# Source control hosting for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "source control hosting platform" and as "Git hosting service", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/developer/source-control-hosting/2026-10/smb

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/developer/source-control-hosting/smb/index.md

**Standing:** GitHub leads with 72% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 58 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [GitHub](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/github/index.md) | 72% | 9% | 80 |
| 2 | [GitLab](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/gitlab/index.md) | 12% | 14% | 83 |
| 3 | [Bitbucket](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bitbucket/index.md) | 12% | 20% | 76 |
| 5 | [Gitea](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/gitea/index.md) | 0% | 19% | 31 |
| 6 | [Azure DevOps](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-devops/index.md) | 0% | 24% | 25 |
| 7 | [Forgejo](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/forgejo/index.md) | 0% | 27% | 15 |
| 22 | [AWS CodeCommit](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aws-codecommit/index.md) | 0% | 67% | 15 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 22 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: GitHub; alternatives Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, GitLab
- GPT-5.4 mini: GitHub; alternatives Bitbucket, GitLab
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Bitbucket, GitHub; alternatives Azure DevOps, GitLab
- Perplexity Sonar: GitHub; alternatives Bitbucket, GitLab
- Grok 4.20: GitHub; alternatives Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, GitLab
- Mistral Small: GitHub; alternatives AWS CodeCommit, Bitbucket, GitLab
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: GitHub; alternatives Bitbucket, GitLab
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: GitHub; alternatives Bitbucket, GitLab
- Kimi K2: Bitbucket; alternatives GitHub, GitLab
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: GitHub; alternatives Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, GitLab, Gitea
- MiniMax M2.5: GitHub; alternatives AWS CodeCommit, Bitbucket, GitLab
- GPT-6 Luna: GitHub; alternatives Bitbucket, GitLab
- Muse Glimmer 30B: GitHub; alternatives Bitbucket, GitLab

## Sources the answers cite

73 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- g2.com: 37 answers, 65 citations
- us.fitgap.com: 29 answers, 45 citations
- gane.ai/index: 23 answers, 38 citations
- bitbucket.org: 23 answers, 30 citations
- about.gitlab.com: 22 answers, 34 citations
- github.com: 17 answers, 23 citations
- guptadeepak.com: 17 answers, 17 citations
- guideflow.com: 15 answers, 15 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://gane.ai/index/it/developer/source-control-hosting/smb (22 answers)
- https://us.fitgap.com/search/version-control-hosting-software/free (18 answers)
- https://guptadeepak.com/tools/top-5-git-hosting-platforms-2026 (17 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/version-control-hosting (15 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/version-control-software (15 answers)
- https://note.com/snake_dragon/n/n87068052df3a?hl=en (15 answers)
- https://about.gitlab.com/pricing (13 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/developer/source-control-hosting (12 answers)
- https://bitbucket.org/product/code-repository (11 answers)
- https://atlassian.com/software/bitbucket/pricing (10 answers)

## Warned against

- Bitbucket: 15 of 76 labels negative. "Avoid Bitbucket Free for new projects—the 5-user limit and 1GB storage cap (as of 2025) make it too restrictive" (Kimi K2, budget prompt)
- GitLab: 12 of 83 labels negative. "The case against GitLab typically comes down to cost and ecosystem fit. Premium at $29 per user is more expensive than GitHub Team $4 per user" (Muse Glimmer 30B, scale prompt)
- AWS CodeCommit: 10 of 15 labels negative. "It is not worth risking your code's long-term home on a service AWS almost killed." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- GitHub: 7 of 80 labels negative. "don’t “avoid” GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket outright—they’re all widely used—but be cautious with whichever one you’d be stranded on" (GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: GitHub at 71%.

- GitHub: 78% to 71%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 1 of 20, unchanged.
- Bitbucket: 7% to 14%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 3 of 20, unchanged.
- Gitea: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 5 of 20.
- GitLab: 13% to 14%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 2 of 20, unchanged.
- Azure DevOps: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 of 20, unchanged.
- Forgejo: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 5 → 7 of 20.
- AWS CodeCommit: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 24 → 19 of 20.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, October 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.