[btasovac]

Hello, Community Advocate from GitLab here.

GitLab.com was originally announced with free private repos. When you’re starting to program and aren't ready to share your code with the world yet, you don't have to have a paid account to keep it private.

Now, we're focusing on making a single application for the entire DevOps lifecycle that can replace a lot of other tools[1]. So instead of a version control system that lets people try out different integrations, GitLab provides an opinionated (yet flexible with key integrations and the option to opt out of anything you don't want) way to run the entire software development and deployment lifecycle.

Or, as Stavros Korokithakis phrased it: "My move to GitLab was basically 'Come for the free repos, stay for the rest of the amazing features.' I will not be moving off it, and my new repos will keep being on GitLab."

[1] - https://about.gitlab.com/stages-devops-lifecycle/