GitHub vs GitLab vs Bitbucket - which one won't bankrupt us?

**Bitbucket** is $6.60/user/month and your devs will plot your murder. **GitHub** is $21/user/month but actually works. **GitLab Ultimate** is $99/user/month and your CFO will have an aneurysm. **Real talk**: Bitbucket will save money upfront then cost you 10x in lost productivity and dev turnover. GitHub costs real money but ships features. GitLab Ultimate costs Tesla money for a Git repo.

Can I negotiate these ridiculous prices?

Yes, but only if you're signing multi-year deals and have 500+ users: - **GitHub**: 15-20% if you sign for 3 years and let them upsell you Advanced Security - **Bitbucket**: Volume discounts are already baked in, not much wiggle room - **GitLab**: Up to 30% off if you commit to 3 years and pay upfront **Sales reality**: Enterprise reps can smell desperation through Zoom calls. If you're shopping around because GitHub broke your budget, you've got leverage. If your devs are threatening to quit without GitHub, you're fucked and they know it.

What do I actually get for these insane prices?

**GitHub Enterprise ($21/user/month)**: Decent Git hosting, 50,000 CI/CD minutes (until you run out), SAML SSO that actually works, and support that responds within 24 hours. **Bitbucket Premium ($6/user/month)**: Git hosting from 2005, 1,000 CI/CD minutes (gone in 3 days), and support that makes you miss the old days. **GitLab Premium ($29/user/month)**: Everything including project management features you'll never use, 10,000 CI/CD minutes, and priority support that's still slower than GitHub's standard support. **GitLab Ultimate ($99/user/month)**: Every feature known to humanity, security scanning that flags jQuery as a vulnerability, and enough compliance reports to choke a regulator.

Cloud vs self-hosting - which is actually cheaper?

**Short answer**: Cloud, unless you love paying infrastructure engineers $200k to debug Git servers. **Self-hosting hidden costs**: - Infrastructure engineer who knows what they're doing: $200k/year - Servers that don't crash: $100k/year minimum - Backup systems you'll never test: $50k/year - 3AM outages that make your developers hate you: Priceless **Cloud tax**: 40% more per month, but your developers don't quit and you can sleep through the night.

My developers want GitHub but it's expensive. What do I tell them?

**Option A**: "We're going with Bitbucket to save money." Prepare for mass resignations and passive-aggressive Slack messages. **Option B**: "We're getting GitHub Enterprise." Watch your CFO's eye twitch when they see the bill. **Option C**: "Let's try GitLab Ultimate." Enjoy explaining why you're paying $99/user/month for features nobody asked for. **Real answer**: GitHub Enterprise Cloud. Your developers will be productive, your security team will be happy, and you'll only cry a little when you see the monthly bill.

How much will CI/CD overages actually cost me?

**Way more than your mortgage**. Here's the death spiral: - Some genius enables CI on every commit and branch - Your 50k monthly minutes evaporate by day 10 - GitHub's $0.008/minute adds up to $0.48/hour per pipeline - Your $21k/month bill becomes $45k/month with zero warning - You have the worst meeting of your career with finance - Someone suggests "optimizing our CI strategy" (aka firing the intern who enabled auto-builds) **Learn from my pain**: Set billing alerts at 80% or prepare to explain why the Git bill is higher than payroll.

What about self-hosting infrastructure costs?

**Rough numbers for self-hosting 500 developers:** **Servers**: $100k-200k/year (depending on whether you buy or rent) **DevOps engineer**: $150k-200k/year (good luck finding one who knows all three platforms) **Backups that work**: $25k-50k/year (plus hoping you never need them) **SSL certificates that don't expire at 2am**: Your sanity

My security team wants Advanced Security features. How much?

**GitHub Advanced Security**: Another $49/user/month on top of the $21 base. So now you're at $70/user/month. **Bitbucket security**: Pretty basic. You'll need third-party tools, add another $10-20/user. **GitLab Ultimate security**: Everything included but you're already paying $99/user so it better include everything. **Reality check**: Security features are expensive but getting breached is more expensive.

Should I just pick the cheapest option and deal with the complaints?

