GitHub

GitHub is where the vast majority of development agencies host and collaborate on code. Its pull request workflow has become the standard for how teams review, discuss, and merge code changes, and for agencies managing multiple client repositories, the organization and team permission features keep codebases properly isolated and access-controlled. Whether an agency is building web applications, mobile apps, or APIs, GitHub provides the foundation that the development workflow is built on.

GitHub Actions has transformed how agencies handle CI/CD. Build, test, and deployment pipelines can be defined as YAML workflows that run automatically on every push or pull request. Agencies can standardize their deployment processes across client projects, ensuring consistent quality checks before any code goes live. The marketplace of pre-built actions means common tasks like running tests, building Docker images, or deploying to Vercel can be set up in minutes. For agencies that previously maintained separate CI/CD tools, consolidating into GitHub Actions simplifies the toolchain significantly.

Compared to GitLab, GitHub offers a larger community ecosystem and tighter integration with third-party tools, while GitLab provides more built-in DevOps features in a single platform. Most agencies choose GitHub for its familiarity among developers and the ease of onboarding new team members who likely already have GitHub accounts. The main cost consideration is GitHub Actions minutes, which can accumulate quickly for agencies running frequent builds across many client projects.