Why Arm Open Source Chose GitLab Over GitHub: Cost, Control, and Open‑Source Strategy

According to a recent GitLab press release, Arm Open Source has decided to migrate many of its open‑source projects from GitHub to GitLab.

Key reasons highlighted by Arm include maximizing choice and cost‑effectiveness while minimizing vendor lock‑in.

Arm’s software components act as enablement pieces that can be integrated into its architecture alongside other software.

More than 95% of mobile devices today use Arm processors, and the open‑source projects span areas from sensors to cloud computing.

Andrew Wafaa, senior director of software community at Arm, explained: “The components themselves aren’t magical, but when combined with software from other communities or projects, they produce remarkable results.”

He added that the goal is to provide developers with the essence of the Arm architecture, allowing them to leverage its capabilities and integrate with other technology stacks.

While Arm currently hosts source code on GitHub, most of its new core infrastructure runs on proprietary hardware.

Wafaa noted, “GitHub is a black box. We have to either cooperate with them or let them do the work, which isn’t always correct. We also need to conduct reviews, and we can’t always perform patch reviews because the code is private and proprietary… This was a major factor in choosing GitLab.”

Beyond security concerns, Arm was worried about code ownership of OSS projects hosted on GitHub.

Therefore, a solution like GitLab, which maximizes choice, is cost‑effective, and reduces vendor lock‑in, was seen as the optimal choice. Migrating to GitLab’s self‑hosted platform supports effective collaboration and allows Arm’s software to be hosted on Arm technology.

A significant benefit for Arm is that GitLab is open source, enabling the company to use its own tools to support its open‑source ecosystem. Wafaa said, “Using an open‑source product makes sense in the end. Another important factor is that GitLab is an enterprise‑grade product with workflows very similar to what we used on GitHub, making the transition easy; the terminology and look‑and‑feel are almost identical.”

Additionally, GitLab’s self‑hosted enterprise offering provides strong customer support, which is crucial for Arm, and its cost considerations aligned with Arm’s future growth plans.

Arm’s open‑source projects involve roughly 200 external contributors, and GitLab’s pricing was very attractive. Wafaa remarked, “That’s just the icing on the cake.” He noted that while the number of contributors could have been higher, the migration required some reduction.

Arm is moving as much of its infrastructure as possible onto Arm architecture. Although GitLab initially did not support Arm, the company “was very willing to work with our engineering team to ensure proper support,” Wafaa said, highlighting the integration work.

Wafaa added, “We now have fine‑grained access control, which is a huge benefit, and we can replicate globally on AWS, providing redundancy and disaster‑recovery capabilities to meet our IT needs.”