GitLab CE vs Gitea: Which Should You Self-Host?

Quick Verdict

Gitea is the right choice for most self-hosters who need Git hosting with pull requests. It runs on 200 MB of RAM, starts in seconds, and covers everything a small-to-medium team needs for code collaboration. GitLab CE only makes sense if you need integrated CI/CD, a container registry, and issue boards tightly coupled with your Git platform — and you’re willing to dedicate 4-8 GB of RAM to get them.

Overview

GitLab CE is the Community Edition of GitLab — a monolithic DevOps platform that bundles Git hosting, CI/CD pipelines, issue tracking, a container registry, wikis, and package management into a single application. It’s the self-hosted version of gitlab.com, minus the premium features.

Gitea is a lightweight, Go-based Git forge modeled after GitHub. It provides Git hosting, pull requests, issue tracking, and a package registry in a single binary that runs on minimal resources. It does not include CI/CD — you need a separate tool like Woodpecker CI or Drone for that.

Feature Comparison

Feature	GitLab CE	Gitea
Git hosting	Yes	Yes
Pull/merge requests	Yes (merge requests)	Yes (pull requests)
Issue tracking	Yes — boards, milestones, weights, iterations	Yes — labels, milestones, assignees
Built-in CI/CD	Yes — GitLab CI/CD	No — requires Woodpecker CI, Drone, or similar
Container registry	Yes — built-in	Yes — built-in (basic)
Package registry	Yes — comprehensive	Yes — Docker, NPM, Maven, NuGet, PyPI, more
Wiki	Yes — built-in per project	No built-in wiki
Code search	Basic (advanced in Premium)	Basic
Web IDE	Yes — built-in	No
Mobile app	No official app	No official app
API	Comprehensive REST + GraphQL	REST API (GitHub-compatible)
SSO/LDAP	Yes — LDAP, SAML, OIDC	Yes — LDAP, OAuth2, OIDC
Webhooks	Yes	Yes
Actions/runners	GitLab Runners	Gitea Actions (GitHub Actions compatible)
Git LFS	Yes	Yes
Branch protection	Yes — detailed rules	Yes — branch protection rules
License	MIT (CE)	MIT

Installation Complexity

GitLab CE is a monolith — everything runs in one container, but that container bundles PostgreSQL, Redis, Puma, Sidekiq, Gitaly, nginx, and more. First startup takes 3-5 minutes. Configuration uses GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG with Ruby syntax. The Docker image is over 2.5 GB.

Gitea is a single Go binary. The Docker image is ~100 MB. Startup takes seconds. Configuration is a straightforward app.ini file. An external database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQLite) is the only dependency.

Gitea is dramatically simpler to deploy, configure, and maintain.

Performance and Resource Usage

Resource	GitLab CE	Gitea
Minimum RAM	4 GB (2 GB with aggressive optimization)	170 MB
Recommended RAM	8 GB for 50+ users	512 MB for most teams
CPU	2+ cores minimum, 4+ recommended	1 core sufficient
Disk (application)	10 GB + 20 GB for PostgreSQL	~100 MB
Docker image size	~2.5 GB	~100 MB
Startup time	3-5 minutes	Seconds

GitLab CE uses 20-40x more RAM than Gitea. On a 4 GB VPS, GitLab leaves almost no room for anything else. Gitea leaves 3.8 GB free.

Community and Support

GitLab CE has a massive community, extensive documentation, and a company behind it. GitLab.com is the second-largest Git hosting platform after GitHub. The CI/CD ecosystem (.gitlab-ci.yml) is an industry standard. However, many advanced features are locked behind the paid tiers (Premium/Ultimate).

Gitea has a large and growing community (~46K GitHub stars). Documentation is solid. The project is actively maintained with regular releases. Gitea Actions provide GitHub Actions compatibility, which means existing workflow files often work with minimal changes.

Use Cases

Choose GitLab CE If…

• You need integrated CI/CD and don’t want to manage a separate CI tool
• You need a built-in container registry tightly linked to your CI pipelines
• You’re migrating from gitlab.com and want feature parity
• Your team is 10+ developers who will use issue boards, milestones, and project planning
• You have 8+ GB of RAM to spare

Choose Gitea If…

• You primarily need Git hosting with pull requests and issue tracking
• You’re running on a VPS with limited resources (2-4 GB total RAM)
• You want a GitHub-like experience with minimal operational overhead
• CI/CD is handled separately (or you’ll add Woodpecker CI)
• You want fast startup, easy backups, and low maintenance
• You’re running multiple services on the same server

Final Verdict

For self-hosters, Gitea is the pragmatic choice in almost every scenario. It delivers the core Git hosting experience — repositories, pull requests, issues, code review — at a fraction of GitLab’s resource cost. The 20-40x RAM difference is not a minor optimization; it fundamentally changes what else you can run on the same server.

GitLab CE justifies its weight only when you genuinely need its integrated CI/CD pipeline, container registry, and project management features working as a unified system. If you’d set up GitLab CE and then never touch CI/CD, you’re paying the 4 GB RAM tax for nothing. Use Gitea instead, and add Woodpecker CI if you later need CI/CD.

Related

• How to Self-Host GitLab CE — full setup guide
• How to Self-Host Gitea — full setup guide
• Gitea vs Forgejo — comparing the lightweight options
• How to Self-Host OneDev — middle-ground alternative
• Best Self-Hosted Git Hosting — full category roundup
• Docker Compose Basics — prerequisite guide