Skip to content
Open {re}Source
Articles

Source Code Hosting Platforms

Estimated reading time 2 min

Source code hosting platforms are the backbone of the open source community, facilitating collaboration, version control, and project management.

The two most popular platforms for hosting open-source projects are GitHub and GitLab, but there are several others to explore. Here are some key platforms to consider:

GitHub

GitHub is the world’s largest code hosting platform, hosting millions of open-source projects. It offers an intuitive interface, issue tracking, project management features, and collaborative tools like pull requests. GitHub provides a seamless experience for both developers and users, making it an excellent platform to discover and contribute to open-source projects.

GitLab

GitLab is another widely used platform for hosting open-source projects. It provides similar features to GitHub, including code hosting, issue tracking, and collaboration tools. GitLab also offers an additional advantage of providing free private repositories, making it an attractive option for developers who prefer to work on projects in a private setting.

Bitbucket

Bitbucket is a popular code hosting platform, particularly known for its support for both Git and Mercurial version control systems. While Bitbucket is commonly used for hosting private repositories, it also hosts a significant number of open-source projects. It offers features like issue tracking, wikis, and project management tools.

SourceForge

SourceForge is one of the oldest code hosting platforms and has a rich history in the open source community. It hosts a vast number of open-source projects and provides features like version control, issue tracking, and project management tools.

Launchpad

Launchpad is a platform primarily used for hosting open-source projects developed in the Ubuntu ecosystem. It offers features like code hosting, bug tracking, and translation support.

When exploring these platforms, remember that each has its own unique features and user base. You can find a wide variety of projects on all of them, but GitHub and GitLab tend to be the most popular choices among developers.