Gitea is a lightweight, MIT-licensed, self-hostable Git service that forked from Gogs in November 2016 to establish a community-driven governance model, shipping its first 1.0 release that December.
In October 2022, maintainers Lunny Xiao and Matti Ranta founded the for-profit Gitea Limited in Hamburg, Germany, to offer commercial Enterprise and Cloud products, a move that prompted Codeberg to create the community-governed Forgejo fork.
Key Features
The free, self-hosted MIT-licensed core includes code hosting, issue tracking, pull requests, a kanban-style project board, wikis, Gitea Actions CI/CD, and a package registry, with unlimited users and repositories.
Written in Go with a TypeScript frontend, Gitea is deliberately lightweight enough to run on very modest hardware such as a Raspberry Pi.
Pricing
The open-source core is entirely free to self-host with no user or repository limits under the MIT license.
Gitea Enterprise (self-managed) is priced at roughly $9.50-$19 per user per month, while Gitea Cloud offers fully managed hosting with a 30-day free trial and additional storage billed at about $10 per 100GB.
Key Features
Git code hosting — Full Git repository hosting with unlimited users and repositories in the free self-hosted core.
Issue tracking and pull requests — Built-in issue tracker and pull request review workflow for collaborative development.
Gitea Actions (CI/CD) — Native CI/CD system modeled after GitHub Actions workflow syntax for automated builds and tests.
Kanban-style project boards — Lightweight project management boards for tracking issues and tasks.
Wikis — Integrated wiki functionality for project documentation.
Lightweight, low-resource footprint — Written in Go, designed to run efficiently on minimal hardware including a Raspberry Pi.
SAML SSO and audit logs (Enterprise) — Enterprise-tier features for organizations needing single sign-on and compliance auditing.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Free, MIT-licensed self-hosted core with no artificial limits on users or repositories
Very lightweight and resource-efficient compared to heavier alternatives like self-hosted GitLab
Built-in CI/CD (Gitea Actions), package registry, and project boards without extra tools
Managed Gitea Cloud option removes the need to operate infrastructure directly
Active development and cross-platform support (Linux, macOS, Windows, BSD)
Cons
2022 commercialization by Gitea Limited caused community controversy and a competing Forgejo fork
Enterprise and Cloud pricing require a one-year commitment for online payment customers
Smaller third-party integration ecosystem than GitHub or GitLab
Some advanced compliance and governance features are gated behind the paid Enterprise tier
Less mature built-in CI/CD ecosystem than GitLab's more established pipelines
Pricing
Open Source (self-hosted) Free N/A
Enterprise (self-managed) $9.50-$19/user/month Monthly (1-year commitment for online payment)
Gitea Cloud From about $9.50/user/month Monthly or annual (30-day free trial)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Gitea free to use?
Yes, the self-hosted, MIT-licensed Gitea core is completely free with unlimited users and repositories; paid Enterprise and Cloud tiers add support, SSO, and managed hosting.
How is Gitea related to Gogs?
Gitea began as a fork of Gogs in November 2016, created to move toward a community-driven governance model instead of single-maintainer control.
What is the difference between Gitea and Forgejo?
Forgejo is a fork of Gitea created by Codeberg in late 2022 in response to Gitea Limited's commercialization, positioned as a community-owned alternative that avoids proprietary commercial offerings.
How much does Gitea Cloud cost?
Gitea Cloud and Enterprise pricing runs roughly $9.50 to $19 per user per month depending on plan, with additional object storage billed at about $10 per 100GB; a 30-day free trial is available.
What programming language is Gitea written in?
Gitea is written primarily in Go with a TypeScript-based frontend.
Can Gitea run on low-resource hardware?
Yes, Gitea is deliberately lightweight and can run on very modest hardware, including devices like a Raspberry Pi.