**Short answer**: No. **Long answer**: Bitbucket will save you money but your developers will spend 30% more time fighting the UI instead of writing code. That math doesn't work out. **Better plan**: Pick GitHub, show your CFO the developer productivity reports after 6 months, take credit for the team shipping more features.

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Enterprise Git Hosting: Technical Cost Analysis

Configuration Requirements

GitHub Enterprise Cloud

Base Cost: $21/user/month
Reality Cost: $70/user/month after security requirements
CI/CD Allocation: 50,000 minutes/month included
Overage Rate: $0.008/minute (becomes $0.48/hour per pipeline)
Advanced Security: +$49/user/month (mandatory for enterprise security compliance)
Breaking Point: Day 12 of month for CI minute exhaustion

Bitbucket Premium/Data Center

Base Cost: $6.60/user/month cloud, $28k/year for 1,000 users self-hosted
CI/CD Allocation: 1,000 minutes/month (insufficient for production use)
Critical Limitation: Search functionality fails consistently
Performance Threshold: Diff viewer fails above 1,000 lines
Developer Impact: 30% productivity loss due to UI limitations

GitLab Premium/Ultimate

Premium: $29/user/month (10,000 CI minutes)
Ultimate: $99/user/month (50,000 CI minutes)
Security Scanner: Generates 500+ false positives weekly
Feature Change Frequency: UI modifications every 2 weeks
Scale Impact: $1.2M/year for 1,000 developers on Ultimate

Resource Requirements

Cloud Hosting

GitHub Enterprise: $21k base → $75k reality for 250 developers
Bitbucket: $18k total but requires developer productivity mitigation
GitLab Ultimate: $300k for 250 developers, $1.2M for 1,000 developers

Self-Hosting Infrastructure Costs

Infrastructure Engineer: $200-250k/year (specialized skillset required)
Hardware/Cloud: $100-300k/year (always double initial estimates)
Backup Systems: $50k/year
Monitoring: $30k/year
Operational Overhead: 24/7 maintenance requirements

CI/CD Overage Scenarios

GitHub: $5k baseline → $9k with Docker builds and security scans
Bitbucket: 1k minutes exhausted in first week of heavy development
GitLab: Shared vs dedicated runner pricing inconsistencies

Critical Warnings

GitHub Enterprise

Vendor Lock-in: Migration becomes 6-month project after team adoption
CI Budget Explosion: No warnings before 800% bill increases
Advanced Security Mandatory: Security teams require $49/user add-on
Actions YAML: Complete rewrite required when migrating from other platforms

Bitbucket Limitations

Search Failure: "Search unavailable" status for weeks
Random Pipeline Failures: Same commit fails without logs, requires 3x restarts
Mobile Dysfunction: App crashes on basic operations
Developer Retention Risk: Mass resignation threats documented

GitLab Operational Issues

False Positive Overload: Security scanner flags console.log() as critical
UI Instability: Features relocated bi-weekly, documentation outdated
CI Quota Confusion: Parallel job multipliers undocumented
Ultimate Cost Shock: $99/user exceeds most housing payments

Self-Hosting Reality

3AM LDAP Failures: Authentication outages during critical deployment windows
Backup Testing: Systems never validated until disaster recovery needed
SSL Certificate Expiration: Unmonitored renewals cause organization-wide outages
Single Point of Failure: GitHub Enterprise Server lacks clustering

Decision Criteria

Choose GitHub Enterprise Cloud When:

Developer productivity prioritized over cost optimization
Team size under 500 developers
99.95% uptime requirement
Security team demands Advanced Security features
Migration time constraints (weeks vs months)

Choose Bitbucket When:

Cost constraints override developer experience
Existing Atlassian ecosystem integration required
Development team accepts 2005-era interface limitations
CI/CD requirements minimal (under 1k minutes/month)

Choose GitLab Ultimate When:

All-in-one platform requirement (Git + CI/CD + project management)
Budget supports $99/user/month ($1.2M for 1,000 developers)
Team can adapt to bi-weekly UI changes
Security scanning false positives manageable

Choose Self-Hosting When:

Compliance mandates on-premises deployment
Infrastructure team enjoys 24/7 operational responsibility
Budget includes $200k+ infrastructure engineer
Data sovereignty requirements legally binding

