When a developer checks in code, it is automatically built and deployed, and automated test cases are also run. We have extensive integration with GitLab, which helps us with source code management. We run the static code analysis using SonarQube.
GitLab Ultimate Self-Managed
GitLabExternal reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Useful for source code management and security purposes
What is our primary use case?
What needs improvement?
Technologies are always changing. Nowadays, new things like serverless computing and workload management have emerged. We have noticed a few gap items for faster service delivery. For example, we do user interface testing in the latest team and automate it using some tools. Recently, we integrated a tool with user interface testing, which can simulate a multi-user environment. So, we would like to see more integration with different platforms.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We normally do load testing for an hour, extending that load with two or three different use cases. We increase the load by two or three times to check how the application responds. This helps us see if the application can withstand increased load, though it may reject messages or requests when it can't handle two to three times the normal load.
We do endurance or soak testing by leaving the system at the rated load, like 300 requests per second, for 12-16 hours to observe stability. We monitor for CPU leakage, memory leakage, queue building, and similar issues. If there are any problems, we fine-tune and fix them. For performance testing, we test at multiple levels: one at the service level and two at the system level. We normally don't test at the integration level.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
My company has 90 users.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's deployment is straightforward. We have containerized applications that are deployed to the environment.
What about the implementation team?
GitLab was deployed in-house.
What was our ROI?
The main value and impact of using the product are significant. We create and maintain vulnerability-free software by integrating tools like ManageEngine, which periodically patches our runtime environments, including operating systems, kernels, and software. Additionally, we run automated Nessus scans periodically, every week and day, to identify new vulnerabilities even after applying patches.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.
We do two levels of security scanning. One is at the build level, where we integrate with security packages and use tools like OWASP for top vulnerability compliance. This ensures that all third-party tools, like Tomcat and JBoss, are scanned as part of the build.
The second level is a reactive scan at runtime. We scan Oracle clients, JDKs, JBoss, Tomcat, Log4j, and other components during runtime. We also consider the operating system's security. Before we complete software testing, we use Nessus to perform a runtime security scan.
Version control history is valuable for our development workflow
What is our primary use case?
We create the pipeline and push it to GitLab to initiate the process. The cloud integration is straightforward.
How has it helped my organization?
When it comes to GitLab's CI/CD integration, it significantly supports our development process by accelerating deployments. With automated pipelines, we can focus more on development tasks without worrying about manual deployments, ultimately speeding up our development cycle.
What is most valuable?
In GitLab, I find the features and version control history to be most valuable for our development workflow. These aspects provide us with a clear view of changes and help us manage requests efficiently. I haven't utilized GitLab's security scanning capabilities yet.
We plan to integrate tools like Sonicheap for code security. Currently, we use another product for security, focusing on Q4 security points.
We have used GitLab's features selectively for added security. We don't store passwords directly but use a secret manager and tools to sync passwords securely to our deployment environment.
What needs improvement?
I believe there's room for improvement in the advanced features, particularly in enhancing the pipeline functionalities. Better integration and usability within the pipeline could make a significant difference in user experience. I would suggest considering new features or functions that could streamline workflows further and make using GitLab even more efficient. Having additional functionalities that cater to specific needs could greatly enhance the overall experience with the platform.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with GitLab for the past 5 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Regarding stability, while I can't rate it on a scale of one to ten, I can say that we've experienced good stability with GitLab, with no downtime or major issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
How are customer service and support?
I've had support from forums like Stack Overflow when needed. In my experience, GitLab integrates well with third-party tools like SonicWall and Slack without any major issues.
How was the initial setup?
The setup process for GitLab is straightforward and easy to use.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Regarding pricing, I would rate GitLab as moderately priced, maybe around a seven or eight out of ten. It could be more flexible for clients but generally offers good value.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When comparing GitLab to competitors like Bitbucket, I find GitLab to be superior, especially in terms of features and functionality. Bitbucket still has its own strengths and is preferred by some organizations.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate GitLab around eight or nine out of ten. I highly recommend it to other users for both company purposes and personal projects. GitLab provides a solid starting point for learning and working efficiently, making it a valuable tool for developers.
Acts as a code base and helps to set up CI/CD pipelines
What is our primary use case?
We have our CI/CD pipelines set up in GitLab. It is our code base.
What is most valuable?
The solution makes the CI/CD pipelines easy to execute.
What needs improvement?
The tool should include a feature that helps to edit the code directly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the product for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't reached out to them yet.
How was the initial setup?
GitLab's deployment is easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
GitLab is cheap.
A scalable tool with an easy initial setup phase useful for building new connectors and preparing scripts
What is our primary use case?
I use GitLab for some of my CyberArk scripting work.
What is most valuable?
GitLab's scoop is like a lifesaver. It's very crucial for us in our company to use some of those scripts from GitLab, either for health checks or building new connectors is very important for us, and at times, with GitLab, you don't even need to build the connectors.
