# Best Version Control Hosting Software for Small Business *By [Adam Crivello](https://research.g2.com/insights/author/adam-crivello)* Products classified in the overall Version Control Hosting category are similar in many regards and help companies of all sizes solve their business problems. However, small business features, pricing, setup, and installation differ from businesses of other sizes, which is why we match buyers to the right Small Business Version Control Hosting to fit their needs. Compare product ratings based on reviews from enterprise users or connect with one of G2's buying advisors to find the right solutions within the Small Business Version Control Hosting category. In addition to qualifying for inclusion in the Version Control Hosting Software category, to qualify for inclusion in the Small Business Version Control Hosting Software category, a product must have at least 10 reviews left by a reviewer from a small business. ## Category Overview **Total Products under this Category:** 32 ## Trust & Credibility Stats **Why You Can Trust G2's Software Rankings:** - 30 Analysts and Data Experts - 5,700+ Authentic Reviews - 32+ Products - Unbiased Rankings G2's software rankings are built on verified user reviews, rigorous moderation, and a consistent research methodology maintained by a team of analysts and data experts. Each product is measured using the same transparent criteria, with no paid placement or vendor influence. While reviews reflect real user experiences, which can be subjective, they offer valuable insight into how software performs in the hands of professionals. Together, these inputs power the G2 Score, a standardized way to compare tools within every category. --- **Sponsored** ### JFrog JFrog Ltd. (Nasdaq: FROG), the creators of the unified DevOps, DevSecOps, DevGovOps and MLOps platform, is on a mission to create a world of software delivered without friction from development to production. Driven by a “Liquid Software” vision, the JFrog Platform is a software supply chain system of record that is designed to power organizations as they build, manage, and distribute secure software with speed and scale. Holistic security features help identify, protect, and remediate against threats and vulnerabilities. The universal, hybrid, multi-cloud JFrog Platform is available as both SaaS services across major cloud service providers and self-hosted. Millions of users and approximately 6,600 organizations worldwide, including a majority of the Fortune 100, depend on JFrog solutions to securely embrace digital transformation in the AI era. Learn more at www.jfrog.com or follow us on X @JFrog. [Visit company website](https://www.g2.com/external_clickthroughs/record?secure%5Bad_program%5D=ppc&secure%5Bad_slot%5D=category_product_list&secure%5Bcategory_id%5D=658&secure%5Bdisplayable_resource_id%5D=658&secure%5Bdisplayable_resource_type%5D=Category&secure%5Bmedium%5D=sponsored&secure%5Bplacement_reason%5D=page_category&secure%5Bplacement_resource_ids%5D%5B%5D=658&secure%5Bprioritized%5D=false&secure%5Bproduct_id%5D=143017&secure%5Bresource_id%5D=658&secure%5Bresource_type%5D=Category&secure%5Bsource_type%5D=category_page&secure%5Bsource_url%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.g2.com%2Fcategories%2Fversion-control-hosting%2Fsmall-business&secure%5Btoken%5D=a4f4ef018df76e378f512fa53ae12460ae8b8a7cd0a5f3651366f84dd92da5dd&secure%5Burl%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fjfrog.com%2Fartifactory%2F%3Futm_source%3Dg2%26utm_medium%3Dcpc_social%26utm_campaign%3Dbrand_awareness_banner_ad%26utm_content%3Du-bin&secure%5Burl_type%5D=custom_url) --- ## Top-Rated Products (Ranked by G2 Score) ### 1. [GitHub](https://www.g2.com/products/github/reviews) GitHub is where the world builds software. Millions of individuals, organizations and businesses around the world use GitHub to discover, share, and contribute software. Developers at startups to Fortune 50 companies use GitHub, every step of the way. **Average Rating:** 4.7/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 2,257 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 8.7/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [GitHub](https://www.g2.com/sellers/github) - **Year Founded:** 2008 - **HQ Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Twitter:** @github (2,632,418 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/1418841/ (6,000 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer - **Top Industries:** Computer Software, Information Technology and Services - **Company Size:** 46% Small-Business, 31% Mid-Market #### Pros & Cons **Pros:** - Features (123 reviews) - Ease of Use (110 reviews) - Team Collaboration (109 reviews) - Collaboration (107 reviews) - Version Control (102 reviews) **Cons:** - Complexity (47 reviews) - Learning Curve (45 reviews) - Difficulty for Beginners (43 reviews) - Learning Difficulty (41 reviews) - Steep Learning Curve (36 reviews) ### 2. [Bitbucket](https://www.g2.com/products/bitbucket/reviews) Bitbucket is the Git solution for professional teams. It provides collaboration and code management around the versioning of your codebase. Every piece of core functionality has been built to help software teams work better together. This ranges from collaboration to integrations & extensibility, security, and scalability. Bitbucket allows software teams to collaborate around their source code, secure their code base, enforce development workflows, and scale as their team grows. It integrates