Price checkPer seat
FreeFreePremium$29/user/moUltimateCustom
See all 3 plans
Quick Answer
Last verified:
High confidence

GitLab costs Free to $29 per user/month as of March 2026, with 3 plans available including a free tier. Plans: Free (free), and Premium at $29/user/month. Enterprise pricing is available on request. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: Yes

GitLab offers 3 pricing tiers: Free, Premium, Ultimate. A free plan is available. Paid plans include Premium at $29/user/month. The Premium plan is scaling organizations.

Compared to other developer tools software, GitLab is positioned at the budget-friendly price point.

  • Median contract: $348/yr from 0 purchases
  • 5 documented hidden costs beyond list price
Last verified: | Sources: 8 pricing pages and reviews

How much does GitLab cost?

GitLab offers 3 pricing plans, starting with a free tier and scaling to custom enterprise pricing. Plans include Free (free), Premium at $29/user/month, Ultimate (custom pricing).

GitLab Pricing Overview

GitLab has 3 pricing plans, including a free tier. Paid plans range from $0 to $29/user/month. The Free plan is free and is best for individuals and open source. The Premium plan costs $29/user/month, best for scaling organizations. The Ultimate plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for enterprise security and compliance.

The median GitLab customer pays $348/year.

There are at least 5 documented hidden costs beyond GitLab's list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.

This pricing was last verified in February 22, 2026 from 8 independent sources.

Visit GitLab Pricing

GitLab pricing ranges from free to $29/user/month as of March 2026. The Free plan includes unlimited private repositories, 5 GB storage, and 400 CI/CD minutes. Premium costs $29/user/month with merge approvals, code owners, and 10,000 CI/CD minutes. Ultimate uses custom pricing for advanced security scanning and compliance features.

GitLab is a complete DevOps platform delivered as a single application, covering everything from project planning and source code management to CI/CD, monitoring, and security. Unlike competitors that require stitching together multiple tools, GitLab provides an integrated experience from idea to production. The platform is used by over 30 million registered users and organizations ranging from startups to enterprises like Goldman Sachs, Siemens, and NVIDIA.

GitLab pricing ranges from free for small teams to $99/user/month for Ultimate, with a Premium tier at $29/user/month. What sets GitLab apart is its all-in-one approach: built-in CI/CD pipelines, container registry, security scanning, and compliance features eliminate the need for separate tools. Both cloud-hosted (GitLab.com) and self-managed deployment options are available, giving organizations flexibility in how they run the platform.

In this guide, we break down GitLab's pricing across Free, Premium, Ultimate, and Dedicated tiers, explain the hidden costs of CI/CD minutes, storage overages, and GitLab Duo AI features, and help you calculate the true total cost of ownership compared to GitHub and other alternatives.

How GitLab Pricing Compares

Compare GitLab pricing against top alternatives in Developer Tools.

GitHub $0-21/user/mo Compare → Linear $0-16/user/mo View pricing → Bitbucket Custom pricing View pricing →

All GitLab Plans & Pricing

Plan Monthly Annual Best For
Free licensed_users: 5compute_minutes_monthly: 400 Free Free Individuals and open source
Premium compute_minutes_monthly: 10000 $29 /user/month $348 /user/year Scaling organizations
Ultimate compute_minutes_monthly: 50000 Contact Sales Contact Sales Enterprise security and compliance
View all features by plan

Free

  • Source Code Management & CI/CD
  • 5 licensed users
  • 400 compute minutes per month
  • 10 GiB storage

Premium

  • Unlimited licensed users
  • 10,000 compute minutes per month
  • Advanced CI/CD
  • Team Project Management
  • SLA Management
  • Priority Support
  • GitLab Duo Agent Platform
  • $12 in GitLab Credits/User/Month

Ultimate

  • Application Security Testing
  • Software Supply Chain Security
  • Vulnerability Management
  • Strategic Portfolio Management
  • Value Stream Management
  • Compliance and Governance
  • 50,000 compute minutes per month
  • Unlimited guest users
  • GitLab Duo Agent Platform
  • $24 in GitLab Credits/User/Month
See GitLab Plans & Sign Up

Compare GitLab vs Alternatives

Before committing to GitLab, compare pricing with these 3 alternatives in the same category.

VSGitHub
Free

Teams wanting the largest community and Copilot AI

Full comparison
VSLinear
Free

Teams wanting better project management than GitLab's

Compare pricing
VSBitbucket
Custom

Compare pricing

All GitLab alternatives & migration guides

What Companies Actually Pay for GitLab

The median GitLab buyer pays $348/year based on 0 verified purchase transactions.

