An honest, verified comparison of Git hosting and AI code review tools. Updated May 2026.
GitHub and GitLab are excellent platforms. But if you add AI code review (GitHub Copilot $19/user + GHAS $30/committer), the average team pays $42–$89/user/mo. EmpireGit bundles AI review for $19/user/mo flat — and the same AI-review engine works on any existing GitHub or GitLab repo for $15/mo standalone. If you care about BYO-LLM privacy or EU data sovereignty, EmpireGit is the only platform that ships this today.
Verified pricing as of May 2026. Sources: github.com/pricing, about.gitlab.com/pricing, atlassian.com/software/bitbucket/pricing, about.gitea.com/pricing.
| Feature | EmpireGit Us | GitHub | GitLab | Bitbucket | Gitea Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Unlimited public repos + 1 private | Unlimited public + private | $0 (400 CI min/mo) | $0 up to 5 users | Self-host free |
| Pro / Mid tier | $19/user/mo | $4/user/mo (Team) | $29/user/mo (Premium) | $3/user/mo (Standard) | $9.50/user/mo |
| AI Code Review bundled | YES — included | NO — add Copilot $10-19/user | NO — add Duo $19/user | No | No |
| BYO-LLM encrypted keys | YES — per-repo AES | No | No | No | No |
| CI/CD minutes free | Unlimited (self-hosted runner) | 2,000 min/mo | 400 min/mo | 50 min/mo | Varies |
| EU data sovereignty | YES — self-hostable | Enterprise option | Enterprise option | No | YES |
| Forgejo-compatible export | YES — no lock-in | No standard export | Partial | No | YES |
| One-click deploy | YES — Coolify + CF Pages | GitHub Pages (static) | GitLab Pages (static) | No | No |
| Marketplace | YES — EmpireCredits | YES (large) | Partial | No | No |
| SAML SSO | YES — Authentik bundled | Enterprise only ($21+) | Premium ($29+) | Premium ($6+) | Paid plan |
| GitHub mirror sync | YES — push mirror | N/A | YES | Partial | YES |
| Total cost w/ AI review | $19/user | $4 + $19 Copilot = $23+ | $29 + $19 Duo = $48+ | $3 + separate = $27+ | $9.50 + separate |
For teams that want AI review on their existing GitHub or GitLab repos. Sources: coderabbit.ai/pricing, greptile.com/pricing, graphite.dev/pricing.
| Platform | EmpireGit AI Review Us | CodeRabbit | Greptile | Graphite | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price / user / mo | $15 | $24 (annual) | $30 (50 reviews incl) | $40 (Team) | $19 (Business) |
| vs EmpireGit savings | — | 37% more expensive | 50% more expensive | 167% more expensive | 27% more expensive |
| Works on GitHub repos | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Works on GitLab repos | YES | YES | Partial | No | No |
| BYO-LLM key support | YES — your Anthropic/OpenAI key | No | No | No | No |
| No code training promise | YES — contractual with BYO key | Policy only | Policy only | Policy only | Microsoft policy |
| Semgrep OSS rules bundled | YES — 3,000+ rules | Partial | No | No | Basic |
| Multi-model cascade | YES — Groq→Cerebras→Gemini→Claude | GPT-4 + own model | Claude + own | GPT-4 base | GPT-4 only |
| Free tier | OSS repos free | OSS repos free | OSS repos free | 1 seat free | Limited free |
We don't claim to be GitHub. We are honest about what we lead on.
Every Pro plan ($19/user) includes the same AI review engine that competitors charge $24–$40/user separately. The engine runs semgrep OSS (3,000+ rules) + a multi-model LLM cascade. For a 10-person team: you save $50–$210/mo vs GitHub+Copilot or CodeRabbit.
Set your own Anthropic, OpenAI, or Groq API key per-repo. EmpireGit uses your key for all AI features. We store it AES-encrypted. With your key, we contractually never train on your code. No other mainstream Git host offers this.
EmpireGit is built on Forgejo — fully self-hostable. Run it in your own EU datacenter, air-gapped, on-premises. No Microsoft, no GitLab Inc, no AWS. Dutch government is already backing Forgejo for digital sovereignty (2026-04). We are the managed SaaS layer on top.
Forgejo-compatible export. Your repos, issues, PRs, and CI configs are portable. If EmpireGit ever fails you, export in minutes. We believe lock-in-free is the only honest model for infrastructure.
Push to main → EmpireCloud detects your framework (Next.js, Flask, FastAPI, React, Node.js, static) → deploys automatically. Coolify-managed. Live URL in <60 seconds. GitHub Actions can approximate this, but you configure it yourself.
EmpireGit Pro + EmpireCDN + EliteSSO as a bundle at $79/user/mo. Compare: GitHub Enterprise $21 + Copilot Business $19 + GHAS $49 = $89/user/mo. Same functionality, 11% cheaper, no Microsoft, full EU residency option.
We are honest. Here is where the incumbents are ahead.
GitHub has 100M+ developers, a massive marketplace, and deep IDE integrations everywhere. GitLab has enterprise momentum and a large OSS community. EmpireGit is newer — if you depend on third-party Actions or a large extensions ecosystem, GitHub is the safer choice today.
GitHub Codespaces is mature (60 free core-hr/mo). EmpireGit Workspaces is in beta — BYO-compute today, hosted workspaces coming Q3 2026.
GitHub and GitLab have SOC2 Type II, FedRAMP (GitHub). EmpireGit has SOC2-equivalent audit log infrastructure (immutable Redis Stream, Authentik SSO, SAML/SCIM) but has not yet completed a formal certification audit. If your procurement requires SOC2 Type II certification paperwork, that is not available yet — be honest with your security team.
Free tier includes unlimited public repos. Pro at $19/user/mo includes AI code review. No credit card for free tier.