There are three statistics that tell you everything you need to know about the importance of git.
- Over 90% of software developers have used or are familiar with Git.
- The ‘git status’ command is used by approximately 95% of developers daily.
- Over 90% of Fortune 100 companies use GitHub for their Git repositories
Despite the overwhelming number of developers who consider git common knowledge, there is still a gap. There remains a tendency for many newcomers to software development to conflate Git with GitHub, assuming they’re the same tool.
This misunderstanding can lead to costly mistakes in tool selection, security configurations, and team collaboration.
In this article, we’ll demystify the difference between Git and GitHub, explore alternatives like GitLab, Bitbucket and Assembla, and help you navigate the landscape of modern version control platforms.
Whether you’re a seasoned developer evaluating GitHub alternatives or a team lead choosing between Git vs GitHub vs GitLab, this guide will equip you with the insights needed to make informed decisions about your development infrastructure.
Contents
What is Git?
Years ago, it was commonplace for your development team to race and fix a critical bug only to have that mean losing three days of feature work rolling back to the last stable version.
With Git, this nightmare scenario became a minor inconvenience. Git, created by Linus Torvalds in 2005, is a distributed version control system that acts as your code’s backup and collaboration tool.
The power of distributed version control
Unlike older systems that centralized code within a central server, Git is distributed and gives every developer their own complete copy of the project’s history. This architectural decision yields three game-changing benefits:
- Lightning-Fast Operations: When you’re checking history or creating branches, Git allows you to perform these operations locally—no network latency, no server bottlenecks. These common operations then can be executed far, far faster than monolithic approaches.
- Offline Development: While Git lets you commit code, create branches, and review history without an internet connection, it doesn’t mean you’re working out of sync with your team. Once you’re back online, you can synchronize your changes and it’ll be up to your DevOps team to smooth out any potential wrinkles in conflicting code.
- Built-in Backup: Every developer’s computer essentially becomes a full backup of the project. If your central server crashes, recovery is as simple as pushing from any developer’s local copy.
Git’s fundamental capabilities make these scenarios far more easily achievable than in a monolithic versioning environment.
Git’s core features
Git has become the backbone of software development primarily because of three central capabilities:
- Branching and Merging: Developers can create isolated environments for new features or experiments without affecting the main codebase. Git’s branching model is so efficient that creating a new branch takes less than a second, even in large repositories.
- Commit History: You might forget who did what but Git won’t. Every change is tracked with a unique identifier, complete with author information and timestamp. This creates an audit trail that can pinpoint exactly when and why each line of code changed.
- Conflict Resolution: Developer working from a location with limited internet? When multiple developers modify the same code, Git helps identify and resolve conflicts, preventing accidental overwrites and lost work.
These features explain why Git has become the de facto standard for version control, with over 90% of professional developers choosing it over alternatives. But where does the Hub come into the picture for GitHub?
What is GitHub?
Git is a version control system that tracks your code’s evolution. GitHub, in turn, makes your code into the talk of the cloud through its collaboration tools. Founded in 2008 and acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion in 2018, GitHub is a cloud-based platform that extends Git’s capabilities into a complete development ecosystem.
Think of Git vs GitHub like your local coffee shop vs a bustling coworking space. A coffee shop will have everything you need to work from a distributed environment and—barring any internet issues—you should be able to upload your work and sync it with the main branch.
The coworking space—represented by GitHub—adds a collaborative aspect to your code where developers can contribute to open-source projects, manage public and private Git repositories, and coordinate their work effectively.
GitHub takes Git beyond basic version control
GitHub enhances Git in a few different ways.
Collaboration and Development Workflow
GitHub turns individual coding efforts into a streamlined “team sport” through pull requests, code reviews, and integrated issue tracking.
Teams can work simultaneously on complex projects while maintaining code quality through structured review processes and automated checks.
This collaborative infrastructure has become the backbone of software development teams today, enabling organizations to scale their development efforts efficiently.
Security and Enterprise Features
GitHub is equipped with enterprise-grade security features including dependency vulnerability scanning, role-based access control, and detailed audit logs.
These features, when combined with GitHub Enterprise’s compliance tools, make it possible for organizations to maintain secure development practices while meeting regulatory requirements.
The platform’s security tooling is designed to help prevent breaches and ensure code integrity throughout the development lifecycle.
Community and Discovery
As the world’s largest development platform with over 100 million users, GitHub serves as both a repository host and a community hub where developers can discover, share, and contribute to millions of projects.
The platform’s social features, including forking, starring, and following, create an ecosystem that fosters innovation and knowledge sharing.
Project Management and Integration
GitHub’s project management capabilities go beyond basic code storage, providing a simple yet effective starting point for developers. With visual project boards, milestone tracking, and marketplace integrations, it’s a good fit for those already working in GitHub who want to avoid the overhead of context switching.
While its features are somewhat limited compared to dedicated project management tools, like Jira or Assembla Spaces, they are well-suited for teams looking to stay within the GitHub ecosystem.
Additionally, with native GitHub Actions for automation and third-party tool integration, teams can create customized workflows that span the entire software development lifecycle. These tools help organizations reduce context switching and improve development efficiency by keeping related activities within a single platform.
