If you are looking for gratis service for code hosting to replace GitHub, you can look at Codeberg, Notabug, or Gitea these days. I present you here a short intro of those three including their Privacy Policy & Terms of Service so you can decide yourself which one to choose. I also listed some interesting projects, like Libreboot and Infosec Handbook, you could find there. One more important thing is that these 3 services are peacefully browseable with LibreJS. Happy hacking!
(Codeberg, Notabug, and Gitea free source code hosting services)
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1. Codeberg.org
An independent, non-profit GitHub-like service from Germany that is based on Free/Libre Software on its server side.
- Registration: gratis, no Google Captcha
- Base: Germany
- Terms of Service
- Privacy Policy
- JavaScript information
- Donate
Some interesting projects here:
- Fedilab Lite - Fediverse all-in-one client
- Infosec Handbook - security and privacy friendly resource
- Cloudflare Tor - give this information to website you cannot access because of Cloudflare
- PrivacyToolsIO - a mirror of PTIO from its original hosting
- Invidition - Invidious addon for Firefox browser
- Freedombone - a GNU/Linux system packed with home internet capabilities including email server (similar to FreedomBox)
 (Main page of Codeberg) |
 (Registration page, see it's not reCaptcha) |
2. Notabug.org
It is the GitHub from Peers.Community, a group of several RYF-certified companies (Minifree & Vikings), and interesting projects like Libreboot, and fully-libre distros (Dragora and Librepup). If you are active in Trisquel Forum, you will be aware that Notabug is often mentioned there. I myself use Notabug and you can find me there.
- Registration: gratis, no Google Captcha
- Base: Germany
- Terms of Service
- Privacy Policy
- JavaScript information
- Donation not available
In Notabug itself, we will find interesting Free Software projects like Uruk and Dragora distros, Libreboot, LibrePower freedom-delayed, and more.
- Uruk OS - Trisquel-based distro from Iraq, promised to be 100% libre distro
- Dragora OS - an independent GNU/Linux distro with different approach in its development (it's one among few 100% libre distros)
- Libreboot - a distribution of Coreboot, a completely free software computer BIOS
- LibrePower - free software & free hardware for solar charge controller and battery charger
- Freedom Delayed - list of software projects that promised to free their products
 (Main page of Notabug) |  (Registration page, see it's not reCaptcha) |
3. Gitea: Git.PrivacyTools.io
I present you here Gitea service from PrivacyToolsIO among other Gitea services possible out there. It is still pretty new but it is available and built by community that help world avoid global mass surveillance.
- Registration: gratis, no captcha at all (for now)
- Base: United States
- Privacy Policy: available
- Terms of Service: -
- Javascript information: available
- Donate: via OpenCollective
 (Main page of Gitea@PTIO) |  (Registration page, see it's even does not have any captcha) |
Questions & Answers
Why not hosting codes yourself?
This is without doubt the best option but it costs you time. Public hostings help you save your time.
What is the difference between software and service?
I must make clear difference here as there is the software and there is also the service. Gitea and Gogs are names of software, they are web-based programs. But when I'm talking about Codeberg.org, it is a service that runs Gitea software; similar to Notabug.org that is also a service that runs Gogs software. One more example for clarity, WordPress is a software, while WordPress.com is a service that runs mentioned software. The actual difference is whether you doing efforts (costs time) to built server or not (doesn't cost time).
Why not GitLab or Savannah?
GitLab.com service is okay for me (I'm using it) and in fact still okay for many Free Software projects. Savannah is okay as well and one more great thing is it predates all code hosting services mentioned here in lifespan. The actual reason for me is that Codeberg is a new thing interesting for me (people talk about it recently at Mastodon), while Gitea is also very interesting, and lastly I know Notabug from people at Trisquel Forum and Peers.Community.
Is there any deeper consideration to trust a code hosting service?
Of course, take a start with FSF's ethical repository criteria.
What are missing from those services for you?
For me, there are 3 things missing:
- 1) documentation in using the web user interface, as you can find Gitea & Gogs have only documentation for its deployment or development
- 2) size limit, or "pricing" information, like you would always see at GitHub or GitLab service
- 3) special for PTIO, they do not have Terms of Service at least until now
More Resources
There are other gratis source code hosting services I don't cover above:
- GitLab.com - the biggest service often seen as the true replacement to GitHub.
- Teknik.io - since 2013, Sweden based all-in-one service that provides Gitea service.
- Framagit.org - a GitLab CE code hosting service by the famous France-based Framasoft.
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.