Personally I like it because I tend to not use the github/lab web ui features.

But one thing that really never clicked with me is the email based issues workflow. I'd prefer to open issues like on github.

@HelloRoot@lemy.lol mentioned the email workflow, and it's great. In addition:

• it's a pay-for service, but it's cheap, given that you get:

  • unlimited repos, public or private
  • a nice build CI system
  • mailing lists and an email interface to manage & interact with them
  • ticket trackers
  • a well-thought-out project home page system: you add as many repositories, ticket trackers, and making lists to the project, and pick a README for it. It's quite nice.

• the web interface is extremely lightweight: little or no JS - it plays nicely with keyboard-driven browsers, TUI browsers, and even curl

• did I mention the excellent build CI?

• it supports both git and Mercurial repositories

It's also open source and self-hostable if you'd rather.

It's a fantastic service, and well with the tiny hosting price.