head to head · open source
GitLab vs Encore
GitLab has 24,546 GitHub stars, 5,982 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped today. Encore has 12,369 stars, 622 forks, 127 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. GitLab leads on adoption by 98% (24,546 vs 12,369 stars). GitLab is written in Ruby under a custom or non-standard licence; Encore is written in Go under MPL-2.0. GitLab has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, Encore 5%. GitLab was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| GitLab | Encore | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 12K |
| License | Custom / other | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.0K | ⑂ 622 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick GitLab if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Encore if
- You want the Encore feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Encore fits your workflow better
About GitLab
GitLab is an open core DevSecOps platform that gives teams Git repository hosting, merge request code review, CI/CD pipelines, issue tracking, and wikis in one self hostable application, aimed at organizations that want to run their development lifecycle on infrastructure they control.
read the full GitLab overview →
About Encore
Encore is an open source infrastructure platform for backend development, written in Go under MPL 2.0. It lives in the Go and TypeScript cloud native ecosystem and lets developers declare databases, Pub/Sub, object storage, caches, cron jobs, and secrets in application code. The project combines an infrastructure SDK with an optional managed platform that deploys to a user's AWS or GCP account.
read the full Encore overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is GitLab or Encore more popular?
GitLab has 24,546 GitHub stars and Encore has 12,369. GitLab has the larger community by that measure.
Are GitLab and Encore free?
Both are open source. GitLab has no licence declared in this registry, and Encore is licensed under MPL-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between GitLab and Encore?
GitLab is written in Ruby and Encore in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, GitLab or Encore?
Choose GitLab if you want the larger community (24,546 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Encore if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.