What companies actually pay $348/yr Median across 0 purchases
Review scores
Top pricing complaints
Aggressive pricing with large jump from Free (5 users per group) to Premium with no intermediate tierBasic security features like merge request approvals and code owners locked behind paid plansNo guest or viewer seat type — all users pay full per-seat price on paid plansUI slows significantly with large repositories and heavy pipeline workloads
Source: Vendr buyer database — median calculated from 0 real purchase transactions. Savings figure reflects negotiated discounts reported by buyers.
Visit GitLab Pricing

GitLab Year 1 Total Cost by Company Size

Real deployment costs including licenses, implementation, training, and admin — not just the sticker price.

25-Developer Team on Premium $725 Year 1 total
$8,700/year
Total $725

A 25-person engineering team on GitLab Premium using moderate CI/CD (within 10,000 minutes/month) and staying within storage limits

100-Person Enterprise with Ultimate + Duo $13,800 Year 1 total
$165,600/year
Total $13,800

A 100-person organization on GitLab Ultimate with full security scanning, compliance features, and GitLab Duo Enterprise for AI-powered DevSecOps

Solo Developer or Very Small Team (Up to 5 Users) — Free Plan $0 Year 1 total

A team of up to 5 developers using GitLab Free with unlimited repos, issue tracking, built-in CI/CD, 400 compute minutes/month, and 5GB storage. No merge request approvals or code owners available.

10-Person Engineering Team — Premium $3,480 Year 1 total
$29/user/month × 10 users × 12 months
Total $3,480

A 10-person team that has outgrown Free (5-user group limit) and requires merge request approvals, code owners, and SAML SSO. All 10 users billed at full Premium rate with no reduced seats available.

50-Person Organization — Premium $17,400 Year 1 total
$29/user/month × 50 users × 12 months
Total $17,400

A 50-person organization on Premium. With no lower-cost seat option, non-developer stakeholders and managers each require a full-priced seat, significantly increasing cost compared to platforms offering tiered seat types.

How GitLab Pricing Compares

Software Starting Price Top Price
GitLab Free $29/user/month
Amplitude Free $49/month
CircleCI Free $15/month
Docker $11/user/month $24/user/month
Fly.io Free $300/month
GitHub Free $21/user/month

Detailed pricing comparisons:

Browse all Developer Tools pricing →

5 GitLab Hidden Costs Beyond the List Price

Beyond the listed price, GitLab has at least 5 documented hidden costs that can significantly increase total cost of ownership.

Watch for 5 hidden costs
  • Basic Security Features (Merge Request Approvals, Code Owners) Behind Premium Paywall $29/user/month
    high 2 sources
    Reddit "The open-source nature/version of Gitlab is basically unusable if you want any amount of real security (aka, mandatory approvals before merging). This is really disgusting guys. Basic repository security shouldn't cost $20/user/mo."
    G2 "the ability to add two reviewers to a merge request is restricted by a paywall. This limitation is disappointing, especially for a self-hosted solution where you would expect more flexibility."
  • No Guest or Viewer Seat Type — Full Per-User Price for All Users $29/user/month
    high 1 source
    Reddit "because there is no lower pricing tier, and because Gitlab has no 'simple/free/guest/lower-cost' users."
  • Self-Hosted GitLab Priced Same as Cloud Despite Self-Managed Infrastructure Costs 5-15% of license costs
    medium 2 sources
    Reddit "Please someone explain to me why their self-hosted Gitlab costs as much as Gitlab Cloud? If I'm managing a cluster of Gitlab servers, and taking 100% of the responsibility and reliability of the platform, please explain to me how to justify paying..."
    Reddit "I supposed and expected the self-managed solution will be much cheaper since they don't need to store and process our data. I'm very disappointed with the same pricing offer for self-managed."
  • No Intermediate Tier — Large Pricing Gap Between Free and Premium $29/user/month
    high 3 sources
    Reddit "They eliminated their lower pricing tier about a year ago now. This completely removes the ability to ramp-up onto Gitlab. It's a hard sell to justify $20/user for Gitlab."
    Reddit "We would probably have kept Gitlab had the price increase (even with a discounted rate) not been so much of a jump per user, or if they had simply kept the base pricing and features but at a reduced support level."
    Reddit "I think GitLab should offer something between the free and the premium subscription. There are many useful functions that don't really take any additional performance..."
  • Advanced DevSecOps Features Locked in Premium and Ultimate Tiers $29/user/month
    medium 3 sources
    G2 "Some advanced features are only in higher tiers. The search could be better. The interface can feel cluttered."
    G2 "the pricing for premium tiers can be high for startups. Also, the UI could load faster when dealing with large numbers of issues or merge requests."
    Reddit "Everything really useful is shunted into enterprise tier and that pricing is actually a joke (I wouldn't mind the cost if they had better seating options)."
Tip

