Top Gogs Alternatives for Self-Hosted Git

Gogs offers an incredibly simple, fast, and painless way to set up your own self-hosted Git service. Built with Go, it provides an independent binary distribution across a wide range of platforms including Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and ARM. While Gogs excels in its lightweight nature and ease of deployment, developers often seek alternatives with additional features, broader community support, or different underlying technologies. This article explores some of the best Gogs alternatives available today, catering to diverse project needs and preferences.

Top Gogs Alternatives

Whether you're looking for more robust collaboration tools, advanced CI/CD pipelines, or simply a different flavor of self-hosted Git, these alternatives offer compelling options.

GitHub

GitHub is a widely recognized web-based hosting service for projects leveraging the Git revision control system. It's a freemium service available on Mac, Windows, Web, Android, Windows S, Android Tablet, and BSD. As a Gogs alternative, GitHub offers robust features like file versioning, Git integration, unlimited private repos, IFTTT integration, version and source control, Gist support, bug reporting, distributed systems, and FIDO U2F (2FA) support, making it ideal for collaborative development at scale.

GitLab

GitLab is a powerful web-based Git repository management system that goes beyond simple hosting, offering a comprehensive suite of tools including a wiki, code reviews, issue-tracking, and a robust CI/CD pipeline. It's a freemium, open-source platform available for Linux, Web, BSD, Self-Hosted, Ruby, and Cloudron. GitLab stands out as a Gogs alternative due to its integrated features like unlimited private repos, continuous builds, continuous deployment, continuous integration, private repositories, unlimited users, built-in CI, Jenkins integration, Jira integration, and pipelines, making it a full-fledged DevOps solution.

Bitbucket

Bitbucket provides code collaboration and version control, offering both hosted (freemium) options for limited users and a commercial self-hosted subscription. It's available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, and Self-Hosted platforms. As a Gogs alternative, Bitbucket is a strong contender, particularly for teams needing private repositories, Jira integration for project management, Mercurial support alongside Git integration, real-time collaboration, and comprehensive version and source control capabilities.

Gitea

Gitea is a community-managed fork of Gogs, retaining its lightweight nature as a code hosting solution written in Go and published under the MIT license. This free, open-source alternative runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, BSD, Self-Hosted, Raspberry Pi, and Cloudron. Gitea is an excellent Gogs alternative for those who appreciate the core design but seek active community development, offering features like an included wiki, private repositories, FIDO U2F (2FA) support, Git LFS 2.0 support, GPG Signed Commits, LDAP support, Markdown support, multiple database support, rebase and squash merging, and robust security and privacy features, making it a highly capable and lightweight self-hosted solution.

SourceForge

SourceForge is a well-established web-based source code repository that acts as a centralized location for software developers to control and manage open-source software development. It's a free, web-based platform. While not a self-hosted Git solution like Gogs, SourceForge serves as a valuable Gogs alternative for open-source projects primarily focused on public hosting and general version and source control, offering a historical and widely recognized platform for sharing code.

Trac

Trac is an enhanced wiki and issue tracking system for software development projects, providing a minimalistic approach to web-based software project management. It's a free, open-source platform available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, BSD, and Self-Hosted environments. As a Gogs alternative, Trac focuses more on project management alongside SCM integration, offering features like activity history, helpdesk ticketing, an included wiki, and general SCM integration, making it suitable for teams prioritizing integrated project tracking with their version control.

GitBucket

GitBucket is an easily installable open-source GitHub clone written with Scala, providing a GitHub-like UI and features such as Git repository hosting via HTTP. It's a free, open-source solution for Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Self-Hosted, and Scala platforms. As a Gogs alternative, GitBucket offers a familiar interface and supports the GitHub API, along with private repositories, making it an excellent choice for those seeking a lightweight, self-hostable Git service with a user experience reminiscent of GitHub.

GitPrep

GitPrep is designed as a portable GitHub clone, allowing users to install a GitHub-like system on Unix/Linux, create users, and manage repositories. It's a free, open-source tool available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Self-Hosted, and Perl platforms. As a Gogs alternative, GitPrep excels in providing a lightweight and portable Git hosting solution, featuring essential capabilities like forking support and robust Git integration, catering to users who need a self-contained GitHub-like environment.

NotABug.org

NotABug.org is a free, open-source Git source code hosting service, conceptually similar to GitHub and GitLab. It's a web-based platform. As a Gogs alternative, NotABug.org provides a straightforward hosting solution for both public and private repositories with strong GIT support, making it a viable option for those looking for a free and open-source managed service without the overhead of self-hosting.

Kallithea

Kallithea is a free software source code management system that distinguishes itself by supporting two leading version control systems: Mercurial and Git. It's a free, open-source solution available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Self-Hosted, and Python platforms. As a Gogs alternative, Kallithea is particularly strong for environments requiring both Git and Mercurial support, offering advanced features like code review, developer tools, a flexible permission system, real-time collaboration, and comprehensive version and source control, catering to diverse VCS needs.

Each of these Gogs alternatives offers a unique blend of features, deployment options, and community support. By carefully considering your team's specific requirements, project scale, and preferred development workflow, you can select the best self-hosted Git solution or managed service that aligns perfectly with your needs.