Hello,
can someone explain the difference between the gitlab-ce and gitlab-ee packages for a self-managed instance?
I understand that with the gitlab-ee packages I can register a license or test Gitlab for free with the free-trial option.
But what happens if I do not register a license with gitlab-ee and do not use the free-trail? Can gitlab-ee then be used in the same way as gitlab-ce? Or does this give me any advantages or disadvantages compared to gitlab-ce?
Self-managed GitLab EE without a license acts as the Free Tier subscription. I’d recommend installing gitlab-ee.
The gitlab-ee package comes with some features that cannot be distributed under a FOSS license in gitlab-ce, for example, Spamcheck, which provides obfuscated binaries for machine learning models, fighting against spam.
You can also take advantage of the Registration features program, granting access to more features such as group wikis, advanced search, etc. Registration Features program expands by 16 free features
If you decide at a later point to upgrade to Premium or Ultimate, you can just activate the license/subscription. There is no migration/downtime, as would be with CE to EE.