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Tool Alternatives
While Git and GitHub dominate the current landscape as the standard combination, some large organizations use alternative tools for specific enterprise features.
Git Alternatives
Version control systems can be centralized or distributed. You can evaluate the options based on specific requirements of your organization.
Centralized Version Control Systems (CVCS)
In CVCS, developers check out files from a single central server and commit their changes back to it. Every operation requires communication with the central server. While this makes access control easier and a straightforward “single source of truth” ecosystem to work with, the performance is often slow and offline work is not possible.
Subversion
Unlike Git, SVN operates with a single master repository. It is used in regulated industries with strict access control and auditing requirements. Wells Fargo, Standard Chartered, and government and defence organizations use SVN.
Perforce Helix Core
Perforce Helix Core is a commercial product that is known for its high performance and scalability, making it a popular choice for large-scale development, particularly in industries like game development and media. NVIDIA, Seagate and Ubisoft are some of the organizations currently using it.
Distributed Version Control Systems (DVCS)
In DVCS, each developer has a full local copy of the repository, including its entire history. They can commit locally and only need to connect to a remote server to push or pull changes to/from others. While a DVCS promises faster performance and flexible workflows, most tend to have a steeper learning curve and complex access controls.
Git is a distributed version control system. The additional examples listed below are open source. Large organizations like Meta and Mozilla have used Mercurial in the past for scalability, and have now moved to Git-based systems.
Mercurial (Hg)
Mercurial offers a similar distributed model to Git but often with a more streamlined command-line interface. It is recommended for projects where ease of use is a priority.
Fossil
Fossil integrates version control, a wiki, bug tracking, and forums into a single system. It is preferred by smaller teams or individual developers for its “all-in-one” design.
GitHub Alternatives
GitLab
In addition to core Git hosting and collaboration features, GitLab promotes itself as a DevSecOps platform with built-in CI/CD, available with self-hosting options on both cloud and on-premises. GitLab has greater security control and compliance features. It is currently being used by enterprises like Lockheed Martin and NASA.
Bitbucket
As a product by Atlassian, Bitbucket is well-integrated with the parent organization’s other industry prevalent tools like Jira and Confluence. Bitbucket’s strength lies in its native integration with the Atlassian ecosystem, and it is used in organizations like Netflix and Samsung.
GitHub Pages Alternatives
GitLab Pages
GitLab Pages is a part of the GitLab ecosystem. It offers full CI/CD integration, so you can publish websites directly from a GitLab repository. It is commonly used in organizations where GitLab is used for code hosting - for example, NASA.
Read the Docs
Read the docs is a dedicated documentation platform with built-in full-text search and navigation options out of the box. It is used by tech organizations like AWS and AMD.
Additional Resources
We have attempted to provide adequate information for you to get started with Docs as Code. If you are interested in a deeper understanding, you can refer to the following resources as starting points for further research: