The following page may contain information related to upcoming products, features and functionality. It is important to note that the information presented is for informational purposes only, so please do not rely on the information for purchasing or planning purposes. Just like with all projects, the items mentioned on the page are subject to change or delay, and the development, release, and timing of any products, features or functionality remain at the sole discretion of GitLab Inc.
Our mission is to eliminate artifact management complexity by delivering enterprise-grade capabilities that are seamlessly integrated with your entire DevSecOps workflow.
Our goal is to become our customers' single source of truth for artifact management by 2027, replacing fragmented toolchains with a unified platform that reduces costs, improves security, and accelerates development velocity.
The Package stage is responsible for delivering a comprehensive artifact management solution that meets the needs of both small teams and enterprise organizations.
Artifact management involves storing, versioning, and tracking binary files, libraries, and dependencies used in software development. It's critical for ensuring consistency, reproducibility, and efficient collaboration in development projects. Artifact management systems help manage the software artifacts' lifecycle, from creation to deployment, facilitating easy access, sharing among team members, and integration with build and deployment tools.
While competitors like JFrog Artifactory claim to offer a "system of record," GitLab Package goes beyond this by:
myapp-1.2.3-abc123f) and git tags for releases. This provides complete build provenance by linking artifacts directly to their source code, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment history within a single platform - enabling rapid troubleshooting and ensuring supply chain security compliance without separate tooling.We're expanding our enterprise capabilities to meet the needs of larger organizations:
The GitLab container registry is a secure and private registry for OCI artifacts, such as Docker container images. Use GitLab CI/CD to create and publish branch/release specific images, manage them via the GitLab API, and discover them through the intuitive user interface.
Our package registry supports multiple formats including npm, Maven, NuGet, PyPI, Terraform, and generic packages. We provide project and group-level private package registries and are expanding capabilities to include virtual registries.
Virtual registries provide a mechanism for storing and accessing external packages, enabling more reliable builds. They allow you to proxy and cache dependencies from external sources, reducing build times and improving supply chain reliability.
The virtual registry for container images currently allows you to proxy and cache images from DockerHub. In upcoming releases, we'll expand this feature to support multiple endpoints and additional package formats.
Many projects depend on packages from unknown or unverified providers, introducing potential security vulnerabilities. The dependency firewall, leveraging our virtual registries, will give security and compliance teams more control and visibility over the packages being used.
As the PM for the Package stage, I hear regularly from customers and prospects that would like to migrate off of JFrog's Artifactory. Their reasons for wanting to consolidate on GitLab are:
The needs of these customers can be predictably segmented by the size of their organization:
Typically they'd like to know if we support format x and if not when we will support it. If we support their requested format, these customers are often able to consolidate quickly.
Enterprise organizations frequently express interest in consolidating on GitLab but are waiting for our Package product to mature. The key features they're waiting for include:
We're addressing these needs directly in our 2025-2027 roadmap.
GitLab Package operates in a market dominated by established players like JFrog Artifactory and Sonatype Nexus, with cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google) and other DevOps platforms (GitHub) offering varying levels of functionality.
Note: This comparison focuses on dedicated DevOps platforms and artifact management solutions. Cloud-native registries (AWS ECR/CodeArtifact, Azure ACR, Google Artifact Registry) serve different use cases and are typically chosen as part of broader cloud platform strategies rather than as standalone artifact management solutions.
| Feature | GitLab Artifact Management | JFrog Artifactory | Sonatype Nexus | GitHub Packages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Container Registry | ||||
| Container Registry | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ✅ |
| Pull-through Cache | ✅ Docker Hub Only | ✅ Multiple Sources | ✅ Multiple Sources | ❌ |
| Package Registry | ||||
| Maven | ✅ GA | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ✅ |
| NuGet | ✅ GA | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ✅ |
| npm | ✅ GA | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ✅ |
| PyPI | ✅ GA | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ❌ |
| Generic Packages | ✅ GA | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ❌ |
| Terraform Modules | ✅ GA | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ❌ |
| Virtual Registry | ||||
| Maven Virtual Registry | Coming 2025 | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ❌ |
| npm Virtual Registry | Coming 2025 | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ❌ |
| PyPI Virtual Registry | Coming 2026 | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ❌ |
| NuGet Virtual Registry | Coming 2026 | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ❌ |
| Build Promotion | ||||
| Build Promotion | ✅ Git-native (tags + versioning) | ⚠️ Complex workflow system | ⚠️ Separate promotion process | ✅ Git-native |
| Build Provenance | ✅ Native end-to-end integration | ⚠️ Separate "build info" metadata system | ⚠️ Limited build traceability | ✅ Code-to-package tracking |
| Security & Integration | ||||
| CI/CD Integration | ✅ Native | ⚠️ Plugin Required | ⚠️ Plugin Required | ✅ Native |
| Security Scanning | ✅ Built-in | ⚠️ X-Ray | ✅ Built-in | ✅ Built-in |
| Access Control | ✅ Granular | ✅ Granular | ✅ Granular | ✅ |
| Dependency Firewall | Coming 2026 | ✅ Available | ✅ Available | ❌ |
| User Interface | ✅ Modern & Intuitive | ⚠️ Complex | ⚠️ Basic | ✅ Modern |
Legend:
For organizations looking to migrate from JFrog Artifactory or Sonatype Nexus, GitLab offers a phased approach:
Our professional services team can assist with migration planning and implementation to ensure a smooth transition.
Expected Benefits:
"By consolidating our DevOps toolchain on GitLab, including artifact management, we reduced our annual licensing costs by 35% and improved developer productivity by eliminating context switching." - Enterprise Customer
"The integration between GitLab's package registry and CI/CD pipelines simplified our deployment process and reduced the time spent troubleshooting dependency issues." - Mid-size SaaS Company