Get Smarter, Together

Learn, grow, and innovate with students and experts from NRW

Why a shared GitLab instance?

Collaborative work. Benefit from centrally operated infrastructure and GitLab Ultimate – funded by MKW and recommended by DH.NRW.

Central Maintenance & Updates

No more maintaining your own servers. Updates, backups, and security patches are handled centrally by the git.nrw team.

GitLab Ultimate

Free for all DH.NRW universities. Key Ultimate capabilities including CI/CD, security testing, and compliance management.

Collaborative Work

Cross-university collaboration made easy. Simply invite researchers and students from other NRW universities.

Data Sovereignty & GDPR

Hosted in Germany with a GDPR focus and minimized reliance on external services.

Comprehensive DevSecOps Toolset

Funding within the academic community:

Data & Content

  • Versioning (Git)
  • Online Editor
  • Large Files (LFS)
  • Releases & Tags

Project Management

  • Task Boards
  • Milestones & Planning
  • Wikis & Documentation
  • Epics & Iterations

Automation

  • CI/CD Pipelines
  • Integrated Templates
  • Docker & Containers
  • Package Management

Security & Quality

  • Security Scans
  • Dependency Check
  • License Management
  • Audit Logs & Compliance

git.nrw in comparison

Why git.nrw is the best choice for NRW universities

Function
git.nrw
GitHub / GitLab
Self-hosted
Costs
Funded by MKW & DH.NRW
€€
License costs for Enterprise Features & CI/CD Minutes
€€€
Effort for operations, updates & infrastructure
Enterprise / Ultimate Features
Included: SSO, Advanced Security, Epics, Roadmaps
€€€
Surcharge for: SSO (SAML), Advanced Security, Epics & Roadmaps
Requires GitLab Ultimate
GDPR-compliant
Hosting Location Germany USA Germany
Maintenance & Updates
Centrally managed
Automatic updates
High manual effort
SSO (University Login)
€€€
SAML SSO requires Enterprise Plan
Configuration effort
University Collaboration
Central
Central
Cross-university collaboration difficult
Support
Local contact persons & Central Expert Team
Free support often only via Community Forum, Enterprise Support mostly in English
No external support, everything must be solved yourself

The best of both worlds

git.nrw combines the professional features of a cloud solution with the data sovereignty of a self-hosted instance – without the administrative hurdles and costs.

Is your university not yet involved?

git.nrw is open to all DH.NRW universities. Become part of the network and benefit from the shared GitLab infrastructure.

Contact us for information on the onboarding process and participation conditions.

Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

Consortium Partners

Participants