shouldiuse.io

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Should I Use Codeberg?

codeberg.org·Analyzed 1 hour ago·Based on 10 sources

Depends

Depends

Buy (well, join — it's free) if you host open source, hobby, or academic projects and want a privacy-first GitHub exit.

Free, privacy-first GitHub alternative for open source. Wrong fit for commercial private repos or enterprises.

Confidence: Medium

Free

Starting price

Donation-funded non-profit

Yes

Free tier

No paid tiers listed

6

Companies tracked as users

Per TheirStack

~€300

2019 spend

Budget has grown substantially since

Value for money5

Completely free; donation-funded

Ease of use4

Easiest GitHub exit without self-hosting

Feature depth3

Lightweight Forgejo base; less than GitHub/GitLab

Security posture3

2FA offered, but hit by attacks in 2025

Pros

  • Free for open source, funded by donations and memberships²
  • Gitea-based, extremely lightweight³
  • Easiest way to leave GitHub without becoming a sysadmin¹
  • 2FA and public security documentation available⁹
  • European, community-led non-profit — no tracking-focused owner

Cons

  • Less proven and financially backed than big players
  • Suffered DDoS attacks and abusive spam emails in February 2025⁴
  • News reports note Codeberg struggling with performance⁶
  • Bans mostly AI-generated projects — controversial policy
  • Private commercial repos explicitly not the focus²

Gotchas

  • highFebruary 2025 DDoS and spam attacks disrupted service and sent abusive emails to users⁴
  • mediumRuns on donations; long-term sustainability has been publicly questioned⁷
  • mediumPerformance struggles reported in trade press⁶
  • mediumCheck the AI-generated-code policy before migrating any project⁸

Best for

  • Open source projects
  • Hobbyists, artists, academics
  • Privacy-conscious devs leaving GitHub
  • EU-based developers

Not for

  • Commercial teams needing private repos as the focus
  • Enterprises wanting a proven vendor with financial backing
  • Teams relying on advanced CI/CD at GitHub's scale
  • Projects built mostly from AI-generated code — banned

Companies that use it

  • LibreWolf
  • BookStack

Pricing

Codeberg

Free

  • Git hosting for free/open-source projects
  • Funded by donations and memberships
  • Private repos not the focus for commercial use

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed; platform did face DDoS and spam attacks in February 2025.

  • DDoS attackCodeberg publicly reported being under DDoS attack in early 2025.⁷
  • Abusive spam campaignUsers received abusive emails during a February 2025 spam attack; Codeberg blamed far-right forces.⁴

What users say

Users love it as a free, lightweight, privacy-friendly GitHub escape hatch but flag reliability, funding, and policy concerns.

“Codeberg is the easiest way to leave GitHub without becoming a sysadmin”
— PrivacyTools.io review
“Codeberg is perfectly fine if you're ok with mostly public repos.”
— Reddit, r/BuyFromEU
“Less proven and financially backed than the big players”
— Slashdot review

Alternatives

Compare Codeberg with each alternative.

Full analysis

Based on 24 public sources including reviews, official docs, Reddit threads, and news coverage

Sources

  1. Codeberg Review: Private Code Hosting - PrivacyTools.ioprivacytools.io
    review
  2. Codeberg FAQ - Codeberg Documentationdocs.codeberg.org
    official
  3. Codeberg Review - Slant Coslant.co
    review
  4. Open-source code repository says 'far-right forces' behind spam attacks - The Vergetheverge.com
    news
  5. Codeberg appears to be under a DDoS attack - Hacker Newsnews.ycombinator.com
    news
  6. Codeberg struggling with performance - Risky Bulletinnews.risky.biz
    news
  7. Is Codeberg financially sustainable? - Hacker Newsnews.ycombinator.com
    news
  8. Codeberg voted to disallow mostly AI-generated projects - Redditreddit.com
    review
  9. Setting up two-factor authentication - Codeberg Documentationdocs.codeberg.org
    official
  10. Codeberg's Budget of 2026 - Codeberg Newsblog.codeberg.org
    official

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