GitHub
Worth it
Confidence: High
Buy if you host code: the free tier covers individuals and small teams, and it is the industry default.
New check
Comparison
GitHub vs Gitea
GitHub lands on Worth it, and Gitea lands on Depends.
Gitea
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you want a lightweight, self-hosted GitHub-style forge and can run and patch your own server.
| Compare | GitHub | Gitea |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Depends |
| Best for | Solo devs and small teams | Self-hosters with basic ops skills |
| Who it's not for | Non-technical teams storing documents . use a docs tool instead | Teams wanting zero-maintenance managed hosting |
| Privacy | Mature security tooling, but a confirmed May 2026 breach, ~3,800 exposed repos, and a reported RCE (CVE-2026-3854, since patched per community sources).⁵ | Vendor states all published CVEs are fixed in the latest stable release; no specific incidents detailed in sources reviewed.16 |
| Support quality | No support-quality evidence in sources | Priority fixes only on paid cloud |
| Public sentiment | Sentiment is broadly positive, with recurring frustration over Copilot pricing changes and concern after the 2026 breach.³ | No independent user reviews were found; the praise in evidence is vendor marketing copy.13 |
| Biggest gotcha | Copilot pricing changes sparked formal breach-of-contract complaints; model renewal costs before committing.⁸ | Cloud pricing unpublished; expect a contact-sales conversation for real numbers |
Pick GitHub when
- Solo devs and small teams
- Open source projects
- Enterprise engineering orgs
- Teams adopting AI code review
When GitHub is not a fit
- Non-technical teams storing documents . use a docs tool instead
- Buyers needing price stability . Copilot pricing already shifted
- Strict-security orgs unwilling to add controls after the 2026 breach
- Solo users wanting only basic Git . self-hosted Gitea suffices
Pick Gitea when
- Self-hosters with basic ops skills
- Small teams wanting GitHub-like forge on one server
- Privacy-sensitive orgs
- Non-profits and small companies (discounted cloud)
When Gitea is not a fit
- Teams wanting zero-maintenance managed hosting
- Shops relying on GitHub's marketplace and integrations
- Enterprises needing vendor SLAs and dedicated support
- Orgs worried about the open-core split and Forgejo fork
Sources
official
- GitHub's plans (docs)docs.github.comofficial
review
security
- Compromised coding tool helped hackers breach repos . Cybersecurity Divecybersecuritydive.comnews
security
official
- GitHub cost & plans . Vendrvendr.comreview
review
- GitHub security best practices . Legit Securitylegitsecurity.comsecurity
- Gitea Official Websiteabout.gitea.comofficial
- Gitea - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.orgnews
- Gitea downloads and featuresgitea.ioofficial
- Gitea security pageabout.gitea.comsecurity