with JIRA Software for traceability from feature ideation through deployment. Bitbucket provides a platform for developers to discuss code changes, a window into development progress for development managers, and a performant version control system for system admins. **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 971 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 8.5/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Atlassian](https://www.g2.com/sellers/atlassian) - **Year Founded:** 2002 - **HQ Location:** Sydney and San Francisco - **Twitter:** @Atlassian (105,817 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/atlassian (21,797 employees on LinkedIn®) - **Ownership:** NASDAQ:TEAM **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer - **Top Industries:** Computer Software, Information Technology and Services - **Company Size:** 41% Small-Business, 32% Mid-Market #### Pros & Cons **Pros:** - Jira Integration (25 reviews) - Code Review (17 reviews) - Ease of Use (14 reviews) - Git Integration (14 reviews) - CD Integration (13 reviews) **Cons:** - Slow Speed (16 reviews) - Lack of Features (9 reviews) - UX Improvement (9 reviews) - Performance Issues (8 reviews) - Improvement Needed (7 reviews) ### 3. [GitLab](https://www.g2.com/products/gitlab/reviews) GitLab is the most comprehensive AI-Powered DevSecOps platform that enables software innovation by empowering development, security, and operations teams to build better software, faster. With GitLab, teams can create, deliver, and manage code quickly and continuously instead of managing disparate tools and scripts. GitLab helps your teams across the complete DevSecOps lifecycle, from developing, securing, and deploying software. What makes us truly different? - Flexibility: Consume as a service or manage your own deployment - Cloud-Agnostic: Deploy anywhere with no vendor lock-in - No rip and replace: Scale to a platform approach at your own pace **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 869 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 8.5/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [GitLab Inc.](https://www.g2.com/sellers/gitlab-inc) - **Company Website:** https://about.gitlab.com/ - **Year Founded:** 2014 - **HQ Location:** San Francisco, California - **Twitter:** @gitlab (170,493 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/5101804/ (3,357 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer - **Top Industries:** Computer Software, Information Technology and Services - **Company Size:** 38% Mid-Market, 37% Small-Business #### Pros & Cons **Pros:** - Ease of Use (43 reviews) - Features (42 reviews) - CI (36 reviews) - CD Integration (34 reviews) - Integrations (34 reviews) **Cons:** - Complexity (21 reviews) - Difficult Learning (19 reviews) - Confusing Interface (16 reviews) - Complex User Interface (15 reviews) - Learning Curve (13 reviews) ### 4. [Azure DevOps Server](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-devops-server/reviews) Azure DevOps Server, formerly known as Team Foundation Server (TFS), is a comprehensive on-premises solution developed by Microsoft for managing the entire application lifecycle. It integrates version control, project management, build automation, testing, and release management into a unified platform, facilitating collaboration among development teams. Designed to support both agile and waterfall methodologies, Azure DevOps Server enables organizations to plan, develop, test, and deliver software efficiently within their own infrastructure. Key Features and Functionality: - Version Control: Offers robust source code management through Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) and Git, allowing teams to choose between centralized or distributed version control systems. - Project Management: Provides agile planning tools, including configurable Kanban boards and backlogs, to plan, track, and discuss work across teams. - Build Automation: Enables continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines to build, test, and deploy applications across various platforms and environments. - Testing: Includes manual and exploratory testing tools to ensure code quality and support the entire testing lifecycle. - Release Management: Facilitates controlled and automated deployment of applications to different environments, ensuring consistent and reliable releases. - Extensibility: Supports integration with various development environments, including Microsoft Visual Studio and Eclipse, and offers APIs for custom extensions. Primary Value and User Benefits: Azure DevOps Server addresses the challenges of managing complex software development projects by providing a centralized platform that enhances collaboration, streamlines workflows, and improves code quality. By integrating various development tools and processes, it reduces the overhead associated with managing multiple disparate systems. Organizations benefit from increased transparency, better project tracking, and faster delivery times, all while maintaining control over their data within their own infrastructure. This makes Azure DevOps Server particularly valuable for enterprises with strict compliance requirements or those operating in environments where cloud-based solutions are not feasible. **Average Rating:** 4.2/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 190 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 8.2/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Microsoft](https://www.g2.com/sellers/microsoft) - **Year