head to head · open source
GitLab vs hunk
GitLab has 24,549 GitHub stars, 5,943 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. hunk has 9,741 stars, 325 forks, 162 open issues and last shipped yesterday. GitLab leads on adoption by 152% (24,549 vs 9,741 stars). GitLab is written in Ruby under a custom or non-standard licence; hunk is written in TypeScript under MIT. GitLab has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, hunk 3%. hunk 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 | hunk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 9.7K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-23 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 325 |
| 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 hunk if
- You want the hunk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and hunk 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 hunk
hunk Hunk is a review first terminal diff viewer for agent authored changesets, built on OpenTUI and Pierre diffs. hunk.dev · Documentation multi file review stream with sidebar navigation inline AI and agent annotations beside the code split, unified, and responsive auto layouts watch mode for auto reloading file and Git backed reviews keyboard, mouse, pager, and Git difftool support Split view with sidebar and inline AI notes Unified view and mouse selectable menus Install The default installation method on macOS and Linux downloads a standalone binary and installs it into /.hunk . It checks the archive…
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Frequently asked questions
Is GitLab or hunk more popular?
GitLab has 24,549 GitHub stars and hunk has 9,741. GitLab has the larger community by that measure.
Are GitLab and hunk free?
Both are open source. GitLab has no licence declared in this registry, and hunk is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between GitLab and hunk?
GitLab is written in Ruby and hunk in TypeScript. 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 hunk?
Choose GitLab if you want the larger community (24,549 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose hunk if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.