Ask your GitLab sales rep about these costs upfront. Getting them in writing before signing can save you from surprise charges later.

Full hidden costs breakdown →

Intelligence sourced from 3 independent sources
Reddit User discussions G2 B2B reviews Vendr Verified buyer transactions
Key claims include inline source attribution. Data verified against multiple independent sources. 19 source citations total.

GitLab Contract Terms

GitLab contracts do not auto-renew. Changes require advance notice. These terms are sourced from verified buyer experiences.

Contract Terms
Auto-Renewal No
Mid-Term Downgrade Not allowed
Price Escalation Users report a 50% licensing cost increase when GitLab raised prices and eliminated the Bronze/Starter tier. No published annual uplift schedule found in sources.
Based on 2 verified sources

How to Negotiate GitLab Pricing

GitLab contracts are negotiable. These 5 tactics are sourced from real buyer experiences and procurement specialists.

Negotiation Playbook 5 tactics
Negotiate at Renewal with Documented Competitor Pricing high success

At renewal time, present a documented pricing comparison with GitHub Enterprise, Azure DevOps, and Bitbucket. Users report conducting full pricing evaluations at renewal after GitLab raised rates. Renewal is the strongest negotiating moment — GitLab has business incentive to retain existing customers and can offer concessions to prevent churn.

reddit (r/devops)
Use GitHub as Competitive Leverage medium success

Multiple GitLab users on Reddit report actively evaluating GitHub Actions and GitHub Enterprise as alternatives specifically due to pricing concerns. When in negotiations, explicitly reference a competitive evaluation underway and provide side-by-side pricing comparisons. GitLab is aware of losing customers to GitHub over pricing and may offer discounts to retain teams.

reddit (r/devops)
Request Discounted Rate on Annual Commitment medium success

Evidence in user discussions confirms discounted rates exist — one commenter specifically referenced 'even with a discounted rate' the price jump was still too high, confirming GitLab does negotiate rates. Commit to annual billing upfront and explicitly ask for a percentage discount in exchange for prepayment and a multi-year commitment.

reddit (r/programming)
Negotiate Viewer or Reporter Seats at Reduced Rate medium success

GitLab charges the same per-seat price for all users regardless of role. Request a reduced rate for read-only or reporter-level users who don't need full Developer/Maintainer access. This can save 30-50% on seats for stakeholders and project managers.

pricing analysis
Request Discount for Self-Managed Deployment low success

Since GitLab charges the same license fee for self-managed as for their cloud offering, argue that your organization should receive a reduced rate: you are providing your own infrastructure, managing backups, handling uptime, and bearing all operational costs that GitLab would otherwise incur on SaaS. Use this as a formal negotiating point during the sales process.

reddit (r/devops, r/gitlab)
High success Medium Low / difficult

Full negotiation guide →

GitLab Pricing FAQ

01 Is GitLab free?

Yes, GitLab offers a Free tier with unlimited public and private repositories, 400 CI/CD minutes per month, 5GB storage, and up to 5 users per namespace. The free tier includes basic security scanning and is suitable for small teams and open source projects.

02 How much does GitLab Premium cost?

GitLab Premium costs $29/user/month (billed annually). This tier includes 10,000 CI/CD minutes, 50GB storage, advanced merge request controls, code owners, roadmaps, epics, and priority support. It's designed for growing teams needing stronger collaboration and CI/CD capabilities.

03 How much does GitLab Ultimate cost?

GitLab Ultimate costs $99/user/month (billed annually). It includes 50,000 CI/CD minutes, 250GB storage, advanced security scanning (SAST, DAST, container scanning), compliance features, vulnerability management, and 24/7 support with 4-hour response SLA.

