Often source code repositories and version control systems are considered the same, but they are two different things. Source code repositories are third-party web applications that host, embed, and enhance version control systems which are the low-level command-line tools used to manage changes in the development life cycle. Despite these differences, one can’t properly function without the other. The main objective of these tools is to store sets of data files and keep track of the changes, revisions, and versions that have occurred in them, the set of committed objects, and the history of related references (heads). The repositories can be public or private. The choice of one or the other will depend on the size of the work team and the degree of privacy required by a certain organization at a given time based on its business objectives. You also have the option to choose between cloud and self-hosted solutions based on your requirements. Despite guaranteeing security and compliance, most cloud source code hosting providers also offer a self-hosted or hybrid variant of their service for additional security. GitHub, GitLab, and BitBucket have gained space over time and have become indispensable allies for developers to host their source codes and make their projects available in a simplified way. However, there are a number of different source code hosting options, some of which are cloud-based and some self-hosted:
Github
Github is one of the most well-known source code hosting platforms. It allows developers to contribute to private or open-source projects. On Github, each project containing a source code is considered a repository. GitHub provides many features for hosting source code, including pull requests, code review, inline editing, fork and clone repositories, and integrations with third-party tools.
Gitlab
Gitlab is another popular source code hosting platform that offers many features similar to Github as both do version control of hosted projects using Git. Gitlab natively provides integration and continuous delivery or CI/CD tools, as well as metrics for tracking code quality, performance, and usability testing. It also has a paid self-hosted application. If you need an alternative GitLab hosting solution, you can try A2 Hosting.
BitBucket
BitBucket is a platform for hosting and managing source code for projects written in Python. It integrates with Jira and Trello, allowing repositories to be managed from these tools. BitBucket supports continuous integration using Pipelines, a tool that lets you deploy, monitor, and confirm your code and then start planning the next set of changes without leaving BitBucket.
Gogs
Gogs is a cross-platform, self-hosted, open-sourced service. It serves as a version control tool that enables developers to create separate binary distributions for different platforms. Gogs’ web infrastructure is based on Macaron, which is extraordinarily fast. Also, it includes the ability to authenticate from external sources, as it can be integrated with LDAP servers, PAM, SMTP, and even GitHub.
Gitea
Gitea is an open-source coding solution that is cross-platform and lightweight. It supports issue trackers, merges, pull requests, and third-party integrations, which will allow for multiple projects. Based on Gogs, Gitea supports FreeIPA and SPNEGO based on SSPI. Additionally, it supports multiple databases and third-parties rendering tools.
SourceForge
SourceForge is a free and open-source source code hosting solution for open-source projects. It helps developers with documentation and is integrated with issue detection. Open-source initiatives can use it to create global mirror networks and have unlimited bandwidth. A graphical representation of commit history is available, as are download statistics by various parameters.
Codeberg
Codeberg is a source code hosting and version control platform that focuses on data security. The user experience is similar to that of GitHub, but it emphasizes the importance of privacy. It provides features such as documentation and comments on projects for easy association and the ability to create pull requests and mirror replicas.
Pijul
Pijuil is another open-source version control application famous for its ease of use. The changes in Pijuil can be made in any order without affecting the result or the version’s identification. This is a key difference between Pijuil and other version control software that use complex workflows such as git rebase. Unlike other systems, it has a branch-like feature called channels.
ProjectLocker
ProjectLocker is a closed-source enterprise-grade code hosting service that supports both Git and SVN version control systems. ProjectLockers has a web-based user control system and PAM. It also offers automatic backup and continuous buildlocker integration in its equity and IPO plan.
Assembla
Assembla is an enterprise version control and cloud source code hosting repository with git and SVN support. It has powerful code review and vulnerability scanning tools which can auto-check each new commit.
Beanstack
Beanstalk is a platform that does not require a client as you can manage everything directly in the browser. Code can be deployed in different environments using SVN hosting and fluid code reevaluation. It supports a detailed history of commits and files, has flexible permissions for teams, and can be used by any sized organization. Furthermore, Beanstalk comes with several built-in integrations and a robust Git for version control.
RhodeCode
RhodeCode is popular open-source version control and source code hosting platform. RhodeCode allows developers to manage assets at an enterprise level with unified support for Mercurial, Git, and Subversion. The remote repository synchronization feature allows for multiple copies of the repository to be synced across multiple servers, allowing you to create visual changelogs that can be used to track changes across multiple servers. Additionally, it has military-standard security standards, making it an excellent choice for enterprises.
HelixTeamHub
HelixTeamHub is an enterprise-grade multi-repository source code hosting solution. HelxiTeamHub support version control system such as Git, SVN, and SCM tool like Mercurial. It also offers multi-repo code review and security tools.
Codebase
Codebase is a source hosting platform with project management and version controls tools such as Git, SVN, and Mercurial builtin for teams. It features such as a source tree browser, inline comments, ticketing system, which make the process of code review easy and effective.
Bonobo Git Server
Bonobo is a free and open-source self-hosting solution for code on Windows servers. It uses the Active Directory users tool, which gives you the option to manage multiple users. It also has additional features like the option to view commit history, ADFS authentication mode, and multiple languages support.
Final Words
It is important to consider your requirements, the size of your teams, and your budget while choosing a source code hosting service, as it can help in increasing the productivity of your development team and making your projects more organized.
