How Does GitLab Make Money? The GitLab Business Model In A Nutshell

GitLab was created in 2013 by Ukrainian developers Dmitriy Zaporozhets, Valery Sizov, and Sytse Sijbrandij as a source code management solution for collaborative software teams. GitLab is a web-based, open-source DevOps tool providing issue-tracking and continuous integration and deployment pipeline features. It makes money via its main two paid plans (Premium & Ultimate) and via its subscription add-ons.

Origin Story

GitLab is a web-based, open-source DevOps tool providing issue-tracking and continuous integration and deployment pipeline features.

GitLab was created by Ukrainian developers Dmitriy Zaporozhets, Valery Sizov, and Sytse Sijbrandij as a source code management solution for collaborative software teams. Later iterations saw GitLab evolve to a more integrated solution, covering the entire DevOps lifecycle. Teams can now automate every aspect of this cycle, from planning to creation, build verification, security testing, deployment, and monitoring.

Today, the software incorporates an open-core development model. The core functionality is released under an open-source MIT license, but any additional functionality is subject to a proprietary license.

Gitlab has expanded aggressively since its founding in 2014, employing over 1300 team members across 67 countries. Last year, company revenue topped $150 million.

GitLab revenue generation

Gitlab follows the freemium model that is supported by a paid subscription service.

The free option is touted as providing a complete DevOps platform, but it does require that users provide their own CI runners and production environment.

For those desiring more functionality, there are two paid options:

Premium ($19/user/month, billed at $228 annually) – the premium plan provides DevOps with added features including code integrity controls, productivity data, and project management. Disaster recovery and 24/7 support are also offered.Ultimate ($99/user/month, billed at $1188 annually) – the Ultimate plan offers full DevSecOps with advanced security testing, compliance, and portfolio management. Teams can also utilize vulnerability management, free guest users, dependency scanning, and 50,000 CI/CD minutes per month.Add-on subscriptions

For users who exceed their CI/CD minutes usage, additional CI minutes can be purchased for $10 per 1,000 minutes. Aside from this one-time payment, Gitlab also allows users to simply upgrade their plan to receive a greater allowance.

For those desiring more storage space, Gitlab offers 10GB for an additional $60. It should be noted that this charge is an annual, recurring subscription regardless of the data used.

Special projects

GitLab also offers special pricing in the form of a free Ultimate license to eligible:

Start-ups.Educational institutions, andOpen-source projects.Additional users

GitLab allows its customers to add more users mid-subscription by contacting the company for a customized quote.

The cost of adding extra users is pro-rated from the date of the quote or purchase through to the end of the subscription period.

Alternatively, customers can use the GitLab True-Up model to add additional users. In this case, a company that has grown from 100 to 300 users can renew on a 300-user plan while also paying a full annual fee for the 200 extra users it added.

Key takeaways:GitLab is a web-based, open-source tool that allows full automation of the entire DevOps lifecycle. It was created by Ukrainian developers Dmitriy Zaporozhets, Valery Sizov, and Sytse Sijbrandij.GitLab works on a freemium model backed by two paid subscription plans with greater functionality: Premium and Ultimate.Gitlab also makes money through add-on subscriptions, enabling users to purchase additional CI minutes and storage space. Additional users can also be accommodated on a prorated basis or by using the proprietary True-Up system.

Read Next: How Does GitHub Make Money?

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