Bitbucket vs GitHub: similarities and differences

Bitbucket and GitHub are the preferred repository hosting services for developing with Git version management. They lend themselves to private open source projects as well as educational institutions or programming in a commercial setting. What are the main differences and similarities?

What exactly are Bitbucket and GitHub?¶

Bitbucket and GitHub are repository hosting services (“repository” in English) including free and paid offers that allow you to host private and public repositories for development projects in a variety of programming languages. Both are suitable for people with extensive knowledge of programming as well as for users who have just started their [apprentissage de la programmation](https://www.ionos.fr/digitalguide/sites-internet/developpement-web/apprentice-la-programmation-principes-de-base/ “Learn programming)”.

GitHub¶

GitHub is not only considered one of the largest and most popular development platforms, but also offers one of the largest coding communities with more than 40 million active members And over 100 million code repositories. Created in 2004 as an open source hosting platform for source code, GitHub has been owned by Microsoft since 2018. The platform emphasizes public, free and unlimited repositories. GitHub was written in Ruby and Erlang. More than 200 programming languages ​​are supported.

Bitbucket¶

Founded in 2008 by software company Atlassian, Bitbucket provides free private and public repositories as a version management hosting platform. The hosting service can be extended to various Atlassian tools and products. These are, for example, the Jira tool for error and project management or the Trello tool for collaboration and organization. Bitbucket is written in Python and built on the Django web application framework. Unlike GitHub, Bitbucket offers a smaller community and is focused on private repositories.

Why is good code repository hosting so important?¶

Code repositories serve as complement and basis for development projects that you achieve alone or as a team with code editor programming languages ​​and version control systems such as Git and SVN. Depending on the needs, a code repository or repository hosting serves as central administration and development platform ensuring the best possible workflow.

While version control systems such as Git document and manage code changes and project history in a clear manner, a hosted repository has the advantage that organization, management, communication, and reporting tools history storage are already integrated and centrally accessible.

The offer and range of services vary depending on the host. However, good repository hosting must combine the following features:

• Code Review
• Two-factor authentication
• Creating the repository via the website or command line
• Online edition
• Markdown support
• History/project documentation and issue tracking
• Integration of third-party tools
• Free private/secure repositories
• Code access and permissions for team members and staff
• User-friendly interface
• Price and performance models adapted to needs

Bitbucket vs GitHub: what they have in common¶

Both systems offer the following common services and functions for efficient programming and efficient workflow:

• Free subscriptions for small teams : Bitbucket offers a free subscription for teams of up to five people and unlimited public and private repositories with 1 GB of storage. GitHub, in turn, offers unlimited public and private repositories for unlimited people with 500 MB of memory.
• Subscriptions at scalable prices according to needs : depending on the needs imposed by the size of the team, company, monthly minutes required and projects, performance, number of users and storage volume can be adjusted through usage plans paying.
• Collection and management of snippets : Both services provide collections of code snippets that are managed in a public setting and enriched by the respective community or created privately by teams for specific projects.
• 2FA : Secure two-factor authentication allows team members to access code repositories by password only and after a second security check. If 2FA is included in GitHub from the start, it must be added to Bitbucket through the Atlassian Marketplace.
• Wiki : Bitbucket and GitHub provide project documentation for source code to facilitate collaboration and clearly document changes to the code.
• Code reviews : Thanks to built-in code checking, both hosting services provide tools for checking errors or simplifying and optimizing sections of code.
• Access permissions : Depending on the size and composition of the development team, permissions and access restrictions can be set at the team or branch level.
• Community and tutorials : Both hosting services have active communities and numerous Bitbucket, Github and Git tutorials that provide quick and appropriate solutions to questions and problems that arise.

Bitbucket vs GitHub: the differences¶

For all their similarities, Bitbucket and GitHub display differences in important aspects. The biggest difference lies in the type of repositories: although GitHub in principle allows the use of private repositories, it is the first choice when it comes to creating and using public code repositories. Bitbucket emphasizes private code repositories.

Other differences between Bitbucket and GitHub :

• Third-party software integration: As the repository hosting solution of Australian software company Atlassian, Bitbucket offers more than 2,000 applications and tools for project management, code monitoring, code review and more, thanks to the Atlassian Marketplace. GitHub also offers many third-party tools on the GitHub Marketplace, but they are not from the same vendor unlike Bitbucket.
• User interface : Bitbucket’s user interface is very clear and offers simple navigation and search including a convenient sidebar menu. GitHub also has a clear user interface, which is, however, a little more difficult for beginners to grasp.
• Wiki functionality : With Bitbucket, you can enable your own wikis for each repository and deploy them in a public or private setting. With GitHub, however, you can only activate your own wikis for public repositories.
• Pricing for access authorization : Although access permissions are provided on-demand by both services, Bitbucket also offers custom branch permissions in the free plan, unlike GitHub. Access to individual or selected branches for specific team members can therefore be configured free of charge. Again, GitHub lets you use predefined branch permissions only for private repositories for free.
• Community engagement: GitHub is surrounded by a very large and very active community. This is complemented by experienced community support, provided by a competent development team and offering effective answers and solutions to questions and problems posed. Bitbucket also offers support through its own smaller community, as well as various tutorials and documentation.
• Subscriptions: part of a more commercial approach, Bitbucket is aimed not only at small teams, but also at companies which value self-managed hosting, large storage capacity, unlimited number of users and maximum security with its subscriptions . GitHub also offers subscriptions aimed at larger teams and organizations, but remains the most popular solution when it comes to open source projects that create public code repositories.
• Search functions : Bitbucket includes the powerful “omnibar” with a wide range of navigation options and a semantic search that displays not only changes and variable names, but also definitions. GitHub, on the other hand, offers a variety of search options, including “hot repositories”, search trends, or job postings.
• Data protection : Bitbucket is the first Git solution to provide reliable data protection and security for saved source code. Additionally, Bitbucket Cloud has an independently validated SOC 2 Type II certification.

Overview of major differences