If not Github, where would you host your projects?

2026-04-01 21:55 UTC

Title… I’m kinda disgusted with Microsoft and Github has been declining into an AI-Centric hellhole, to the point my recommendations are almost exclusively AI related… And let’s not forget, the new Copilot Training enabled by default (which honestly, how do you get rid of this thing, VSCode also feels intrusive with AI-First bullshittery) I’ve been wondering about moving to Gitlab but… “Finally, AI for the entire software lifecycle.” is literally plastered in the landing page. So… that feels like a no-go. Codeberg is very decent, it’s based on Forgejo so ActivityPub is also a thing (but is cross-instance contributions possible?) but it’s exclusive for Source-Available and Free Projects, which, by all means, totally fine! Half of my “active” projects are for free, and are open source (does that make them FOSS even though I’m basically the only dev?) And last but not least, Forgejo and Gitlab themselves are self-hostable, but…how expensive (price and storage) would it be to self host a Git Forge?? And maybe I’m being narrow-sighted… For FOSS projects in Github, sadly I’ll have no choice but to contribute there, if that’s the only place where the project resides, same for Gitlab, and Codeberg* (unless cross-instance contrib is a thing) For now, I’m thinking of moving FOSS/OSS projects to Codeberg, but for personal projects? What are some good options?

Replies (27)

@64bithero@lemmy.world 2026-04-01 22:16

Codeburg

Open ##891503
@hperrin@lemmy.ca 2026-04-01 22:27

Codeberg has been doing awesome things, and they maintain an open source self-hostable forge called Forgejo. I’m in the process of moving all of my repos over from GitHub to forge.sciactive.com, my own Forgejo instance.

Open ##891566
@9point6@lemmy.world 2026-04-01 22:34

Most people seem to go for either codeberg or gitlab (you can self host)

Open ##891631
@TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 2026-04-01 22:40

Codeberg has been working fine.

Open ##891701
@webkitten@piefed.social 2026-04-01 22:46

git init --bare repository.git if you want to just have a private git somewhere on a server you own. I’ve also used Beanstalk for years, both for SVN and Git, and have been pretty happy (back when Github private repos were paid only). I have no connection with them; I just used them because back in the day it was cheaper for private repositories than subscribing to Github.

Open ##891840
@solrize@lemmy.ml 2026-04-01 22:47

I’ve self-hosted Gogs which is a predecessor of Forgejo and it used very few resources. A tiny VPS is plenty. Fossil (fossil-scm.org) is even smaller, but it’s a DVCS that’s not directly compatible with Git. For personal projects you don’t really need a “forge”. I just use self-hosted git directly, with no web UI. Just “git pull” and so on. That’s what the Linux kernel devs do, so it’s obviously workable even for huge projects. There’s actually a web interface (gitweb) that comes with git, but it’s mostly to let other users browse your repo.

Open ##891856
@Splendid4117@piefed.social 2026-04-01 22:59

Note - you can completely disable all the AI features in Gitlab. In fact, they’re disabled by default unless you explicitly enable them by configuring model integrations. I think its one of the better self hosted options because it had a clear maintenance and path to profitability. I run my own GitLab on a NUC with no issues. Disclaimer: I have contributed open source code to GitLab before.

Open ##892015
@PetteriPano@lemmy.world 2026-04-01 23:09

For personal projects I’ve just got a VPS where me and a couple of partners in crime push over ssh. It’s very informal and merges are requested in our group chat. At my previous place of employment we selfhosted gitlab. I much prefer that over corporate github. I want my own fork, not a shared repo.

Open ##892079
@comfy@lemmy.ml 2026-04-02 00:18

Codeberg works for me. I used to use a couple of indie instances of gitea for various smaller project, but both have either gone down or been at risk, so I mostly use Codeberg which is more organized and failsafe.

Open ##893055
@chrand@lemmy.ml 2026-04-02 17:35

I know this feeling, also removed all my stuff from Github. For private projects I’m using my own private Forgejo instance, iinstalled via Podman, which works very well in a quite cheap Netcup VPS. For open source projects, I’m using Codeberg, they provide an amazing service!

Open ##900934
@7rokhym@lemmy.ca 2026-04-02 22:05

Gitea is completely worth it, easy to setup, minimal effort. Many benefits, though I did it for automation with Actions. Such a time saver.

Open ##902623
@locuester@lemmy.zip 2026-04-03 04:42

I self host gitea and have a script that mirrors any GitHub repo that I star. Super useful. I fork from my own mirror in gitea if I want to tinker. Keeps me from having a GitHub presence at all unless I’m contributing upstream.

Open ##904885
@Cysioland@lemmygrad.ml 2026-04-03 05:18

Honestly Forgejo is easy and low-resource to self-host so I just do that for private projects

Open ##906182
@x3lz@lemmy.zip 2026-04-12 17:10

Got.disroot.org

Open ##1097182
@MousePotatoDoesStuff@piefed.social 2026-05-06 08:42

I just use a remote-less git with a physical backup for that lmao. Probably easier than self-hosting a git forge

Open ##2070326
@MoonMelon@lemmy.ml 2026-04-01 22:08

If you pick a FOSS license then your project is FOSS. The number of developers doesn't matter. I moved all my (meager bullshit) personal projects to Codeberg awhile ago. My stuff was already open source, but I did explicitly add some license files I neglected to add before just to make it clear. So far so good. Before you archive your Github repos make sure to update them with one last commit explaining that the repo has moved to somewhere else (and potentially why). Once you lock the repo you can't make changes. If you straight-up delete them then this isn't an issue.

Open ##2371942
@winkledinkle@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-02 03:43

Everyone here has fancy answers and I just back my stuff up to bare repos on an external hard drive. Now I'm starting to question that...

Open ##2371943
@Arkhive@piefed.blahaj.zone 2026-04-01 23:11

[git.gay](git.gay) Or my own personal server.

Open ##2371944
@WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-02 23:09

I have a bare private git repo on my homeland server. Not great for sharing my work but great for personal projects.

Open ##2371945
@vixlol1917@lemmy.ml 2026-04-02 15:07

If you are looking for something ready made i recommend looking into git.gay they run a pretty good service over there

Open ##2371946
@verdigris@lemmy.ml 2026-04-02 15:53

For personal projects you can either just use git locally or make them source-available with a restrictive license. If you don't even want the source to be available then why use a public repo?

Open ##2371950
@581E9lOeDwAKHh8hNt@lemmy.world 2026-04-01 22:27

I've hosted a GitLab instance for like 5 years with a $10 VPS from Contabo and all I have to remember is to `sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade`. Though, I have experienced problems when forgetting to update for months at a time. If GitHub didn't exist, I'd use Codeberg, then the free hosted version of GitLab.

Open ##2371953
@whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-04-01 23:45

Self hosting some git repos worked fine before github for plenty of cases. I think sr.ht was popular for a minute but I haven't tried it.

Open ##2371954
@eightys3v3n@lemmy.ca 2026-04-01 22:20

I would host them on my own server the way I did before Github. Open SSH access or use a VPN and connect using that.

Open ##2371955
@TechnoCat@piefed.social 2026-04-02 00:22

I have been very happy with Codeberg, but I have been keeping an eye on https://tangled.org/

Open ##2371956
@sudoer777@lemmy.ml 2026-04-02 01:44

For private projects I use Forgejo on my device that hosts various other servers

Open ##2371957
@ragingHungryPanda@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com 2026-04-01 23:01

I'm a masochist, so I'm self hosting gitea. What's nice is I can have private repositories for free! edit: keyboard corrected masochist to man man 🤣

Open ##2371958