GitLab vs Microsoft Azure DevOps comparison

GitLab and Microsoft are both solutions in the Release Automation category. GitLab is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2. GitLab holds a 29.5% mindshare in RA, compared to Microsoft’s 31.2% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of GitLab users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

GitLab

Read 87 GitLab reviews

17,724 Views
7,621 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Read 136 Microsoft Azure DevOps reviews

15,951 Views
8,454 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

GitLab

Microsoft Azure DevOps

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

GitLab and Microsoft Azure DevOps compete in the development tools category, particularly focusing on CI/CD, version control, and project management. Microsoft Azure DevOps seems to have the upper hand due to its seamless integration with other Microsoft products, making it attractive for businesses within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Features: GitLab offers robust CI/CD capabilities, comprehensive version control, and effective user management, providing flexibility for developers. It is known for its integration options and automation capabilities. Microsoft Azure DevOps presents a comprehensive toolset, including CI/CD features, test plans, pipelines, and efficient source code management. Its seamless integration with Microsoft's ecosystem gives it an advantage, especially for existing Microsoft users.

Room for Improvement: GitLab could benefit from enhancing its plugin ecosystem, refining the user interface, and improving non-Kubernetes environment integrations. Its pricing model may pose challenges for smaller teams. Azure DevOps could improve integration with third-party tools, expand non-functional testing capabilities, and offer more user-friendly agile project management features. Both platforms need to enhance customer feedback responsiveness and add robust security and reporting features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitLab offers diverse deployment options across public, private, and on-premises environments, but receives mixed reviews concerning customer support, often relying on community forums. Azure DevOps functions smoothly in cloud environments with hybrid capabilities. It benefits from a comprehensive support network within the Microsoft ecosystem, though complete deployment may have a steep learning curve.

Pricing and ROI: GitLab provides various open-source options fitting enterprise needs, though advanced features are premium priced, challenging smaller teams. Users see significant ROI in process automation and time efficiency. Azure DevOps offers competitive subscription models appealing to businesses using Microsoft's suite. Its licensing is perceived as offering good value, providing a comprehensive solution at budget-friendly prices for enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed GitLab vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps Report (Updated: November 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GitLab vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

November 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

ROI

Sentiment score

6.7

GitLab boosts ROI by enhancing DevOps efficiency, reducing deployment time, and integrating securely with tools, improving user satisfaction.

Sentiment score

6.5

Microsoft Azure DevOps boosts productivity, time management, and ROI, though integration with non-Microsoft tools can be challenging.

Migrating to GitLab is bringing time-saving benefits, and everything is easier to automate.

reviewer2603940

IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees

We have saved time significantly, reducing deployment time from four hours to five minutes per deployment.

Andrea PICCININI

IT Software Architect at ANAC - Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione

For more quotes and insights, download the GitLab report

On a scale of one to ten, where ten is the best, I would say ROI is an eight.

DeepakArora

Associate Director at Grant Thornton (US)

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure DevOps report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.6

GitLab support varies; premium users enjoy better assistance, while others rely on community forums or internal teams for help.

Sentiment score

6.8

Microsoft Azure DevOps offers efficient customer service, with strong documentation empowering users to resolve many issues independently.

We have rarely needed to escalate issues to technical support since GitLab usually runs seamlessly.

Gaurav Chandel

AWS DevOps/ Site Reliability Engineer at Tata Consultancy

I have interacted with architects for some advice during the implementation, and they were prompt in their response.

Mikhael Ibrahim

Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

I have had meetings where they taught me, explained things, and provided guidance for starting from scratch.

reviewer2603940

IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the GitLab report

Resolving issues took time since understanding our unique problems was not always straightforward for support teams.

Ivan Angelov

Project Executive at synergyc

I would rate technical support from Microsoft for Microsoft Azure DevOps an eight out of ten.

Alan-Thompson

Consultant at Yara International ASA

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure DevOps report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.3

GitLab scales well, especially with containers and enterprise use, though smaller teams find scalability mixed.

Sentiment score

7.4

Microsoft Azure DevOps is scalable, supporting teams of any size, with seamless resource expansion and reliability across projects.

It has all the features required for our coding and deployment needs, which makes it scalable to our changing requirements.

Sarfaraz Khan

Senior Application Developer at IBM

We're transitioning to OpenShift for future scalability with increased user numbers.

Mikhael Ibrahim

Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

For scaling, other deployment options from GitLab's side need to be adopted.

Rohit Kesharwani

Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven

For more quotes and insights, download the GitLab report

The scalability has left me pleased, not just for our teams in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, but as we expanded into North America, Africa, and even Australia.

