Why Self-Host GitLab?
GitHub costs from $4/seat for private repos with Actions. With 10 developers, that's $40/month. GitLab Self-Hosted? Unlimited users, unlimited CI/CD minutes, full data control – for the price of a VPS.
The biggest advantage: No seat limits. Whether 5 or 50 developers – you only pay for the server. Plus integrated CI/CD pipelines, issue tracking, wiki, and container registry – all in one application.
For GDPR-sensitive projects, self-hosting is often the only option. Your code stays on a German server, no third parties involved.
Hardware Requirements
GitLab is resource-hungry – that's the price for the feature set. Official recommendation: 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB for production use.
The main load is on RAM for Sidekiq (background jobs), Gitaly (Git operations), and PostgreSQL. CPU is mainly stressed during CI/CD pipelines.
| Team Size | RAM | CPU | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-10 developers | 4 GB | 2 vCPU | 50 GB |
| 10-50 developers | 8 GB | 4 vCPU | 100 GB |
| 50-100+ developers | 16 GB | 8 vCPU | 200+ GB |
Our Recommendation
For small teams (1-10 developers), we recommend a VPS with 8 GB RAM, e.g. at Hetzner. That's the sweet spot for GitLab.
For medium teams with active CI/CD, plan for 16 GB RAM, e.g. at Contabo.
For larger teams: dedicated vCPU and 16 GB RAM. Which plans currently offer this at the lowest price is shown in the live table on this page (prices incl. VAT, updated twice daily).
GitLab.com vs Self-Hosted
GitLab.com Free limits to 5 users and 400 CI/CD minutes per month. Premium costs $29/user/month.
Self-Hosted: Once set up, no user limits, no CI/CD limits. With 10 developers, you save $290/month minus the server rent.
| Aspect | GitLab.com Free | GitLab Self-Hosted |
|---|---|---|
| User limit | 5 | Unlimited |
| CI/CD minutes | 400/month | Unlimited |
| Storage | 5 GB | VPS storage |
| Cost (10 users) | $290/month (Premium) | Server rent only (see live table) |
| Data location | US/EU Cloud | Your server |