githuganswered from live GitHub & Hugging Face data
Which self-hosted GitHub alternatives are actively maintained in 2026 — Gitea vs Forgejo vs OneDev vs GitLab CE — and which support AI coding agents?
Actively Maintained GitHub Alternatives in 2026: A Data-Driven Overview
When it comes to self-hosted GitHub alternatives, Gitea and Forgejo lead the charge, both boasting solid maintenance records. Surprisingly, Gitea has a whopping 58,182 stars—far outpacing competitors. The other players, OneDev and GitLab CE, also show active maintenance, but their numbers don’t quite match.
🔍 Key Maintained Alternatives
| Project | Stars | Last Push | Open Issues | License | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gitea | 58,182 | 2026-09-27 (0 days ago) | 2463 | MIT | All-in-one development service |
| Forgejo | 18,824 | 2026-09-04 (23 days ago) | 97 | Apache-2.0 | Open-source app store |
| OneDev | 15,265 | 2026-09-24 (3 days ago) | 0 | MIT | Unified development platform with CI/CD |
| GitLab CE | 24,550 | 2026-09-27 (0 days ago) | 36 | NOASSERTION | Feature-rich CI/CD integration |
Maintenance Verdict
- Gitea: ✅ Actively maintained; extremely popular.
- Forgejo: ✅ Actively maintained; a solid fork of Gitea.
- OneDev: ✅ Actively maintained; focuses on an autonomous development experience.
- GitLab CE: ✅ Actively maintained; robust, but can be resource-heavy.
Support for AI Coding Agents
To understand AI capabilities, I searched their repositories for any references or tools for integrating coding agents.
Gitea: While primarily a repository manager, Gitea can integrate with CI/CD tools that potentially support AI workflows via third-party plugins.
Forgejo: Similar to Gitea, focuses on core repository management without explicit AI coding agent offerings.
OneDev: Markets features around automation and integration, which could support AI coding practices but needs confirmation on specific AI tools.
GitLab CE: It has a strong platform for integrating AI-driven development tools within its pipelines, making it suitable for AI coding agents.
Conclusion & Recommendations
- Choose Gitea if you want a proven and widely adopted self-hosted solution. It has extensive support and community involvement.
- Forgejo is a solid alternative if you prefer a lighter, open-source app store structure.
- OneDev is a great fit for teams that want a unified development experience, although it lacks the buzz around AI integration.
- GitLab CE should be your pick if resource capacity isn’t an issue; it supports deeper integrations with AI tools.
Each alternative has its own strengths and specialties, but Gitea remains the standout option as of now.