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Community programs

GitLab provides the following community program subscriptions.

GitLab for Education

For qualifying non-profit educational institutions, the GitLab for Education Program provides GitLab Ultimate, plus 50,000 compute minutes per month. The subscription granted under GitLab for Education can only be used for instructional use or non-commercial academic research. For more information, including instructions for applying to the program and renewing program membership, see the GitLab for Education Program page and the GitLab handbook.

GitLab for Open Source

For qualifying open source projects, the GitLab for Open Source Program provides GitLab Ultimate, plus 50,000 compute minutes per month. For more information, including instructions for applying to the program and renewing program membership, see the GitLab for Open Source Program page and the GitLab handbook.

Meeting GitLab for Open Source Program requirements

To meet GitLab for Open Source Program requirements, first add an OSI-approved open source license to all projects in your namespace.

To add a license to a project:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
  2. On the overview page, select Add LICENSE. If the license you want is not available as a license template, manually copy the entire, unaltered text of your chosen license into the LICENSE file. GitLab defaults to All rights reserved if users do not perform this action.

Add license

Applicants must add the correct license to each project in their respective groups or namespaces. When you're sure you're using OSI-approved licenses for your projects, you can take your screenshots.

GitLab for Open Source Program benefits apply to an entire GitLab namespace. To qualify for the GitLab for Open Source Program, all projects in your namespace must meet program requirements.

Verification for Open Source Program

The verification process depends on where your projects are hosted:

  • For projects on GitLab.com, verification is automatic.
  • For projects on GitLab Self-Managed, when you submit your request, you must provide a link to the publicly accessible namespace that contains the projects.

GitLab verifies three aspects of your namespace:

  • The namespace must be publicly accessible.
  • Each project in the namespace must use an OSI-approved license.
  • Projects in the namespace must be publicly visible, except one private project is allowed for security purposes.

Benefits of the GitLab Open Source Program apply to all projects in a GitLab namespace. All projects in an eligible namespace must meet program requirements.

GitLab for Startups

For qualifying startups, the GitLab for Startups program provides GitLab Ultimate, plus 50,000 compute minutes per month for 12 months. For more information, including instructions for applying to the program and renewing program membership, see the GitLab for Startups Program page and the GitLab handbook.