Best open-source alternatives to GitHub

Gitea is a self-hosted Git service designed to provide a simple and fast way to run a private code hosting platform. It is written in Go and supports the operating systems and architectures commonly supported by Go, including Linux, macOS, Windows, x86, amd64, ARM, and PowerPC. The project is aimed at users and teams who want to host repositories and collaborate without relying on a third-party platform. The README points to a public demo, a free hosted service with limited repositories, and a cloud trial for dedicated instances, while also directing users to extensive documentation for installation, administration, usage, development, and localization. It additionally notes experimental API support and lists companion projects such as a CLI tool, SDK, and action runner.

Gogs is a self-hosted Git service aimed at being simple to deploy, stable to operate, and extensible for customization. It is positioned for users and teams who want a private Git hosting solution with a relatively painless setup, and it emphasizes portability through an independent Go binary that runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and ARM-based systems. The project includes the common collaboration features expected from a Git hosting platform, such as repository management, issues, pull requests, wiki support, webhooks, deploy keys, and Git LFS. It also supports multiple authentication methods, database backends, and localization, making it suitable for small teams or organizations that want to self-host source control and integrate with existing workflows. The README also points to experimental API documentation and a live online demo.

GitBucket is a self-hosted Git web platform built with Scala for teams and individuals who want a GitHub-like server they can run themselves. It focuses on ease of installation, an intuitive interface, and extensibility through plugins. The project provides repository hosting with public and private access over HTTP/HTTPS and SSH, along with Git LFS, an online file editor, issues, pull requests, wiki pages, activity timelines, and email notifications. It also supports account and group management with LDAP integration, and the README highlights API compatibility with GitHub plus a plug-in system for extending functionality. Deployment is centered on a runnable WAR file for Java 17, with support for servlet containers such as Jetty or Tomcat.

Self Hosted Git repository management, code reviews, issue tracking, activity feeds and wikis.

A lightweight software forge focused on scaling, federation, and privacy (fork of Gitea).

Opengist is a self-hosted pastebin platform built around Git, aimed at users and teams who want to manage text snippets in a version-controlled way. Instead of storing content in a traditional database-centric paste service, it keeps snippets inside a Git repository, allowing them to be read and modified through the web UI or standard Git workflows. The project supports common snippet-management features such as visibility controls, search, syntax highlighting, revision history, and social actions like likes and forks. It also includes login via OAuth2 providers such as GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, and OpenID Connect, making it suitable for deployments that need external identity integration. Installation is offered through Docker, binary downloads, source builds, and a Helm chart, with documentation and a public demo available.

rgit is a web interface for browsing bare Git repositories, positioned as a modern alternative to gitweb or cgit. It is written in Rust and uses Axum, gitoxide, Askama, and RocksDB to present repository data efficiently while keeping metadata indexed for fast access. The project is aimed at users who want to self-host a lightweight Git browsing service over their own bare repositories. The README describes local deployment options including direct execution with Cargo, building from source, running on NixOS, and containerized operation with Docker or Docker Compose. It also explains repository configuration details such as descriptions, owners, exportability, and cache/database storage.

SCM-Manager is a self-hosted source control management application designed to help teams share and administer Git, Mercurial, and Subversion repositories. It presents itself as an easy-to-install alternative to manual repository hosting setups and emphasizes browser-based administration rather than editing configuration files directly. The project includes centralized user, group, and permission management, a rich web UI, and a full RESTful web service API for integration. It also supports plugins and ships distribution modules for multiple deployment targets, including Docker and Helm. The README points users to the main documentation site and community support resources, and it mentions enterprise support as an available paid service.

Mergeable is a browser-based inbox for managing GitHub pull requests more efficiently. It is aimed at developers or teams who want to organize incoming PRs into custom sections and move through them quickly with keyboard shortcuts. The project stores its data locally in browser storage and can connect to multiple GitHub instances, including GitHub Enterprise. The README also points users to a public hosted instance and documentation for self-hosting, suggesting it can be used either as a hosted service or run from source for private deployment.

minimal-git-server is a lightweight Git server packaged as a container. It is intended for users who want a simple way to host repositories with minimal setup, using a single configuration file and a command-line interface for administration. The project emphasizes practical deployment in container environments rather than a feature-heavy web interface. It supports multiple accounts and exposes basic repository operations such as listing, creating, renaming, and removing repositories. The README shows a simple Docker-based run command and describes the required persistent volumes for SSH keys, repositories, and configuration. It is also presented as suitable for scripting and automated workflows, and it has been tested with Docker and Podman.