Best open-source alternatives to GitHub
The dominant Git hosting and developer collaboration platform.
GitHub hosts the majority of the world's open-source code and is the default Git platform for many private development teams, with pull requests, Actions CI/CD, Packages, and Issues. Its network effects and integrations make it the incumbent. Microsoft ownership concerns, per-seat pricing for private repos at scale, and air-gapped or sovereignty requirements drive interest in self-hosted Git platforms.
14 alternatives listed- MIT LicenseOpen Source — No Paywall
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.
Cloud OptionalMulti-UserSourceBinaryFeatures:
- repository hosting
- issues
- pull requests
- milestones
- releases
+5 more
- MIT LicenseOpen Source — No Paywall
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.
Multi-UserMulti-TenantBinaryPackage ManagerDockerFeatures:
- user dashboard
- user profile
- activity timeline
- SSH/HTTP/HTTPS repository access
- user, organization and repository management
+5 more
Auth:ldapproxy-auth2fa All-In-One DevOps Platform. With Git Management, Issue Tracking, and CI/CD. Simple yet Powerful.
- Apache License 2.0Open Source — No Paywall
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.
Offline CapableMulti-UserBinarySourceFeatures:
- Public/private Git repositories
- HTTP/HTTPS and SSH access
- Git LFS support
- Online file editor
- Issues
+5 more
Auth:ldaplocal 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).
- GNU Affero General Public License v3.0Open Source — No Paywall
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.
Offline CapableMulti-UserDockerDocker ComposeBinarySourceHelmFeatures:
- public, unlisted, and private snippets
- Git-based init/clone/pull/push over HTTP or SSH
- syntax highlighting
- markdown and CSV support
- search snippets
+5 more
Auth:oauthoidc-sso - MIT LicenseOpen Source — No Paywall
walgit is a self-hosted Git server designed to run as a single binary backed by object storage. It targets repositories that may be larger than the machine serving them, using the bucket as the source of truth and treating each server instance as a disposable cache. The project is written in Rust and explicitly follows an architecture inspired by Cursor’s “Git at any scale” design. It is aimed at teams or operators who want Git hosting without a traditional database, leader election, or shared local state. The server provides smart HTTP, Git LFS, bundle-based cloning and fetch acceleration, a browser UI, a JSON API with an SDK, push policies, and webhook delivery. The README also describes maintenance and replication behavior, OIDC and token-based auth, and deployment options ranging from a local one-box setup to multi-machine deployments sharing the same bucket.
Cloud OptionalMulti-UserBinaryDockerDocker ComposeSourceFeatures:
- smart HTTP v0/v2
- bundle-uri support
- Git LFS
- web UI
- JSON API
+5 more
Auth:localoidc-sso - Do What The F*ck You Want To Public LicenseOpen Source — No Paywall
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.
Offline CapableDockerDocker ComposeBinaryPackage ManagerSourceFeatures:
- Efficient metadata storage
- On-demand loading
- Dark mode
- Repository description support
- Repository owner configuration
+2 more
- BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" LicenseOpen Core — Some Features Paid
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.
Multi-UserDockerHelmPackage ManagerSourceFeatures:
- Git/Mercurial/Subversion repository management
- Web interface configuration
- Central user/group/permission management
- RESTful web service API
- Plugin API
+2 more
What to look for in a GitHub alternative
Pull request review experience, including suggested changes, draft PRs, and code owners, is the core developer workflow to evaluate. CI/CD integration (Actions-equivalent or external runners), package registry support, and merge queue capabilities matter for large repos. Issue tracking depth, project boards, and migration tooling for importing existing GitHub repos with PR/issue history determine adoption friction.
Other SaaS alternatives
- Notion (66)
- Dropbox (49)
- Evernote (35)
- Slack (34)
- Asana (31)
- Squarespace (31)
- ChatGPT (30)
- Trello (30)
- WordPress.com (29)
- Microsoft Teams (29)
- Vercel / Heroku / Render (28)
- Wix (28)
- Cursor IDE (26)
- Shopify (26)
- Microsoft OneDrive (25)
- Discord (23)
- Make (Integromat) (21)
- Google Analytics (21)
- Spotify (21)
- Claude Code - CLI (20)
- Airtable (20)
- Jira (20)
- Sentry (19)
- Microsoft OneNote (19)
- Zoom (19)
- Microsoft 365 (19)
- Webflow (18)
- Salesforce (16)
- Datadog (14)
- Plex (14)
- HubSpot (14)
- Google Workspace (14)
- Miro (13)
- Auth0 (12)
- monday.com (12)
- Bitbucket (12)
- YouTube (12)
- Twilio (11)
- Google Calendar (11)
- Hotjar (10)
- Postman (9)
- Calendly (9)
- Stripe (9)
- Zendesk (9)
- PayPal (9)
- Apple iCloud (8)
- 1Password (8)
- Basecamp (8)
- Lovable (7)
- Intercom (7)
- Adobe Premiere Pro (6)
- v0 (6)
- Adobe Photoshop (6)
- Typeform (6)
- Adobe Lightroom (5)
- Netflix (5)
- Mailchimp (5)
- DocuSign (5)
- AutoCAD (4)
- Figma (3)
- Loom (3)
- Buffer (3)
- Adobe Illustrator (3)
- Midjourney (2)
- Canva (2)
- Adobe After Effects (2)
- Adobe InDesign (2)
- Grammarly (1)
- Authentik (1)
- Listmonk (1)
