GitLab impressive features

I have recently started with GitLab. I've been using GIT for a long time and using Github for some personal projects and Kiln for the professional area.

After some weeks working with GitLab I am really impressed with it features. It is not a GIT-server or tool; it is actually a set of tools and utilities for managing your projects just as they say: "from idea to develop".

I should admit: I never use Atlassian set of tools, I know the Atlassian ecosystem of tools is at least as good as GitLab but I came from Kiln and... well I don't see Kiln as a professional tool anymore after this.Just to mention some GitLab interesting features (with the CE)

• CI Pipelines: Executed as docker runners, I love them. I have to admit they were a little tricky in the beginning coming from a Jenkins world, but when you get the point of their configuration you will love them!
• The GitLab Flow with pull requests and branch protection will save your sleep time. Quite interesting is the Pull Request approval mechanism. Kiln code review is just a nightmare and actually does not help because is not well designed and has an ugly interface.
• You can change in GitLab GUI almost everything. Sure it is a common thing in JIRA but try to do in Kiln (without crying).
• Well, the issue board is not the best; too simple for enterprise usage; but using Webhooks you can use your own ticketing solution.
• The Wiki is simple, useful and pretty. Or you can build easily your own site with the CI and runners (e.g. with Hugo).
• You will have pretty and elegant reports about your projects.
• GitLab has a weak solution for Code Quality in Java because you should use Code Climate but there is not a worker available for Java. Anyway, you can also integrate with a Sonar Server of your own so this not a real problem. But having Code Climate integrated into the own solution could be a plus. They are working on that.

But, do you want to read the best?

The Community Edition is free - and is full of features for just 0$ and you can have unlimited private repositories, this is, other solutions have a free tier but just for public projects or a limited space.

GitLab CE is free for private use and I ran a lot of CI pipelines just for free without having any delay or problem. Sure the EES worth the money it cost but for the free version you have a lot and I was really impressed about this. But it happens that the EES is just a huge monster of features for the price of a Starbucks coffee.