# Internal Forge Comparison

This repository lists the pros and cons of three popular open-source Git forges (**GitLab CE**, **Gitea**, and **Forgejo**) based on a side-by-side comparison in a self-hosted test lab on a single VPS ([github.com/matteodelucchi/gitforgelab](https://github.com/matteodelucchi/gitforgelab)).
The goal is to provide a practical reference for teams and organizations evaluating which Git forge best fits their needs, based on real-world usage and feature comparisons.

## Why This Exists
Choosing the right Git forge for a team or company is not trivial. 
Each platform differs in resource usage, feature set, administration complexity, and SSO integration. 
This lab deploys all three behind a shared reverse proxy with centralised OIDC authentication so they can be evaluated under identical conditions (same hardware, same identity provider, same workflow).

The entire infrastructure is defined as code (Terraform + Ansible + Docker Compose) and can be torn down and recreated in minutes.

## Limitations
This is a **test lab**, not a production deployment.
- Runs on a **single VPS**. There is no high-availability, redundancy, or horizontal scaling.
- **SSH Git access is disabled**; repositories are accessed over HTTPS only.
- All services share **one PostgreSQL and one Redis** instance to save resources.
- GitLab is **memory-tuned aggressively** (2 Puma workers, 5 Sidekiq concurrency) and will be slow under real workloads.
- No backup strategy is included.

# Comparison
## Quick decision guide

| If we want…                                                                                                                | Choose      |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- |
| A **complete DevOps platform** with integrated CI/CD, package registry, security scanning, and enterprise features         | **GitLab**  |
| A **lightweight, easy-to-operate Git server** with minimal resource usage                                                  | **Gitea**   |
| A **community-driven forge** similar to Gitea but with **built-in CI (Forgejo Actions)** and future **federation support** | **Forgejo** |

A more detailed comparison that covers forgejo specific features and limitations is available in the [forgejo.org/compare](https://forgejo.org/compare/).

## Forgejo vs. Gitea: What the Community Says

- [Same but different](https://forgejo.org/compare-to-gitea/). Forgejo is a hard fork of Gitea, so they share the same codebase and many features. 
- However, Forgejo has a [more active development](https://honeypot.net/2025/05/14/gitea-vs-forgejo-development-activity.html) and a more open governance model, which allows it to evolve faster and to include features that are not present in Gitea (e.g. Forgejo Actions, ...)
- Many people and companies move from gitea to forgejo [reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1rlrgbw/how_are_the_differences_between_gitea_and_forgejo/).


## Forgejo vs. Gitlab: What the Community Says

- Fedora moves to Forgejo: [Fedora Magazine](https://fedoramagazine.org/fedora-moves-towards-forgejo-a-unified-decision/)
   - The Fedora Team compared intensively GitLab and Forgejo before choosing the latter. The report is [here](https://fedora-arc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/dist-git-comparison/index.html).
- Forgejo is prefered over GitLab by many Software specialists. 
  One of the reasons is that GitLab is a very resource intensive application (because i.a. its written in Ruby) and that it has a very complex architecture (many services, many dependencies). 
  Forgejo is written in Go (more efficient and state-of-the-art) and has a much simpler architecture. 
   - [ycombinator](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46097220)
   - lwn.net: [Forgejo vs GitHub vs gitlab](https://lwn.net/Articles/1041447/)

## Pricing
| Feature                                   | GitLab | Gitea | Forgejo |
|-------------------------------------------|:------------------:|:-----------------:|:-------------------:|
| Free tier                                 | ✅  | ✅  | ✅  |
| Paid tier (per user/month)                 | **premium**: 29\$<br>**ultimate**: on request | **enterprise**: 19\$ |  ❌ (donation-based) |
| Information on pricing                       | [**info**](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/?deployment=self-managed-deployment) | [**info**](https://about.gitea.com/pricing/) | [**info**](https://liberapay.com/forgejo) |

## Core Git Features

| Feature                    | GitLab | Gitea | Forgejo |
|---------------------------|:------:|:-----:|:-------:|
| Git repositories          |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |
| Git LFS support           |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |
| Git tags for releases     |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |
| Protected branches        |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |
| Repository mirroring      |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |
| Webhooks                  |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |

## Collaboration and Project Management
| Feature                           | GitLab | Gitea | Forgejo |
|----------------------------------|:------:|:-----:|:-------:|
| Issues                           |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |
| Pull / merge requests            |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |
| Pull request reviewer assignment |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |
| Pull request inline comments     |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |
| Wiki (per repository)            |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |
| Snippets / gists                 |  ✅  | ⚠️ limited | ⚠️ limited |
| Project management                        | **free**: simple kanban<br>**premium**: [roadmap](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/group/roadmap/) | [simple kanban](https://forum.gitea.com/t/gantt-diagrams-for-issues/788/3) | [simple kanban](https://forgejo.org/docs/next/user/project/) |
| Organization / group hierarchy   |  ✅  | ⚠️ simpler model | ⚠️ simpler model |
| Code search (global)             |  ✅  | ⚠️ limited | ⚠️ limited |
| Repository mirroring (push/pull)         |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅  |

## CI/CD and Automation
| Feature                         | GitLab | Gitea | Forgejo |
|--------------------------------|:------:|:-----:|:-------:|
| Built-in CI/CD                          | ✅built-in Gitlab CI/CD |️ ❌ external CI (woodpecker/Drone) | ✅Forgejo Actions (Github-Actions compatible)  |
| Automated workflows            |  ✅  | ⚠️ external CI required |  ✅ |
| Workflow triggers              |  ✅  | ⚠️ depends on CI integration |  ✅ |
| External CI integration        |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅ |

## Artifacts & Registries
| Feature                    | GitLab | Gitea | Forgejo |
|---------------------------|:------:|:-----:|:-------:|
| Package registry          |  ✅  | ⚠️ limited ecosystem support |  ✅ |
| Container registry        |  ✅  | ⚠️ plugin / external registry | ⚠️ evolving support |

## Authentication and Access Control
| Feature                       | GitLab | Gitea | Forgejo |
|------------------------------|:------:|:-----:|:-------:|
| Access control               |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅ |
| LDAP / Active Directory      |  ✅  |  ✅  |  ✅ |
| SAML / enterprise SSO        | ⚠️ enterprise tier | ❌ not supported | ❌ not supported |
| Federation between instances | ❌ not supported | ❌ not supported | ⚠️ planned (ForgeFed) |

## Operations / Self-Hosting
| Feature                | GitLab | Gitea | Forgejo |
|-----------------------|:------:|:-----:|:-------:|
| Resource footprint    | ❌ heavy (many services) |  ✅ light |  ✅ light |
| Deployment complexity | ❌ complex |  ✅ simple |  ✅ simple |

# Notes on the test project setup:

## Gitea
- SSH is disabled by default, so we use HTTPS to clone the repository.
   - it can be enabled in the Gitea settings if needed (see [here](https://forum.gitea.com/t/how-do-i-enable-ssh-on-a-gitea-self-hosted-instance/10044/3) and [here](https://forum.gitea.com/t/how-to-set-ssh-to-alow-users-with-gite-account-to-clone-via-ssh/2297/5))
- HTTPS: works, but requires the user to set a password manually in the profile first. That's unexpected since it should be inherited by authentik. Probably a misconfiguration from there.

## Forgejo
- SSH is disabled by default, so we use HTTPS to clone the repository. Same as with Gitea.
- HTTPS: Same as with Gitea.

## Gitlab
- SSH is active by default. But the port is wrongly configured and probably already used by the host...
- HTTPS: works well.