Performance Thresholds

GitHub Enterprise

UI Responsiveness: PR loads under 30 seconds
Search Functionality: Code discovery works as expected
CI Reliability: Actions generally stable without random failures

Bitbucket

Search Threshold: Fails above basic repository browsing
File Size Limit: Diff viewer unusable above 1,000 lines
Pipeline Reliability: Random failures require 3x execution attempts

GitLab

Security Scanner: 500+ weekly false positives requiring triage
CI Performance: Shared runner performance inconsistent
Feature Stability: 2-week UI change cycle disrupts workflows

Cost Optimization Strategies

GitHub Enterprise

Monitor CI usage at 80% allocation threshold
Negotiate 15-20% discount for 3-year commitments
Advanced Security selective deployment to critical repositories only

Bitbucket

Accept productivity trade-offs for cost savings
Third-party security tools budget $10-20/user additional
Volume discounts already incorporated in pricing

GitLab

Ultimate tier negotiable up to 30% for 3-year prepaid commitments
Premium tier sufficient for basic Git + CI/CD requirements
Feature utilization analysis before Ultimate upgrade

Self-Hosting

Budget 2x initial infrastructure estimates
Plan for 24/7 operational coverage
Include disaster recovery testing in operational costs

Migration Considerations

Platform Migration Timeline

GitHub → Bitbucket: 6 weeks due to Actions YAML conversion
Bitbucket → GitHub: 3-4 weeks with team productivity recovery
Any Platform → Self-Hosted: 3-6 months including infrastructure setup

Migration Risks

Developer Workflow Disruption: 2-4 weeks adaptation period
CI/CD Pipeline Rewrite: Complete configuration overhaul required
Feature Parity Loss: Platform-specific capabilities abandoned
Training Requirements: Team onboarding for new platform features

Vendor Negotiation Reality

Enterprise Sales Leverage

500+ Users: Significant negotiation power with all vendors
Multi-Year Commitments: 15-30% discount potential
Competitive Bidding: Use alternative pricing for leverage
Budget Constraints: Transparent about limitations increases flexibility

Sales Process Warnings

GitHub Enterprise: 47 follow-up contacts after initial inquiry
GitLab Ultimate: ROI calculator provided to justify $99/user cost
Bitbucket: Limited negotiation room due to already low pricing
Decision Urgency: Sales pressure increases with team size and timeline constraints

Useful Links for Further Investigation

Links That Don't Suck (Unlike Most Vendor Documentation)

Link	Description
GitHub Pricing Calculator	Actually works, shows real costs including the overages that'll bankrupt you
GitHub Enterprise Sales	Warning: they'll call/email/stalk you 47 times once you fill this out
Advanced Security Pricing	The $49/user add-on your security team will demand
Bitbucket Pricing	Looks cheap until you calculate the developer therapy costs
GitLab Pricing	At least they're upfront about the $99/user Ultimate pricing
GitLab Sales	For when you need to explain the $1.2M/year bill
GitLab ROI Calculator	Tool to convince your CFO the price makes sense

Enterprise Git Hosting: Technical Cost Analysis

Configuration Requirements

GitHub Enterprise Cloud

Bitbucket Premium/Data Center

GitLab Premium/Ultimate

Resource Requirements

Cloud Hosting

Self-Hosting Infrastructure Costs

CI/CD Overage Scenarios

Critical Warnings

GitHub Enterprise

Bitbucket Limitations

GitLab Operational Issues

Self-Hosting Reality

Decision Criteria

Choose GitHub Enterprise Cloud When:

Choose Bitbucket When:

Choose GitLab Ultimate When:

Choose Self-Hosting When:

Performance Thresholds

GitHub Enterprise

Bitbucket

GitLab

Cost Optimization Strategies

GitHub Enterprise

Bitbucket

GitLab

Self-Hosting

Migration Considerations

Platform Migration Timeline

Migration Risks

Vendor Negotiation Reality

Enterprise Sales Leverage

Sales Process Warnings

Useful Links for Further Investigation

Links That Don't Suck (Unlike Most Vendor Documentation)

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