Ivan Angelov

Project Executive at synergyc

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure DevOps report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.2

GitLab is stable and reliable, highly rated by users, but may slow under heavy load and complex projects.

Sentiment score

7.9

Microsoft Azure DevOps is stable, with minor issues often related to connectivity, earning high user satisfaction ratings.

I have not encountered any performance or stability issues with GitLab so far.

Gaurav Chandel

AWS DevOps/ Site Reliability Engineer at Tata Consultancy

The updates are frequent and demanding, happening at least once a week due to security reasons.

Andrew Schetinin

Chief Technology Officer at Acclym

We raised a request with GitLab support, but they were unable to help because they could not find the root cause of what went wrong.

AvdheshSharma

Assistant Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the GitLab report

Its stability might be attributed to its legacy as an on-premise solution that has been in development for more than 25 years.

Carlos Oramas

Software Architect at RedesCDM

There was just one time when there was some infrastructure issue from Microsoft's side, so we faced some glitches for a few minutes only, not for hours or a day.

Bharadwaj Deepak Mohapatra

DevOps Engineer at ENTERPRISE SYSTEM SOLUTIONS LIMITED

The solution is stable, and we did not encounter any stability issues.

Ivan Angelov

Project Executive at synergyc

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure DevOps report

Room For Improvement

GitLab users seek better AWS/Jira integration, enhanced CI/CD features, improved documentation, more affordable pricing, and streamlined navigation.

Microsoft Azure DevOps users seek improved features, including query editors, integration, testing capabilities, Linux compatibility, security, and documentation.

It would be beneficial to have a user-friendly interface for setting up these configurations, instead of just writing YAML files.

reviewer2603940

IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees

It is essential to conduct proper testing, such as unit tests and code coverage, within the SDLC pipelines.

Rohit Kesharwani

Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven

GitLab can improve its user interface to make conflict resolution more user-friendly.

Sarfaraz Khan

Senior Application Developer at IBM

For more quotes and insights, download the GitLab report

Those processes are a bit difficult for some customers who may not have technical knowledge and don't go through the entire documentation.

DeepakArora

Associate Director at Grant Thornton (US)

Out of the box, the solution is effective, yet with advancements in AI, it has the potential to be more intuitive.

Ivan Angelov

Project Executive at synergyc

Instead of customers having to try many options themselves, they benefit from practitioner recommendations.

Keshav Prakash

Founder & CEO at DevTools

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure DevOps report

Setup Cost

GitLab offers a free version and paid tiers, with prices ranging from reasonable to expensive based on user needs.

Microsoft Azure DevOps offers competitive pricing with flexible licensing, starting at $6-$11 per user, with a free version available.

Even when working in other small organizations, we opted for GitLab as it was cost-efficient.

Sarfaraz Khan

Senior Application Developer at IBM

The pricing of GitLab is reasonable, aligning with what I consider to be average compared to competitors.

reviewer2603940

IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The price is high, and it limits user accessibility.

Andrea PICCININI

IT Software Architect at ANAC - Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione

For more quotes and insights, download the GitLab report

They don't even provide a POC where you can have a sandbox or stuff that you can go through and see how exactly it's costing.

DeepakArora

Associate Director at Grant Thornton (US)

I find it to be expensive.

Ivan Angelov

Project Executive at synergyc

Azure charges only the parking cost, not for unnecessary or unwanted cost.

Bharadwaj Deepak Mohapatra

DevOps Engineer at ENTERPRISE SYSTEM SOLUTIONS LIMITED

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure DevOps report

Valuable Features

GitLab enhances productivity with CI/CD, code review, and automation, supporting seamless collaboration and fast, secure deployments.

Microsoft Azure DevOps enhances productivity with its CI/CD pipelines, seamless integration, and user-friendly interface, streamlining project workflows.

As we implement automated testing and DevSecOps, it speeds up the process by forty to sixty percent.

Mikhael Ibrahim

Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

The Ultimate version offers enhanced features for security scanning through DAST and SAST analysis, which have greatly benefitted our project workflow.

Andrea PICCININI

IT Software Architect at ANAC - Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione

By integrating GitLab as a DevOps platform, we have enhanced agility, improved our time to market, and different teams can work collaboratively on various projects.

Rohit Kesharwani

Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven

For more quotes and insights, download the GitLab report

I can't approve my own request and move the code around without a review.

DeepakArora

Associate Director at Grant Thornton (US)

Our company organized a training session with a certified Azure expert, which was extremely beneficial for adopting best practices during the initial three months.

