There is no doubt that GitHub is one of the best Git repository hosting services for any open source project. But as you know, Microsoft has already acquired GitHub, so there might be some changes coming in the near future focusing on only profit, as Microsoft always does. Following this volatile situation, the dev teams of various open source project creators are already changing or will change the version control host into something that does not focus only on profit or actually supports open source projects smoothly. Here comes the question of Best GitHub Alternatives for hosting open source code of the open source project.
10 Best GitHub Alternatives
In this article, I will show a list of the best alternative to GitHub, which will offer a sustainable free package for hosting your git repositories. Though all the below services do not provide free hosting packages for your open source code, it's worth looking to see if it can fulfill your project demand. So let's have a glimpse look at this list of 10 best GitHub alternatives.
1. GitLab
At this moment, GitLab is the most secure, reliable, and best GitHub alternative available in the market. It's an open source software, and you can install it on your own server.
It's very easy to migrate your open source project to GitHub. Moreover, GitLab Ultimate and Gold packages are now completely free for educational purposes and open source projects.
2. SourceForge
SourceForge is one of the solid and popular names in this list of GitHub alternatives. There are many developers who have created lots of open source projects and let the users download the software through this versatile open-source code hosting site SourceForge.
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It provides all the necessary tools and features required for developing an open source project effectively and smoothly. You, as a developer, can easily migrate the project from GitHub.
3. BitBucket
If you are looking for something high-performance and featured rich repository hosting service for your git source code, then BitBucket can be the best option for you as an alternative to GitHub.
It smoothly integrates Jira, HipChat, and Confluence project management tools, making this development platform valuable and desirable to big enterprise entities. Moreover, you can also use it as free for open source projects using a community license.
4. GitKraken
In this list of best GitHub alternatives, GitKraken is a promising name for hosting open source code. This git client is steadily gaining popular momentum among the developer.
The feature-rich tools, clean interface, and easy use those features make it best to collaborate on software projects faster.
GitKraken Git Client Download
5. Gogs
Gogs is a remarkable one because of its open source, cross-platform, extensible, and lightweight nature. It comes so minimally that you can install it within no time and have a self-hosted git service for your open source project. Gogs is one of the best GitHub open source alternatives available for you in the market.
Download Gogs
6. Launchpad
Though Launchpad is a popular free git repository hosting service for Ubuntu, still, you can use it to develop your own open source projects. Launchpad is created by Canonical, maker of Ubuntu Linux.
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It offers many features and tools worth mentioning code hosting, bug tracking, mail listing, code reviews, etc. Despite the stale interface and different workflow methods, you can use it as a GitHub alternative for hosting open source code.
7. Kallithea
Kallithea is a free software source code management system with an offer of two version control systems - Mercurial and Git. It has both a self-hosted git client and web interface, easy to install and use for both users and admin.
Download Kallithea
8. GitBucket
GitBucket is high extensible open source GitHub alternatives for hosting source code for software development.
It has a set of tools and features that help the developer to manage the project code easily. Issues tracker, documentation and wiki, repository viewer, pull requests, etc., are some of the best features it can offer to you for your open source code.
Download GitBucket
9. Gitea
Like Gogs, Gitea is also an open source, multiplatform supported, minimal self-hosted Git service for an open source software development platform. It's a community fork of Gogs.
Download Gitea
10. Phabricator
Phabricator is a fast, secure, powerful, and open source code hosting platform out there in the market. It provides highly scalable tools for creating and collaborating on open source code hosting in a secure and faster way. You can install it on your own VPS hosting or use company hosted service.
Final Thought
This all about from my side. I have tried to give you a shortlist of GitHub alternatives, which will help you get the best one. What's your recommendation for hosting open source code? Let the users know which one you like or recommend in the comment section. Let me know if any other software git repository hosting platforms deserve a place on this list of Best GitHub Alternatives.