head to head · open source
GitLab vs mantis
GitLab has 24,546 GitHub stars, 5,982 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped today. mantis has 1,665 stars, 160 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. GitLab leads on adoption by 1,374% (24,546 vs 1,665 stars). GitLab is written in Ruby under a custom or non-standard licence; mantis is written in Python under Apache-2.0. GitLab has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, mantis 10%. 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 | mantis | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.0K | ⑂ 160 |
| 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 mantis if
- You want the mantis feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and mantis 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 mantis
Mantis is a modular, stack agnostic toolkit of security review skills for AI coding agents, and it includes an ADK reference harness for building secure software. It lives in the developer tools, AI coding agent, and application security ecosystem, with topics such as code review, DevSecOps, multi agent systems, and hardware security. The project helps agents autonomously find, reproduce, and patch vulnerabilities while giving humans a structured way to review results.
read the full mantis overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is GitLab or mantis more popular?
GitLab has 24,546 GitHub stars and mantis has 1,665. GitLab has the larger community by that measure.
Are GitLab and mantis free?
Both are open source. GitLab has no licence declared in this registry, and mantis is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between GitLab and mantis?
GitLab is written in Ruby and mantis in Python. 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 mantis?
Choose GitLab if you want the larger community (24,546 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose mantis if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.