Ivan Angelov

Project Executive at synergyc

No organization would use just one vendor, and the goal is about what works well, is scalable, performs well, and offers a reasonable total cost of ownership.

Keshav Prakash

Founder & CEO at DevTools

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure DevOps report

Categories and Ranking

GitLab

Ranking in Release Automation

2nd

Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (12th), Build Automation (1st), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (7th), Rapid Application Development Software (10th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (1st)

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Ranking in Release Automation

1st

Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

136

Ranking in other categories

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Release Automation category, the mindshare of GitLab is 29.5%, down from 36.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure DevOps is 31.2%, down from 39.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Release Automation Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Azure DevOps	31.2%
GitLab	29.5%
Other	39.3%

Release Automation

Featured Reviews

Rohit Kesharwani

Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven

Improved agility and time to market with CI/CD enhancements

The CI/CD pipelines in GitLab are highly valuable. Another important feature is the single source of repository, allowing efficient repository management and source code management. GitLab provides manageability by allowing us to manage source code effectively through separate repositories. Additionally, GitLab enables the creation of individual CI/CD pipelines for each repository, making software more agile. By integrating GitLab as a DevOps platform, we have enhanced agility, improved our time to market, and different teams can work collaboratively on various projects.

Read full review

Bharadwaj Deepak Mohapatra

DevOps Engineer at ENTERPRISE SYSTEM SOLUTIONS LIMITED

Have built reliable end-to-end pipelines and streamlined cloud provisioning through consistent collaboration practices

I am currently working with open-source tools such as Jenkins for my main CI/CD pipeline, and for enterprise clients, I am using Microsoft Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline. For other clients, I have also implemented CI/CD YAML pipelines through GitLab CI/CD workflow and GitHub Actions. I am creating the end-to-end CI/CD pipeline from development to deployment and monitoring all of this. Azure Boards is easier than Jira for my understanding because there are very easy points to manage the Agile methodology which we work on. Because it is a GUI, sometimes the process may take a few minutes more than the CLI process since the backend is running the exact CLI, but we are commanding through the GUI. There is definitely a time lag, but it is more secure. Microsoft Azure DevOps pipelines work very seamlessly rather than other CI/CD pipelines, as of my understanding. The downside is that the process may take more time when deploying some clusters, Kubernetes, Azure AKS service, or some vast microservice architecture deployments. There may be a little bit of lag I feel, though I cannot tell very strictly that this is a disadvantage, but sometimes it takes a little more time than other cloud infrastructures. All the major things are done by GUI, which is somewhat a little slow. However, if considering automations, process, monitoring, and provisioning, then it is the best cloud service across all the other service providers. Our implementation is a hybrid cloud. Microsoft Azure DevOps is definitely easily scalable. I have worked on many Kubernetes infrastructures and microservice deployments, and I have seen that replication is very good because it is very easy. The replication process is very straightforward. I definitely advocate for using less code because it is very time-consuming. If using GCP or Amazon Web Service, there is more interaction related to work over the CLI process. In terms of Microsoft Azure DevOps, there are many things done by the GUI, which is the best part.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	36
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	42

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	42
Midsize Enterprise	27
Large Enterprise	69

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GitLab?

I find the features and version control history to be most valuable for our development workflow. These aspects provide us with a clear view of changes and help us manage requests efficiently.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitLab?

We are currently using general GitLab, not GitLab Premium.

See all answers

What needs improvement with GitLab?

GitLab needs to improve the CI/CD functionality because it is not compatible with Jenkins and other tools, as it is not that efficient. Security-wise, we have security features enabled in GitLab fo...

See all answers

Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?

Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...

See all answers

Which is better - TFS or Azure DevOps?

TFS and Azure DevOps are different in many ways. TFS was designed for admins, and only offers incremental improvements. In addition, TFS seems complicated to use and I don’t think it has a very fri...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure DevOps?

Valuable features for project management and tracking in Azure DevOps include a portal displaying test results, check-in/check-out activity, and developer/tester productivity.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 9% of the time

SonarQube vs GitLab

Compared 4% of the time

TeamCity vs GitLab

Compared 4% of the time

Tekton vs GitLab

Compared 4% of the time

Jenkins vs GitLab

Compared 2% of the time

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Jira vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 9% of the time

Rally Software vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 4% of the time

TFS vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 3% of the time

OpenText Application Quality Management vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 3% of the time

Polarion ALM vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Azure DevOps Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GitLab

November 2025

Download GitLab product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure DevOps

November 2025

Download Microsoft Azure DevOps product report

Also Known As

Fuzzit

Azure DevOps, VSTS, Visual Studio Team Services, MS Azure DevOps

Overview

GitLab offers a secure and user-friendly platform for CI/CD pipeline management, code repository control, and collaboration, enhancing development speed and efficiency. It facilitates automation with extensive customization and tool integration, ideal for DevOps processes.

