Built-in CI/CD for GitLab: pipelines defined in .gitlab-ci.yml, runners on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and Auto DevOps for opinionated deploys. GitLab Duo brings AI code suggestions, vulnerability explanations, root cause analysis on failed jobs, and chat-based incident triage. The single-application platform sell remains its differentiator vs GitHub plus add-ons.
No pricing data on file.
GitLab CI/CD is the integrated pipeline engine of the broader GitLab platform — same YAML model as Actions but with a stronger story for self-managed installations and a tighter binding to GitLab's own merge requests, container registry, package registry, and security scanning. Auto DevOps gives a working pipeline for new projects without writing any YAML, and the GitLab Duo AI features now generate pipeline configs and explain failed jobs in the MR comment thread.
High fit for organizations that have standardized on self-managed GitLab — DevSecOps shops, regulated industries, and large enterprises that want a single platform for source, CI, registry, and SAST/DAST scanning. The integrated security scanners are credible enough that some teams skip a dedicated AppSec vendor entirely.
Watch out for: the runner model is more complex than GitHub's — autoscaling Docker, Kubernetes, and shell executors each have their own quirks, and self-managed users own all of it. Pipeline configs sprawl quickly, and includes/extends rules can produce inheritance graphs that are genuinely hard to reason about. GitLab.com SaaS minutes are pricier per-minute than GitHub Actions on equivalent runners.