Founded:** 1975 - **HQ Location:** Redmond, Washington - **Twitter:** @microsoft (13,090,464 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/ (227,697 employees on LinkedIn®) - **Ownership:** MSFT **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer Software - **Company Size:** 41% Enterprise, 39% Mid-Market #### Pros & Cons **Pros:** - Automation (2 reviews) - Collaboration (2 reviews) - Convenience (2 reviews) - Customer Support (2 reviews) - Deployment (2 reviews) **Cons:** - Complex Setup (2 reviews) - Difficulty (2 reviews) - Complexity (1 reviews) - Complex Management (1 reviews) - Difficult Configuration (1 reviews) ### 5. [Backlog](https://www.g2.com/products/backlog/reviews) Backlog is an all-in-one online tool designed for project management, task tracking, version control, and bug tracking. This comprehensive solution enables teams to seamlessly integrate project and code management, allowing them to plan work, monitor progress, and release code all within a single platform. By consolidating these functions, Backlog enhances collaboration and efficiency, making it an ideal choice for teams looking to streamline their workflows and improve project outcomes. Backlog caters to professionals who require robust tools for managing complex projects. It is particularly beneficial for teams that operate in agile environments, where flexibility and rapid iteration are essential. With its diverse range of features, Backlog supports various use cases, from tracking tasks and managing bugs to overseeing version control and facilitating team communication. This versatility makes it suitable for both small startups and larger organizations, ensuring that teams of all sizes can benefit from its capabilities. One of the standout features of Backlog is its subtask management system, which allows users to break down larger tasks into manageable components. This functionality promotes clarity and accountability, enabling team members to focus on specific aspects of a project without losing sight of the overall objectives. Additionally, customizable statuses provide teams with the ability to tailor their workflow according to their unique processes, enhancing adaptability and responsiveness to changing project requirements. Backlog also includes visual project management tools such as Kanban-style boards and Gantt charts, which facilitate tracking progress and managing timelines. Burndown charts offer insights into project velocity, helping teams assess their performance and make data-driven decisions. Furthermore, the integration of Git and SVN allows for seamless version control, ensuring that code changes are tracked and managed effectively. The inclusion of Wikis fosters knowledge sharing and documentation, creating a centralized repository of information that can be easily accessed by all team members. Overall, Backlog stands out in the project management category by offering a comprehensive suite of tools that cater specifically to the needs of software development teams. Its ability to unify project and code management in one platform not only enhances transparency but also breaks down silos, enabling teams to work more efficiently and simplify complex projects. By providing a structured yet flexible environment for collaboration, Backlog empowers teams to achieve their goals and deliver high-quality results. **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 384 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 9.1/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Nulab Inc.](https://www.g2.com/sellers/nulab-inc-9c44ff5b-8b59-4627-9703-f685e195f1ff) - **Year Founded:** 2004 - **HQ Location:** Fukuoka, Japan - **Twitter:** @nulabinc (2,178 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/729787/ (131 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer, Software Developer - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer Software - **Company Size:** 45% Mid-Market, 44% Small-Business #### Pros & Cons **Pros:** - Task Management (81 reviews) - Ease of Use (77 reviews) - Project Management (77 reviews) - Task Tracking (77 reviews) - Features (49 reviews) **Cons:** - Slow Performance (26 reviews) - Slow Loading (23 reviews) - Slow Speed (21 reviews) - Limited Features (11 reviews) - Notification Issues (11 reviews) ### 6. [Plastic SCM](https://www.g2.com/products/plastic-scm/reviews) Version control is the operating system of software development. It can solve problems efficiently and silently, or it can create more. Plastic SCM is a distributed version control, but can work centralized too. It is excellent with branching and merging, can deal with huge projects and big binary assets natively, and it comes with GUIs and tools to make everything simpler. Plastic solves problems. **Average Rating:** 4.2/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 34 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 8.5/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Unity](https://www.g2.com/sellers/unity-09a71e5d-4725-47cd-9ed0-2699e3d54cad) - **Year Founded:** 2010 - **HQ Location:** San Fransisco - **Twitter:** @unity (112,397 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/unity/ (7,133 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Top Industries:** Computer Games - **Company Size:** 64% Small-Business, 22% Enterprise ### 7. [Buddy](https://www.g2.com/products/buddy/reviews) Get back your time with Buddy’s delivery pipelines that eliminate