Tools/go-gitea/gitea

Gitea

Self-hosted Git service

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Replaces:Bitbucket GitLab.com

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The Lens

By Erik Loyd, SaaS CEO and former COO/CFO of an AWS Premier Partner.

Updated Aug 2026

Gitea is the lightest full-featured Git forge you can self-host. One Go binary gives you repositories, issues, pull requests, code review, wikis, packages, a container registry, and Gitea Actions, which runs GitHub Actions workflows without rewriting them. MIT licensed, no seat limits.

Deployment is a binary or a Docker image pointed at a database. SQLite works for small teams, Postgres for anything real, and it runs fine on a $5 a month VPS. Recent releases have been mostly CI work: 1.27 made reusable workflows first-class jobs and added org-wide shared workflows, alongside a large batch of security fixes. Stay current.

The paid line is now clearly drawn. Gitea Enterprise runs $19 per user per month, or $9.50 on a one year commitment, and that is where SAML SSO, audit logs, dependency scanning and Kubernetes autoscaling runners live. Solo and small teams self-host the free edition and never think about it. Larger teams with a compliance checklist should price Enterprise against GitLab first.

The catch is that SAML SSO is not in the open source build. LDAP and OAuth2 are, and that covers most teams, but if your security team wrote SAML into the requirements you are paying per seat again, which is what you left GitHub to avoid. Forgejo (forgejo/forgejo) is the community fork.

Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid

open core

Free (Open Source)

MIT licensed. Unlimited users and repositories, no feature timers
Code hosting, issues, pull requests, code review, wikis, project boards
Gitea Actions, compatible with GitHub Actions workflow syntax
Package registry and container registry
LDAP, OAuth2, PAM, SMTP, FreeIPA, SSPI and reverse proxy authentication
Community support

Paid

Gitea Enterprise: $19 per user per month, or $9.50 per user per month with a one year commitment paid online
Enterprise adds SAML 2.0 SSO, audit logs, Kubernetes autoscaling runners, dependency scanning, IP allowlisting, enforced 2FA, organization-wide branch protection inheritance and enterprise themes
Also included: priority security bug notifications, SLA-backed email and online support, install and upgrade assistance, emergency phone support
Discounts available for non-profits and small companies
Gitea Cloud: managed hosting exists as a product, but per-tier pricing is not published on the pricing page

Self-Hosted Costs

Minimum: a $5 per month VPS with SQLite handles a small team
Production: $10 to $20 per month VPS with Postgres, plus storage
Ops: moderate. Backups, upgrades and Actions runners are yours to manage

When to Pay

Pay for Enterprise only when SAML SSO or audit logs are a hard requirement. At $19 per user per month, ten seats is $190 a month, which erases most of the savings that pushed you off GitHub Team at $4 per user per month. At $9.50 on a one year commitment the math is closer. Below a compliance mandate, the free edition is the whole product.

vs GitHub

GitHub Free: $0
GitHub Team: $4 per user per month, so 10 users is $40 per month
GitHub Enterprise Cloud: from $21 per user per month
Gitea self-hosted free: $5 to $20 per month flat, regardless of team size

The open source edition is free and complete. Gitea Enterprise at $19 per user per month, or $9.50 on a one year commitment, is where SAML SSO and audit logs live.

What to do by team size

Solo: free; about a 10 minute setup on a $5 a month VPS
Small team: free, and real savings against GitHub Team per-seat pricing
Medium team: free, but budget time for backups, Postgres and Actions runners
Large team: Enterprise at $19 per user per month, or $9.50 on a one year commitment, if SAML SSO and audit logs are required

Self-hosting ops:moderate

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