Codeberg

What hackers pick instead

• GitHubThe default git forge, recommended for its huge community, project discovery and familiar pull-request tooling, though many now complain about frequent outages, AI push and lock-in.764recommend
• ForgejoA lightweight, free self-hosted GitHub alternative that runs as a single binary with little maintenance and good Actions compatibility, though its CI is less complete and contributor federation is missing.380recommend
• GitLabPraised for its strong built-in CI/CD, finer access and group structure, and the option to self-host for full control, though many find it bloated, resource-hungry and cluttered.331recommend
• GiteaA lightweight, easy-to-run self-hosted GitHub alternative with mirroring and Actions-compatible CI; critics cite vague security fix disclosures, permission gaps and its commercial company ties.195recommend
• TangledA federated GitHub alternative built on AT Protocol, with portable identity and easy self-hosted git servers (knots); critics worry about VC funding and the lack of private repos.127recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 850 comments. Each links to the original.

1. open-source, community-owned, privacy-respecting, non-corporate, and not built around turning your development workflow into a Microsoft-owned platform

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub”

2. this is community driven and not a business the people actually creating and using the software don't need nor want to prioritize such button

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “GitHub to Codeberg: my experience”

3. Codeberg’s legal structure (being a non-profit) and vision makes it a lot more aligned with the objectives of free and open source projects

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Before GitHub”

4. Owned by companies that do not help the US Federal Government illegally spy on their own citizens and murder children overseas

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “GitHub appears to be struggling with measly three nines availability”

5. the transition was worth it just for the ability to navigate the website without a 3-5 second wait every time I click a link

   Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Migrating the main Zig repository from GitHub to Codeberg”

6. I moved to Codeberg months ago in response to GitHub's unreliability, poor moderation and random/illegitimate takedowns

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub”

7. From the start it's been an open platform, run by European non-profit, exclusively for Free and Open Source projects.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Protecting our FLOSS commons from LLMs”

8. Codeberg isn't competing against Github for market share, it serves a specific demographic with a specific ideology.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Codeberg Bans Cryptocurrency Projects”

9. Codeberg made a great decision for those who are just tired and over AI coding unnecessarily taking over everything.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Codeberg Divides”

10. If you're a hobbyist, Codeberg is great, has a nice community and automatically shields you from slop contributions.

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “The August 17 outage, and the work ahead”

11. Codeberg is specifically set up to be a code host for open-source projects, not for closed-source commercial code.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Codeberg: ToU extension to prohibit LLM-extrusions”

12. something that's a direct equivalent to github, but without the issues github has, is exactly what I'm looking for

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “GitHub to Codeberg: my experience”

13. Codeberg is a registered non-profit charity whose purpose is to provide free services for free software projects.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

14. I see no definition of what 'mostly using AI' means and refuse to be 'punished' for the choice of tooling I use.

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “Why developers are ditching GitHub for Codeberg and self-hosting alternatives”

15. Codeberg, as far as I can tell, basically has a donation model where you can volunteer to pay and be a "member"

    Mixed · Feb 2026 · in “Gentoo on Codeberg”

16. not allowing LLM code at least signals that codeberg (and forgejo) itself is unlikely to be majority LLM code

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

17. I switched to Codeberg to maintain a semblance of project discoverability while having freedom from Microsoft

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “Codeberg Divides”

18. It's been a breath of fresh air. Its like github without the gamification, ads, copilot, and social features.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Give Up GitHub – Software Freedom Conservancy”

19. If their rules read this arbitrary, I wouldn't trust them to host any of my stuff, especially considering that you always have to hope they don't change their rules any further.

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “Statichost.eu – European static site hosting”

20. Had they limited CI/CD depending on the project "community" (whatever that means), that would be a reasonable take. Instead they ban something tangential to the discussion.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

21. I encounter Codeberg as a forge first, then have to dig in to discover that it's a highly opinionated service with a different business model than most similar entities.

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

22. So the ToS says only private repos that support FLOSS, but then backdoors into "small & personal stuff" which is pretty loose and up to Codeberg's discretion

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “GitHub to Codeberg: my experience”

23. they're implementing a rule that is unenforceable because you can't actually validate whether or not the majority of the project was written by an LLM

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

24. as the rules are you cannot use AI, all the attribution will be removed, but sure enough there still will be a bunch of AI written code there

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

25. mass banning projects that didn't do anything wrong and were previously operating within the rules feels more like rejection from a community

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

26. The numbers aren't looking great so far: they're not cracking 3 9s on their primary service, and their CI/CD isn't even cracking 2 9s.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Migrating the main Zig repository from GitHub to Codeberg”

27. The copyright/Anti-ai angle is likely an excuse and they're running out of money for hosting, hence errors and anti-scraping blocks.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Codeberg bans vibe coded projects”

28. If a service like this has some surprising limitations for a potential user, it should be clear up front and not hidden in the ToS.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

29. this change has a chilling effect since now whoever is making the LLM-generated decision might arbitrarily decide to ban a project

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

30. issues with a service that is helpful insofar as they immediately tell you there are probably a lot more issues under the surface

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “GitHub to Codeberg: my experience”

31. I really don't want to join a commons where something I make might be "tolerated in practice" based on a given moderator's vibe.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Codeberg Bans Cryptocurrency Projects”

32. I think you are being rather harsh on them, but I think your point is more evidence that the real reasons are the ones in the blog, and they should probably remove copyright as a justification in the ToS.

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

33. It's a community code forge. If someone poured their heart and soul into making an awesome game with kick-ass image and sound assets, the community probably wants to support it.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

34. I kind of like the idea of a software forge that won't host the Torment Nexus discovered in 2027 because its TOS didn't contain language about it in 2026.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Protecting our FLOSS commons from LLMs”

35. running an open code hosting platform ... in the European Union, and especially Germany, is extremely challenging from a legal perspective

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “Media scraper Gallery-dl is moving to Codeberg after receiving a DMCA notice”

36. people will look more for alternatives. How much of that momentum shifts into real adoption is another matter, but it is an initial seed.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Protecting our FLOSS commons from LLMs”

37. it's more democratic than the EU, and has a target audience of members who actually want the service to continue going in this direction

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Codeberg Bans Cryptocurrency Projects”

38. It simply enforces a pace and process that is very befitting and in my opinion mandatory for such a central system they're maintaining.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

39. You cannot support FOSS and then get mad when people use those freedoms to create a service that matches their ideas and philosophies.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”

40. Pitching them as a no-brain replacement and advising people to move all their personal repos over is abusive towards Codeberg.

    Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “GitHub and the Crime Against Software”