repeatable tasks in your daily development. Automatically build & ship web projects on a single git push, on click, or recurrently. Easily define your own delivery process just like you build a house of bricks: from builds and tests, to deployments, custom scripts, and website monitoring. Bring the newest tech to your team’s stack with native Docker support: containers, microservices, Kubernetes deployments, and more. **Average Rating:** 4.7/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 206 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Buddy](https://www.g2.com/sellers/buddy) - **Year Founded:** 2015 - **HQ Location:** Bielsko-Bia_a, Poland - **Twitter:** @useBuddy (22,905 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/buddy---ci-cd-made-easy/ (28 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer, Developer - **Top Industries:** Computer Software, Information Technology and Services - **Company Size:** 82% Small-Business, 14% Mid-Market #### Pros & Cons **Pros:** - Ease of Use (4 reviews) - Pipeline Management (4 reviews) - Deployment (2 reviews) - Ease of Setup (2 reviews) - Easy Setup (2 reviews) **Cons:** - Expensive (2 reviews) - Limited Features (2 reviews) - Limited Free Access (2 reviews) - Pricing Issues (2 reviews) - Feature Issues (1 reviews) ### 8. [Glitch](https://www.g2.com/products/glitch/reviews) Glitch is a collaborative programming environment that lives in your browser and deploys code as you type. Use Glitch to build anything from a static webpage to full-stack Node apps. **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 21 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 8.3/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Glitch](https://www.g2.com/sellers/glitch) - **Year Founded:** 2000 - **HQ Location:** New York, NY - **Twitter:** @Glitch (31,024 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/55278/ (33 employees on LinkedIn®) - **Phone:** +1 (866) 364-2733 **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Top Industries:** Computer Software, Information Technology and Services - **Company Size:** 64% Small-Business, 23% Mid-Market ### 9. [SourceForge](https://www.g2.com/products/sourceforge/reviews) SourceForge is the complete software platform. SourceForge is the largest B2B software review and comparison directory in the world with nearly 20 million monthly users looking for software, reading user reviews, and comparing B2B software products. Our business software reviews and comparison directory lists over 105,000 B2B software products across over 4000 B2B software categories, and offers robust tools for business software and service comparisons and buying decisions, which allows B2B professionals to compare software and services by price, user reviews, integrations, deployment, region, support and training offerings, and more. Our team of business software and service experts, who have thousands of hours of software review and analysis experience, are constantly analyzing the B2B SaaS and service industry to bring users and B2B software shoppers the most up to date and cutting-edge analysis and comprehensive research. All product information, pricing, reviews, specifications, and details are provided by SourceForge’s team of research analysts, in conjunction with the vendors. The research and analysis produced by our business software and service analysts is exclusive to SourceForge. SourceForge also provides powerful tools for business software and services vendors to accurately showcase their offerings to potential buyers. With the tools we provide, developers on SourceForge have created over 500,000 software projects, and we host millions of registered users. Our popular directory connects nearly 20 million monthly users and serves more than 2.6 million downloads a day. Our open source toolset includes code repositories, download binary hosting, bug tracking, version control, download statistics, mailing lists, discussion forums, & more. SourceForge is the most trusted B2B software review and comparison platform in the world. **Average Rating:** 4.3/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 67 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 8.7/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [sourceforge](https://www.g2.com/sellers/sourceforge) - **Year Founded:** 1999 - **HQ Location:** San Diego, CA - **Twitter:** @sourceforge (46,758 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/638555/ (67 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Top Industries:** Information Technology and Services, Computer Software - **Company Size:** 49% Small-Business, 36% Mid-Market #### Pros & Cons **Pros:** - Ease of Use (3 reviews) - Comparisons (2 reviews) - Features (2 reviews) - Open Source (2 reviews) - Trust (2 reviews) **Cons:** - Bias (1 reviews) - Communication Issues (1 reviews) - Comparison Issues (1 reviews) - Difficult Navigation (1 reviews) - Email Overload (1 reviews) ### 10. [P4](https://www.g2.com/products/p4/reviews) P4 (formerly Helix Core) is enterprise-class version control for faster, more collaborative development for teams of any size. With P4, developers can use their preferred tools — like Git and Visual Studio — while enjoying lightning-fast workflows, support for all file types, and faster builds from a single source of truth. Organizations around the globe rely on Helix Core to build and deliver complex digital products faster and with higher quality. P4 is trusted by the world’s most innovative