GitLab supports source code management, version control, and collaborative development. It's frequently used in CI/CD processes to automate builds and deployments while integrating DevOps practices. GitLab allows companies to manage repositories, automate pipelines, conduct code reviews, and maintain development lifecycles. The platform supports infrastructure and configuration management, enabling efficient code collaboration, deployment automation, and comprehensive repository handling. Many organizations commit and deploy developed code using GitLab's capabilities.

What are GitLab's most valuable features?

CI/CD Pipeline Management: Streamlines development through automated testing and deployment.
User-Friendly Interface: Ensures ease of collaboration and task automation.
Code Merging and Branching: Facilitates smooth code integration and version control.
Security Platform: Provides strong security features for safe development.
Tool Integration: Enhances functionality with diverse tool integration.

What benefits should users evaluate?

Development Speed: Accelerates processes through automation.
Collaboration Ease: Simplifies team interactions and workflow.
Customization Options: Offers extensive personalization for specific needs.
Comprehensive Documentation: Provides detailed guidance for users.
Secure Platform: Maintains integrity with robust security features.

In specific industries, GitLab serves as a backbone for source code management and CI/CD implementation. Companies leverage its capabilities for infrastructure management and deployment automation, thus streamlining project delivery timelines. Its ability to handle configuration management and code repositories effectively aids in maintaining development lifecycles, making it a preferred choice for organizations committed to enhancing their DevOps practices.

GitLab

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a cloud service that enables developers to collaborate on code development projects and create and deploy applications quicker than ever before. The service helps unite developers, project managers, and software development experts through a collaborative experience while using the application. For the users' convenience, Azure DevOps offers the user cloud services through Azure DevOps Services or an on-premises service using Azure DevOps Server. In addition, it supports integration with additional services and adding extensions, including the ability for the user to create their own custom extensions.

Azure DevOps provides a variety of unified features that can be accessed through their web browser or IDE client, such as:

Azure Pipelines - Develop and deploy services to support ongoing application integration and delivery. Azure pipelines, which work with almost every project type and most languages, will automatically test code projects in order to make them available to others.
Azure Artifacts - Share packages and integrate package sharing between teams. Packages include NuGet, npm, and Maven, in addition to other private and public sources. Developers can now share and consume packages with other developers from different public registries.
Azure Repos - Offers source control of your code through Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) or Git repositories. Developers can now keep track of any changes that are made in their code over the course of their project.
Azure Test Plans - Offers continuous and manual/exploratory app testing through several tools. Test Suites, or a collection of Test Cases, are grouped together in a container called a Test Plan.
Azure Boards - Provides a suite of Agile tools to track work, support planning, code defects, and general issues while using Kanban and Scrum software. Teams are in need of tools that are flexible and will help them grow. Azure Boards is a service that helps developers manage their software projects.

Benefits of Microsoft Azure DevOps

Microsoft Azure DevOps offers many benefits, including:

A quick setup and easy deployment
An elastic scale
Exceptional security
No-maintenance operations
Effortless collaboration through domains
The ability to create and deploy products faster than traditional software

Reviews from Real Users

Microsoft Azure DevOps stands out among its competitors for a variety of reasons. Two major ones are its ability to forecast how long each task will take and the ability for users to follow the entire development process.

PeerSpot viewers note the effectiveness of this solution. An executive chief operating officer for a cloud provider notes, “We can forecast tasks and the number of hours a task will take and can compare it with how long a task actually takes.”

Carlos H., a product and system director at SPCM, writes, “I think the most usable thing is that you can follow the whole progress of the development process. This makes it very useful for us.”

Microsoft

Sample Customers

1. NASA 2. IBM 3. Sony 4. Alibaba 5. CERN 6. Siemens 7. Volkswagen 8. ING 9. Ticketmaster 10. SpaceX 11. Adobe 12. Intuit 13. Autodesk 14. Rakuten 15. Unity Technologies 16. Pandora 17. Electronic Arts 18. Nordstrom 19. Verizon 20. Comcast 21. Philips 22. Deutsche Telekom 23. Orange 24. Fujitsu 25. Ericsson 26. Nokia 27. General Electric 28. Cisco 29. Accenture 30. Deloitte 31. PwC 32. KPMG

Alaska Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Columbia, Skype

Buyer's Guide

GitLab vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

November 2025

Free Report: GitLab vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

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