playgroundGitForgeLab/README.md

Internal Forge 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

Comparison

Pricing

Feature	GitLab	Gitea	Forgejo
Free tier	✅	✅	✅
Paid tier (per user/month)	premium: 29$ ultimate: on request	enterprise: 19$	❌ (donation-based)
Information on pricing	info	info	info

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 premium: roadmap	simple kanban	simple kanban
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 and here)
• 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.