GitLab

1. Integrated CI/CD: The fact that the CI/CD pipelines are all seamlessly integrated into the GitLab offering is the killer app in and of itself. Being able to set up all of this through the '.gitlab-ci.yml' configuration file right in the GitLab repository configuration is infinitely better than the way we had to manage Jenkins servers in the past. 2. Code Review & Merge Requests: Code review screens are nicely designed. Features such as in-line commenting and viewing the status of the pipelines in the Merge Request are all excellent ways to facilitate team collaboration. 3. Integrated Container Registry: Docker is a big part of what we do, and being able to store our containers in a registry right in our GitLab installation eliminates the need to manage third-party storage services.

Integrated CI/CD pipeline in the user interface.

1. CI/CD. This is without a doubt GitLab's star feature. The CI pipeline in GitLab is is expressive and makes it easy to build complex workflows that stay versioned with the code. 2. Governance and Audit Features. Group-level controls, compliance pipelines, protected branches, and especially audit logs help us enforce consistent standards across teams without additional tooling. 3. Single source of truth. For our engineers, being able to have all of their work occurring in a single location was beneficial. Issues, epics, merge requests, pipeline results and security findings all under one roof reduces context switching and surfaces issues earlier in the development process.

1. Resource Intensiveness: Since we use a self-managed instance, the process can be very resource-intensive, especially if theres a large set of pipelines running at the same time. 2. Steep Learning Curve: Because this platform does so much, sometimes the UI can be overwhelming for junior developers brought on to the team, as theres too much going on, represented by options on menus, & so on. 3. Debugging CI Pipeline: At times, debugging a syntax error involving CI pipelines can be frustrating; a more interactive experience would be nice for speeding up the process for CI pipelines linting tools.

Performance, job executions take too much time.

1. Security Findings Overload. The security functionality of GitLab Ultimate has powerful potential. However, it is unbelievably noisy as the the scans are completely context unaware. The level of tuning required to make these findings useful was rather daunting. 2. Platform Complexity. GitLab is powerful, but it can feel heavy with many features, settings and layers, and there is a level of intuitiveness that isn't always there initially like there is with other platforms. 3. Runner Management. Self-hosted runners give you flexibility and added security, but at the expense of the infrastructure that is now required to operate, scale and secure. A better in-the-middle option would be valuable.