Git vs Github: What is the difference between Git and GitHub?
Git is a free, open-source version control system that runs locally on your machine, focusing solely on version control operations like branching and merging. GitHub, on the other hand, is a paid cloud platform that builds on Git by adding collaborative features such as access control, visual interfaces, and protected branches. While Git uses SSH keys and local credentials, GitHub centralizes authentication with robust role-based permissions, making it ideal for teams working on shared repositories.
Understanding the difference between Git and GitHub is crucial for making informed development decisions. Here’s a summary of the key differences between them:
| Category | Git | GitHub |
| Pricing model | Free, open-source software | Paid service |
| Infrastructure | A lightweight, distributed system running on your local machine | A cloud platform requiring internet connectivity for most operations |
| Scope | Focused solely on version control operations | Provides a complete development platform with social and collaborative features |
| Authentication | Uses SSH keys and local credentials | Centralizes access control with robust role-based permissions |
| Workflow | Command-line focused with basic branching and merging | Visual interfaces for complex workflows, including protected branches and required reviews |
Git vs GitHub vs GitLab: Platform Showdown
As if Git vs GitHub wasn’t confusing things enough, there’s also GitLab to consider.
Similar to GitHub, GitLab is another platform built around Git, but it focuses heavily on enterprise use cases, offering features like CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipelines, self-hosting, and advanced security.
Here’s some of the things you should keep in mind when evaluating Git vs GitHub vs GitLab as each platform offers distinct advantages for different development scenarios.
Git remains your foundation regardless of platform choice. Whether you choose GitHub, GitLab, or another alternative, understanding their distinct roles helps build a more effective development workflow.
Git vs Bitbucket: Another GitHub Alternative
Bitbucket, Atlassian’s Git hosting solution, offers unique advantages that make it a compelling GitHub alternative.
Most notably, its deep integration with Jira and Confluence creates a connected development workflow for teams that are using the complete Atlassian suite.
Bitbucket’s strengths
- Jira Integration: Native issue tracking synchronization through Jira.
- Cost Efficiency: Atlassian offers free private repositories for small teams.
- Enterprise Focus: Atlassian is used by 83% of Fortune 500 companies so adding on a new product within a suite may be preferred by certain IT leadership teams.
- Granular Permissions: Bitbucket offers secure permissioning across its product suite.
Azure DevOps vs Git: Enterprise Integration
Building upon Git’s foundation, Azure DevOps represents Microsoft’s DevOps solution. Azure DevOps and GitHub are complementary tools in Microsoft’s ecosystem, each serving distinct purposes.
While GitHub excels at fostering collaboration for open-source and distributed teams, Azure DevOps shines in enterprise environments with its tightly integrated DevOps workflows and project management capabilities. Choosing between them depends on your team’s focus of either community collaboration or enterprise-grade process automation.
Azure DevOps strengths
- Microsoft Ecosystem Integration: Both tools integrate with Azure and Visual Studio, but Azure DevOps offers deeper connectivity for cloud deployments and enterprise solutions.
- Built-in CI/CD Pipelines: Azure DevOps includes advanced pipelines tailored for enterprise-scale automation, while GitHub Actions is more flexible and community-driven.
- Project Management Tools: Azure DevOps offers process templates, work item tracking, and test management for structured enterprise workflows.
- Collaboration: GitHub thrives in open-source projects with millions of contributors, while Azure DevOps focuses on controlled environments with role-based access.
- Customization: GitHub’s marketplace supports 10,000+ integrations, whereas Azure DevOps provides native tools for end-to-end DevOps processes.
Assembla is your fastest path to secure, scalable Git hosting
If you’re looking for an integrated development platform that combines version control with comprehensive project management capabilities, check out our own Assembla.
Unlike GitHub’s community-focused approach or Bitbucket’s Atlassian integration, Assembla provides a unified solution where code management, team collaboration, and security seamlessly intersect. For organizations seeking enterprise-grade features without sacrificing ease of use, Assembla offers one-click setup of Git repos and immediate access to advanced functionality.
Assembla strengths
- Integrated Project Management: Built-in sprint planning, time tracking, and ticket management directly linked to code commits.
- Advanced Security: Automatic secret scanning in commits, two-factor authentication, and SAML single sign-on, granular RBAC.
- Collaboration Tools: wiki, discussions, merge requests, code review, diffs with in-line code discussions.
- Multiple VCS Support: Unified platform supporting Git, SVN, and Perforce.
- Enterprise Integration: Native connections with GitHub, Jira, Trello, Slack, Jenkins, and extensive API capabilities
Choosing the right platform for your team
Selecting a Git platform isn’t a multiple choice question. You’ll need to conduct a careful evaluation of your team’s specific needs and workflows.
Consider your infrastructure requirements—whether you need cloud-based solutions or self-hosted options—along with security compliance, team size, and integration requirements.
Enterprise teams often need robust project management tools and granular access controls, while smaller teams might prioritize cost-efficiency and ease of use. Teams using multiple version control systems should look for platforms that can support diverse development environments without creating silos.
If you’re looking for a GitHub alternative that offers robust collaboration and code management, start your free trial of Assembla today.