brands, including Pixar, NVIDIA, Scania, EA, Ubisoft, and VMware. **Average Rating:** 4.2/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 93 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 8.8/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Perforce](https://www.g2.com/sellers/perforce) - **Year Founded:** 1995 - **HQ Location:** Minneapolis, MN - **Twitter:** @perforce (5,087 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/perforce/ (2,032 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Who Uses This:** Principal Software Engineer - **Top Industries:** Computer Games, Computer Software - **Company Size:** 39% Enterprise, 36% Mid-Market ### 11. [Gitea](https://www.g2.com/products/gitea/reviews) Git with a cup of tea! Painless self-hosted all-in-one software development service, including Git hosting, code review, team collaboration, package registry and CI/CD. **Average Rating:** 4.7/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 16 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 6.9/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Gitea](https://www.g2.com/sellers/gitea) - **Year Founded:** 2012 - **HQ Location:** San Francisco, US - **Twitter:** @giteaio (4,421 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://linkedin.com/company/commitgo (2 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Top Industries:** Computer Software, Information Technology and Services - **Company Size:** 59% Small-Business, 35% Mid-Market ### 12. [Assembla](https://www.g2.com/products/assembla/reviews) Assembla is the most secure version control and project collaboration platform in the world. We provide secure cloud hosting for Subversion, Perforce and Git repositories with integrated project management for more than 5,500 customers around the globe. Assembla helps development teams meet and even exceed HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI and GDPR compliance standards with our best practice VCS. Embrace agile, meet compliance, and stay innovative while managing all of your projects and source code from a central control point with industry-leading compliance and security. **Average Rating:** 4.1/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 125 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Quality of Support:** 8.2/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Assembla](https://www.g2.com/sellers/assembla) - **Year Founded:** 2005 - **HQ Location:** San Antonio, TX - **Twitter:** @assembla (3,819 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/339775/ (20 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Who Uses This:** Software Engineer - **Top Industries:** Computer Software, Information Technology and Services - **Company Size:** 47% Small-Business, 43% Mid-Market ## Parent Category [Source Code Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/source-code-management) ## Related Categories - [Continuous Integration Tools](https://www.g2.com/categories/continuous-integration) - [Continuous Delivery Tools](https://www.g2.com/categories/continuous-delivery-tools) - [Peer Code Review Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/peer-code-review) --- ## Buyer Guide ### What You Should Know About Version Control Hosting Software ### What is Version Control Hosting Software? Version control hosting software hosts multiple code repositories in the cloud, allowing developers to seamlessly collaborate on source code. This also helps them manage a master repository so they can easily merge code changes and continuously update code versions to local computers. Version control hosting solutions are crucial for software development collaboration—they host tools and systems that enable developers to simultaneously make code changes without causing major problems to a project. This parallel development is accomplished via branching. Branching is the process of duplicating source code and making changes or additions to an isolated section of copy, which is then re-merged with the original source code to update the master repository upon completion. With version control hosting software, multiple developers can work on modifications along multiple branches before merging each branch to the master repository. Version control hosting software gives businesses an access control list. This allows companies to manage the source code and branch permissions for every developer. For example, a company might want to make all their branches visible to the entire team, but only grant editing permissions to relevant parties. This setup allows teams to remain on the same page by viewing each other’s projects without accidentally making unwanted changes to different projects. Developers can avoid confusion by referring to the cloud-hosted master repository, which serves as the absolute source to determine the true current state of many projects. Once changes are made to a branch, that branch can merge with the master repository to reflect those changes. Version control hosting software saves version history, meaning the master repository can be reverted to previous versions if any code changes need to be reversed. Key Benefits of Version Control Hosting Software - Allow developers to seamlessly collaborate on projects - Create an organized environment for developers to differentiate between projects - Increase efficiency of a company - Enable a transparent view of all the projects in-progress at an organization ### Why Use Version Control Hosting Software? Version control