Does hosting Gitlab on DO require a per user paid subscription?

Hi,

It depends on your needs, you can use DO with the “Core” version of Gitlab that has no cost per user. How ever, if you want more advanced features or support you will need to pay for it on GitLab

You can find the difference feature list for Gitlab here: https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/self-managed/feature-comparison/

Btw, I’m not expert on Gitlab but I have deploy it once for testing.

Many of their partners pressed them on this. They claimed that the bronze tier is costing them money and that they aren’t seeing any upgrade conversions. From a business standpoint, I can see where you’re coming from.

In a partner Q&A, I then inquired as to why they didn’t simply raise the Bronze pricing. They claimed that they were losing so much money that the Silver tier represents a minor increase over the break-even Bronze price.

This is likely to ruffle some feathers. There isn’t much of a difference between Bronze and Silver skills. There isn’t much added value. They do, however, provide a fantastic discount scheme for anyone who is being forced to upgrade from Bronze to Silver. Make a strong case to your salesperson for these reductions. I’m afraid I can’t give you any cost information, but it should be reasonable.