The easiest way to work together with other users on a GitLab project is to grant users direct push access to the repository. Nevertheless, the cloud solution is appealing, especially if your system administrator tends to deal with heavy workloads. You have complete freedom when it comes to installation: You can make your own decisions about backups, updates or additional resources, and install what you need for a specific application. The advantage of manually installing GitLab in your own server environment is greater flexibility.

The GitLab Runner is usually already installed so that you can get started right away. This way you can deploy the software quickly without the need for complex installation and configuration. If you want to save yourself this effort, you can also install and use GitLab as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) on a cloud server (many providers offer this service). In addition to the installation itself, you have to factor in the time required for configuration and regular maintenance.

Installing GitLab on your own server doesn’t pose any major challenges if you have previous Linux experience, but it’s relatively time-consuming.

How to install gitlab in linux