hosting software handles the essential version control systems that protect developers from making irreversible errors and promote ideal collaboration. There are a handful of reasons to use version control hosting software, may are essentials for the modern developer. **Parallel development —** Software development teams rely on version control hosting software to simultaneously change and manage cloud-hosted code repositories. Without version control hosting software, teams would have an extremely difficult time managing code conflicts. There would be many more conflicts due to a lack of visibility, including the inability to stay on the same page. **Preserving good code —** Both solo developers and teams benefit from the ability to work on code changes without running the risk of breaking a functioning build. Because developers can make changes to duplicate versions of the master repository, the master repository itself is preserved until changes are finalized. This functionality is akin to an author creating a duplicate document to make edits on—if things go wrong and important work is overwritten, the original copy is unaffected. **Maintaining version history —** Version control hosting software maintains a history of each version of the master repository. Each time a branch is merged with the master repository, the previous version is maintained in case developers need to revert to prior builds. This protects teams from making irreversible mistakes in the form of bad code or merge conflicts. ### Who Uses Version Control Hosting Software? Version control hosting software presents clear benefits for development teams of all sizes thanks to the collaborative functionality achieved through its use. However, even solo developers find themselves relying on software to host version control systems and make development more foolproof. **Software development teams —** Software development teams use version control hosting software to organize collaboration and allow parallel development via branching. With version control hosting software, team members can work on separate tasks simultaneously while keeping the master repository intact. **Solo developers —** The benefits of version control hosting software extend beyond team collaboration. Solo developers rely on version control hosting to safely make changes to their projects without breaking their builds. If a branch merge ruins their project, solo developers can easily revert to a prior version to preserve their overall progress. ### Version Control Hosting Software Features **Version control system integration —** Version control hosting software must integrate with at least one version control system to function, but some can integrate with multiple systems to accommodate different types of projects. **Multiple repository hosting —** Version control hosting software allows development teams to host multiple repositories that help facilitate multiple projects. Some version control hosting software even offers unlimited repositories. **Hosting flexibility —** Some version control hosting software allows teams to host their repositories and branches anywhere. This could include cloud-based repositories as well as on-premises ones. This flexibility gives development teams more control over their projects. **Transparent changelists —** Because version control hosting software maintains comprehensive and detailed version history, users are able to see every change that occurs over the lifetime of their projects. Beyond the ability to roll back to functional versions if a build is flawed, version history logs often enable developers to see exactly what changes were made between versions, as well as the context for those changes. Access to the full context of each change to a repository gives development teams a better understanding of their progress and allows teams to stay on the same page. ### Software and Services Related to Version Control Hosting Software [**Version control systems**](https://www.g2.com/categories/version-control-systems) **—** Version control systems help track changes to software development projects, and allow team members to change and collaborate on the same files. This is accomplished using version history, branching, and managed repositories. Version control systems provide the meat of version control functionality hosted by version control hosting software. [**Version control clients**](https://www.g2.com/categories/version-control-clients) **—** Version control clients are software tools that developers use on their computers to interact with version control systems. Version control clients enhance the features of version control systems by keeping track of multiple projects, providing a graphical user interface (GUI) for easier control, and allowing development integration to move faster. These tools integrate with version control hosting software to provide a comprehensive version control framework. [**Static code analysis**](https://www.g2.com/categories/static-code-analysis) **—** Static code analysis is the analysis of computer software performed without actually executing the code. Static code analysis software scan all code in a project and seeks out vulnerabilities, validate code against industry best practices, and some software tools validate against company-specific project specifications. Static code analysis software coexists with version control frameworks to give developers a complete tool kit for transparent, flexible source code management.