head to head · open source
GitLab vs Encore
GitLab has 24,549 GitHub stars, 5,943 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Encore has 12,682 stars, 654 forks, 127 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. GitLab leads on adoption by 94% (24,549 vs 12,682 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%. Encore 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 | ★ 13K |
| License | Custom / other | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 654 |
| 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 Canonical source The canonical source of GitLab where all development takes place is hosted on GitLab.com. If you wish to clone a copy of GitLab without proprietary code, you can use the read only mirror of GitLab located at However, please do not submit any issues and/or merge requests to that project. Free trial You can request a free trial of GitLab Ultimate on our website. Open source software to collaborate on code To see how GitLab looks please see the features page on our website. Manage Git repositories with fine grained access controls that keep your code secure Perform code reviews and enhance…
read the full GitLab overview →
About Encore
Encore: Infrastructure orchestration from local to your cloud What is Encore? Encore is the infrastructure platform for the intelligence era, where engineers and AI agents build production systems without waiting on infrastructure. Run and validate with real infrastructure locally and in preview environments, then deploy to your own AWS or GCP account. It has two parts that work together: An open source infrastructure SDK for TypeScript and Go. Declare the resources your app needs (databases, Pub/Sub, object storage, caches, cron jobs, secrets) directly in your code, and encore run starts the whole system…
read the full Encore overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is GitLab or Encore more popular?
GitLab has 24,549 GitHub stars and Encore has 12,682. 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 (24,549 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.