Gitea
Gitea is a painless self hosted all in one software development service with Git hosting, code review, CI/CD, package registry, and project management for teams of all sizes.
About Gitea
Gitea is a community managed, open source Git hosting platform designed to provide the easiest, fastest, and most painless way of setting up a self hosted software forge. Originally forked from Gogs in 2016, Gitea has evolved into a comprehensive development platform combining Git repository hosting, code review, continuous integration, and project management in a single lightweight application. Written in Go, Gitea runs on all platforms including Linux, macOS, and Windows across x86, AMD64, ARM, and PowerPC architectures.
The platform is designed with simplicity and performance as core principles. Unlike resource intensive alternatives, Gitea can run on minimal hardware including a Raspberry Pi 3, making it accessible to individual developers and small teams. Despite its lightweight nature, Gitea offers enterprise grade features including pull request workflows, issue tracking, kanban boards, Gitea Actions for CI/CD, and support for over 20 package registry formats. The MIT licensed project is developed openly with contributions from a global community, offering both free self hosted deployment and commercial support options for enterprises requiring enhanced features and SLA backed support.
Key Features
- Git Repository Hosting: Create and manage Git repositories with browsing, commit history, code review, branch management, and collaboration tools.
- Gitea Actions: Built in CI/CD system compatible with GitHub Actions, allowing workflows in YAML format with access to over 20,000 existing plugins.
- Code Review: Pull request and AGit workflows with inline commenting, review requests, and quality enforcement through protected branches.
- Project Management: Issue tracking with labels, milestones, assignments, time tracking, due dates, dependencies, and kanban boards for visual workflow management.
- Package Registry: Support for over 20 package formats including Cargo, Composer, Conan, Container, Helm, Maven, npm, NuGet, PyPI, RubyGems, and more.
- Lightweight and Fast: Designed for minimal resource usage, running efficiently on hardware from Raspberry Pi to enterprise servers.
- Web Based IDE: Full featured integrated development environment accessible through the browser for easy contributions without local setup.
- Security Features: User permission management, access control lists, two factor authentication, and LDAP integration for enterprise security.
Pricing
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Open Source (Self Hosted): Free Full featured Gitea under MIT license, unlimited users and repositories, code hosting, issue tracking, pull requests, project management, Gitea Actions CI/CD, package registry, community support.
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Cloud Managed: Custom pricing SAML SSO integration, audit logs, Kubernetes autoscaling runners, enhanced enterprise features, priority security bug fix notifications, priority email and online support with SLA, installation and upgrade assistant service, emergency telephone and remote support, discounts for non profits and small companies.
Use Cases
- Self hosted Git service for privacy conscious organizations
- Small to medium team code collaboration and review
- Open source project hosting and community management
- Lightweight alternative to GitHub and GitLab for resource constrained environments
- CI/CD pipeline automation with Gitea Actions
- Private package registry for internal dependencies
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Extremely lightweight and resource efficient
- Easy to install and maintain with minimal dependencies
- Completely open source under MIT license
- Compatible with GitHub Actions for CI/CD workflows
- Supports over 20 package registry formats
- Can run on minimal hardware including Raspberry Pi
Cons:
- Smaller ecosystem compared to GitHub or GitLab
- Enterprise features require commercial support plan
- Community governance changes in 2022 led to some contributor uncertainty
- Less third party integration options than larger platforms
Integrations
Jenkins, Drone CI, Kubernetes, Docker, Slack, Mattermost, Microsoft Teams, Jira, Redmine, LDAP, SMTP, OAuth, OpenID Connect, Webhooks, REST API
FAQ
What is Gitea and how does it compare to GitHub?
Gitea is a self hosted Git service providing repository hosting, code review, CI/CD, and project management similar to GitHub but designed for self hosting. Unlike GitHub which is cloud only, Gitea can be deployed on your own infrastructure giving you complete control over your code and data. It is lightweight, open source, and free to use.
Is Gitea free to use?
Yes, Gitea is completely free and open source under the MIT license. You can self host it on your own servers without any user or repository limits. Commercial support and managed cloud hosting are available for organizations requiring enterprise features and SLA backed support.
What are the system requirements for Gitea?
Gitea is designed to be lightweight. A Raspberry Pi 3 is sufficient for small workloads. For small teams, 2 CPU cores and 1GB RAM is typically adequate. Gitea supports Linux, macOS, and Windows on x86, AMD64, ARM, and PowerPC architectures. Git version 2.0.0 or later is required.
What is Gitea Actions?
Gitea Actions is Gitea's built in CI/CD system that is compatible with GitHub Actions. You can write workflows using the familiar YAML format and reuse existing Actions plugins from any Git website. This allows seamless migration of CI/CD pipelines from GitHub to Gitea.
How is Gitea different from Gogs?
Gitea was originally forked from Gogs in 2016 due to frustration with Gogs' single maintainer management model. Gitea adopted a more open and faster development model with community governance. While both are lightweight self hosted Git services, Gitea has evolved significantly with more features and active development.
What package formats does Gitea support?
Gitea supports over 20 package registry formats including Cargo (Rust), Chef, Composer (PHP), Conan (C/C++), Conda, Container (Docker), Helm, Maven (Java), npm (Node.js), NuGet (.NET), Pub (Dart), PyPI (Python), RubyGems, and Vagrant.
Can I migrate from GitHub to Gitea?
Yes, Gitea provides migration tools to import repositories from GitHub including code, issues, pull requests, and releases. The Gitea Actions CI/CD system is compatible with GitHub Actions workflows, making migration of automation straightforward.
Is Gitea suitable for enterprise use?
Yes, Gitea offers enterprise features including LDAP and SAML SSO integration, audit logs, granular permissions, and priority support options. Many organizations use Gitea for internal development with complete data sovereignty and compliance control.
Last edited
October 10, 2026 at 3:13 AM by Venkatraman C
