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Git vs. GitLab: Understanding the Difference

Git is a distributed version control system. It allows users to track changes in files and collaborate on projects by managing different versions of a codebase. Git is open source, runs locally on your computer, and is used via the command line or desktop tools (like GitHub Desktop). With Git, you can create repositories, branch and merge code, review project history, and collaborate easily—regardless of whether your code is hosted online or just on your machine.

GitLab is a web-based DevOps platform that builds on top of Git. It provides cloud-hosted (and self-hosted) repositories, visualization tools, collaborative code review, built-in continuous integration (CI), and extensive project management features. GitLab enables teams to work together in a single online environment, supporting issue tracking, wikis, deployment pipelines, group permissions, and more—all powered by Git under the hood.

Key differences

• Git is the core technology for managing code versions and collaboration; it works locally or with many remote hosts.
• GitLab is a platform that hosts Git repositories online and adds powerful collaboration, automation, and project management tools.
• If you use GitLab, you are always using Git as the underlying version control system for your projects.
• You can use Git without GitLab (e.g., with GitHub, Bitbucket, or just on your own device); but you cannot use GitLab without Git.

When to use each

• Use Git to manage versions, branches, and local code history for any project, even if you do not want to host your code online.
• Use GitLab if you want cloud-based remote backup, web-based collaboration, automated testing and deployment, or to manage classroom and research projects with integrated tools.

Summary

• Git: The essential tool for version control—runs locally or in any tool or host. Core for all modern coding workflows.
• GitLab: An online platform for hosting Git repositories, collaborating with teams, and automating development processes.

For most classroom and research projects, using Git together with a platform like GitLab combines reliable version control with accessible collaboration and project management.