does Gitea compare to GitLab in terms of resource usage?

Gitea is dramatically more lightweight than GitLab. A Gitea instance can run comfortably on a server with 1 GB of RAM and a single CPU core, while GitLab's recommended minimum is 8 GB of RAM and 4 CPU cores. For small teams or resource-constrained environments, this difference translates to significant cost savings on hosting infrastructure.

Does Gitea have CI/CD capabilities?

Yes. Gitea Actions, introduced in Gitea 1.19, provides CI/CD capabilities that are compatible with GitHub Actions workflow syntax. This means existing GitHub Actions workflows can often run on Gitea with minimal modification. However, Gitea's CI/CD is newer and less feature-complete than GitLab CI/CD, which offers a mature, deeply integrated pipeline system.

Can I migrate from GitLab to Gitea?

Yes. Gitea includes built-in migration tools that can import repositories, issues, pull requests, labels, milestones, and releases from GitLab, GitHub, Bitbucket, and other Git platforms. The migration process is straightforward and preserves most metadata. Large organizations with hundreds of repositories may want to script the migration using Gitea's REST API.

Is Gitea suitable for enterprise use?

Gitea is well-suited for small to mid-sized teams that value simplicity and resource efficiency. For enterprise use, Gitea Limited offers commercial support and Gitea Cloud (managed hosting). However, organizations requiring advanced DevSecOps features, SAST/DAST scanning, compliance dashboards, and enterprise project management may find GitLab's comprehensive platform a better fit.