What needs improvement?
Some of the scripts that we encountered in GitLab were not fully functional and threw up errors. The aforementioned area of the solution needs improvement.
In the future, I would like to see GitLab providing more oversight over the coding part.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using GitLab for a couple of years. I use the solution's latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution and seems to be a well-tested product with no issues. I rate the stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution. There are a lot of users on GitLab, so it is a highly scalable product. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten.
GitLab has only two users, including myself, in our company.
We don't have plans in our company to increase the number of users in future.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support is pretty good. If you go on Stack Overflow platform, you can find technical support there. The product's technical team is knowledgeable, responds quickly, and is customer friendly.
I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of GitLab is pretty simple, with no complications.
The deployment process took less than an hour, which means it can be done in around 45 minutes.
The solution can be deployed on the cloud or on-premises version by installing the EXE file.
Only one junior engineer is required for deployment and maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment phase can be done by yourself, in-house.
What was our ROI?
The ROI has been good since we have had no issues so far.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My company uses the free version of GitLab, which is GitLab Community Edition. There is a licensed version also available for GitLab.
What other advice do I have?
I would tell those planning to use the solution to try developing their own scripts in GitLab and then try to download them from the repository there. You build your knowledge while helping others as well.
I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten.
A highly stable and affordable solution that provides good repository management features and support
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for on-premises repository management
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
The documentation is confusing. Sometimes, it is incomplete or has incorrect information. I have informed the vendor about it. Some features in the GitLab Community Edition are not available to us.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for nine months. My organization has been using it for around two years. We are using the latest version of the solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the tool’s stability a ten out of ten. We never faced any downtime.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the scalability of GitLab Community Edition a seven or eight out of ten. The product could improve the scalability of GitLab Community Edition. Around 60 people are using the product in our organization.
How are customer service and support?
Their support is good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easier for someone who knows Linux and has been working as a system administrator. We need to have experience to deploy the solution. It takes around three to four hours to deploy the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are using the open-source version, anyone can download it.
What other advice do I have?
I am my company’s GitLab administrator. Many features we need are available in Enterprise Edition. If we say that we do not have enough features in GitLab Community Edition, GitLab might just ask us to upgrade to Enterprise Edition. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.
Efficiently streamlines and automates tasks
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case is for creating pipelines and automation workflows.
How has it helped my organization?
By streamlining tasks that we used to do on a daily basis and scheduling them.
What is most valuable?
CI/CD, GitLab scanning, and the cloud are the most valuable features.
What needs improvement?
There is room for improvement in GitLab Agents.
I would like to see more features focused on GitLab or CICD. I am not sure if there is a roadmap for GitLab CI/CD Elite.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using GitLab for five years. I am currently using version 14.5.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution. I would rate it an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability of GitLab a three out of ten. It is low.
It can be challenging to scale. Sharing databases and removing multiple VPNs is not easy to handle. GitLab's stability is not as good as other platforms that offer Kubernetes engines. We use OEMs instead.
There are 300 to 400 users in my company. We definitely plan to increase the usage.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are familiar with GitHub.
How was the initial setup?
I'll give the initial setup a six, slightly above average, where one is difficult and ten is easy.
Now we automate everything, so let's say the deployment now takes about one hour to deploy.
What about the implementation team?
For the deployment process, we create a template and prepare the VM on our cloud. Then we deploy the container using the controller, which deploys the solution.
We had IT specialists and engineers for the deployment process.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's a bit tricky because we have a different license. I rate the pricing mode a five out of ten for now, but it might change in the future. We have an educational license, and support is not included.
What other advice do I have?
GitLab offers various services, and it's important to understand which ones you truly need. Service providers might have different capabilities, and compatibility with your existing devices can be a critical issue. We haven't faced many problems with network compatibility or duplicated services so far.
If I could go back in time, I would recommend using GitLab primarily as a reliable repository. For additional features like scanning and monitoring, it might be beneficial to explore other specialized solutions.
Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Good for managing source code
What is our primary use case?
GitLab is a solution for source code management, container registry, pipelines, testing, and deployment.
What needs improvement?
The problem with Git is that it's a solution for managing your source code history. But with Git, you can edit the history, which is not ideal.
Another issue is the pricing model of GitLab.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using GitLab for more than a year. I am using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution. I would rate it a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution. I would scalability rate it a ten out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used GitHub. GitHub did not have a container registry or testing, and it is owned by Microsoft, which raises concerns about ethics. All my decisions are based on ethics.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is reasonably okay. Moreover, it's already in the cloud, so I didn't need to deploy it.
What about the implementation team?
There is no deployment or maintenance staff required.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is a bit high. I'm still on the free plan, but if I wanted to buy it, the pricing would be a bit high. There are not any additional costs associated with the standard license.
What other advice do I have?
GitLab is a good solution. Overall, I would rate it a nine out of ten. I would say it's better than GitHub.