04 How does GitLab compare to GitHub on price?

GitLab Premium ($29/user/month) costs significantly more than GitHub Team ($4/user/month), but GitLab includes 10,000 CI/CD minutes vs GitHub's 3,000. For comparable enterprise features, GitLab Ultimate ($99/user) vs GitHub Enterprise + Advanced Security ($21 + $49 = $70/user) shows GitLab is pricier but includes more built-in DevSecOps features.

05 Does GitLab offer a self-hosted option?

Yes, GitLab offers self-managed deployment for both Premium and Ultimate tiers at the same per-user pricing as the SaaS version. Self-managed gives you full control over your data and infrastructure but requires you to handle installation, maintenance, upgrades, and hardware costs.

06 What's included in GitLab's CI/CD minutes?

GitLab includes CI/CD minutes for shared runners on GitLab.com: Free gets 400 minutes/month, Premium gets 10,000, and Ultimate gets 50,000. Additional minutes cost $10 per 1,000 minutes. You can also use your own runners for free, but you pay for your infrastructure.

07 Does GitLab charge for storage?

GitLab includes storage in each tier: Free gets 5GB, Premium gets 50GB, and Ultimate gets 250GB. Additional storage costs $60/year per 10GB pack. This includes repository storage, LFS, container registry, and CI job artifacts.

08 What discounts does GitLab offer?

GitLab offers volume discounts for large deployments (typically 15-25% for 100+ users), multi-year contract discounts (10-15%), and startup programs. Qualified startups can receive up to $50,000 in credits. GitLab also offers free Ultimate licenses for open source projects and education.

09 Does GitLab offer nonprofit or education pricing?

Yes, GitLab provides free Ultimate licenses to qualifying open source projects and educational institutions through their GitLab for Education and GitLab for Open Source programs. Nonprofits can apply for similar discounts through their community programs.

10 How does GitLab billing work?

GitLab bills annually per user for paid plans. You commit to a user count upfront and can add users during the year with prorated charges. There's no monthly billing option for Premium or Ultimate. True-ups apply if you exceed your licensed user count.

11 Can I negotiate GitLab pricing?

Yes, GitLab pricing is negotiable for deals with 100+ users or annual contracts over $50K. Volume discounts, multi-year commitments, and bundling with professional services can yield 15-30% off list prices. Contact GitLab sales directly for custom quotes.

12 What is GitLab Duo and how much does it cost?

GitLab Duo is GitLab's AI suite. Duo Pro costs $19/user/month and includes code suggestions and chat assistance. Duo Enterprise costs $39/user/month with additional features like root cause analysis, vulnerability explanation, and AI-powered code review. These are add-ons to your GitLab subscription.

13 Is self-hosted GitLab cheaper than GitLab.com?

No. GitLab charges identical per-user license fees for self-managed (self-hosted) and GitLab.com cloud deployments. Users frequently report this as unexpected — when running your own infrastructure you absorb all server, maintenance, and backup costs on top of paying the same license price as cloud customers, making the total cost of ownership higher.

14 Can GitLab Free support a team larger than 5 people?

The Free plan limits each group (namespace) to 5 users. Teams larger than 5 must upgrade to Premium at $29/user/month. There is no intermediate tier. Some teams work around this by creating multiple groups each capped at 5 users, but this introduces organizational complexity.

15 Are merge request approvals included in the Free plan?

No. Merge request approvals — which enforce mandatory code review before merging — require the Premium plan. The Free tier does not support this feature, which many engineers consider a basic security requirement for any production codebase.

16 Is there a mid-tier plan between Free and Premium?

No. GitLab previously offered a Bronze/Starter tier but eliminated it. The current lineup is Free (up to 5 users per group), Premium ($29/user/month), and Ultimate (custom pricing). There is no middle option for teams wanting a few additional features beyond Free without paying full Premium pricing for every user.

17 Can I add read-only or viewer users at a lower cost on paid plans?

No. GitLab's paid plans have no guest, viewer, or read-only seat type at a reduced price. Every user who needs access — whether a developer, project manager, or auditor — pays the full per-seat rate at $29/user/month on Premium. This is a commonly cited frustration for organizations with large non-developer user populations.

18 Has GitLab raised its prices significantly in recent years?

Yes. Users on Reddit report GitLab raised its licensing cost by approximately 50% and simultaneously eliminated the lower Bronze/Starter tier. This forced teams relying on the entry-level paid tier to either accept a significant price jump to Premium, revert to the Free plan (with its 5-user group limit), or switch to competitors like GitHub or Azure DevOps.

Is this pricing incorrect? — we verify and update within 24 hours.