To store the data.
GitLab Premium
GitLabExternal reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Basic features work well but improvements in efficiency and security are needed
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Git merging allows us to track the details of how and who has done what. This is the best feature which is useful for all companies.
As we are using it in Kubernetes clusters, we don't have any issues.
What needs improvement?
GitLab needs to improve the CI/CD functionality because it is not compatible with Jenkins and other tools, as it is not that efficient. Security-wise, we have security features enabled in GitLab for code vulnerability and other aspects, but it is not up to market standards.
For how long have I used the solution?
Approximately four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Recently we had an issue where an employee left the company and their commits were erased. We raised a request with GitLab support, but they were unable to help because they could not find the root cause of what went wrong. We restored the data from previous backups.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
GitLab is suitable for small and mid-size organizations, but not for enterprise use.
How are customer service and support?
We raised a request with GitLab support when an employee's commits were erased, but they were unable to help because they could not find the root cause of what went wrong.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I worked with GitLab Enterprise at a previous company. GitLab Enterprise is far better than the free version. For enterprise-level customers, we can recommend GitLab Enterprise. Regarding competitors, we have explored GitHub, Bitbucket, and CircleCI. However, GitLab Enterprise has more features than any of these tools.
What about the implementation team?
I am working with Kyndryl, which is part of IBM. They have their own decision-making team who manages these aspects.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are currently using general GitLab, not GitLab Premium.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are using Jira and Confluence, but not Bitbucket.
What other advice do I have?
We are currently using GitLab integrated with Sonar for code vulnerability checks, Jenkins, Camunda, and XL Deploy. We use Camunda to deploy folders and XL Deploy for server deployment.
We are not using the security features on the GitLab side, as we use different tools for that purpose. My team is not using the GitLab merge request process, but we work on providing GitLab access for admin activities, as developers are in different teams handling development and merge requests.
We are using basic features currently, so I cannot comment on detailed functionality comparisons. Every versioning control tool provides similar basic features, and we are not utilizing the full functionality of GitLab.
The system is easy to use.
On a scale of 1-10, this solution rates a 7.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Efficient Code Version and DevOps platform with powerful CI/CD
Freedom and collaboration without the mess
I'm a bit OCD maybe but "merge request" is more accurate than "pull request" as github calls it. So it feels more 'technically correct'. All the usual integrations exists, very easily links to IntelliJ products, as command line of course still remains there for the die hards. I use gitlab every day, multiple times a day. It's part of my software engineering workflow.
To get started, there's some clicking around to find your way, but it becomes natural to understand when youknow the basics. Especially good are the features to resolve merge conflicts by editing online and running interactive merge tools online, as well as the interactive CI configuration editor.
Self-hosted, while that brings it's benefits, can be slow, and combined with the clicking around to figure stuff out, makes it feel a bit clunky. SaaS cloud hosted is much better and faster, but of course you pay for that.
As an "end user" it's easy to get going with gitlab, and there's endless community support as well as customer support. Though you can see some feature requests do lag for a long time until getting resolved.
As an admin, integrating Gitlab could be worse than it is, but it's way better to maintain and operate than doing without it.
I am now very happy that my pipeline, after merging can build, release and the deploy new services in one click - fire and forget. And as a bonus optional one-click to deploy a merge request into a dev environment for testing. Really sweet.
Excellent all-in-one solution for code hosting, CI/CD, and team collaboration
Powerful but complex
Comprehensive devops platform
All-in-One DevOps Platform That Simplifies CI/CD and Collaboration
Smooth teamwork and project tracking
Best CI/CD tool in the market
Advanced automation streamlines development and enhances code integration
How has it helped my organization?
The merge request features in GitLab Premium impact development processes significantly because it's a collaboration tool. Different developers can work on their portion and then request a merge. The person can merge all the codes together into a main branch, and when deployed, everything would be deployed together.
What is most valuable?
The features in GitLab Premium that are the most useful include CI/CD capabilities and code check-ins.
The main benefits from advanced CI/CD capabilities in GitLab Premium include automation to pull and merge the codes together, and it's all done automatically. Users can set this up, making it quite straightforward. From coding to deployment, if the whole process is automated properly, it's a matter of seconds.
The security management functionality in GitLab Premium provides some application security testing, which is adequate. However, for a full security suite, upgrading to Ultimate is necessary.
What needs improvement?
In terms of improvement for GitLab Premium, not necessarily GitLab Premium specifically but GitLab as a whole could enhance features on the project management side. They could look at their sprints based on effort rather than by weightage or by the number of issues. Additionally, it's important to ensure that deployed code is authentic and hasn't been modified by unauthorized parties.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not faced any issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
GitLab Premium is a scalable solution that can be easily scaled by adding licenses.
How are customer service and support?
I have had the opportunity to talk with technical support for some issues, and they were quick to respond.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The setup experience for GitLab Premium is easy.
On a scale from one to ten, where ten means very easy setup, I would rate it an eight.
Deploying GitLab Premium for the first time takes about a day to set things up properly. Once it has been set up, the deployment from code to production runs in minutes.
What other advice do I have?
GitLab has their own AI chatbot, GitLab Duo, but when they introduced it to us, it was still very new. I have not had a chance to explore it yet.
Regarding the cost of GitLab Premium, they recently revised their price, but we received the earlier price, and they maintained it, making it reasonable.
For those planning to use GitLab Premium, it's beneficial for code repository management and automates many tasks. Setup is required once, and multiple deployments can be performed afterward.
I would give GitLab Premium a total rating of eight out of ten.