How to Self-Host Gitea 2026

Q: Why Self-Host Your Git Server?

Privacy: Code never leaves your infrastructure Cost: No per-user pricing; ~$6/month VPS for unlimited repos and users Control: Custom integrations, your own CI runners, private mirror networks Compliance: Air-gapped deployments for regulated industries Performance: Local network access — pushing large repos is faster ---

TL;DR

Gitea is a lightweight, open source GitHub alternative written in Go. It runs on a $6/month VPS, uses ~150MB RAM for small teams, and provides code hosting, pull requests, issues, wikis, and GitHub Actions-compatible CI/CD (via Gitea Actions). Setup takes about 20 minutes. If you need a full self-hosted GitHub replacement for a private team or open source project with sovereignty requirements, Gitea is the leading choice.

Key Takeaways

Gitea: MIT license, ~46K GitHub stars, Go-based, runs on 512MB RAM
Gitea Actions: GitHub Actions-compatible CI/CD — your existing workflow files work
Resource usage: ~150MB RAM for a team of 10; ~40MB for a personal instance
Setup time: ~20 minutes (Docker Compose + web installer)
Gitea vs Forgejo: Forgejo is a community fork with more open governance — both are good options
Gitea vs GitLab: Gitea is far lighter (~150MB vs GitLab's 4GB+ minimum)

Why Self-Host Your Git Server?

Privacy: Code never leaves your infrastructure
Cost: No per-user pricing; ~$6/month VPS for unlimited repos and users
Control: Custom integrations, your own CI runners, private mirror networks
Compliance: Air-gapped deployments for regulated industries
Performance: Local network access — pushing large repos is faster

Gitea vs Alternatives

Feature	Gitea	Forgejo	GitLab CE	OneDev
Language	Go	Go	Ruby/Go	Java
License	MIT	GPL 3.0	MIT	MIT
GitHub Stars	~46K	~9K	~23K	~13K
RAM minimum	150MB	150MB	4GB	1GB
GitHub Actions compat.	✅	✅	✅ (partial)	✅
Container registry	✅	✅	✅	❌
Kubernetes support	Via Helm	Via Helm	✅	Limited
Best for	Small teams, lightweight	Privacy-focused OSS	Enterprise	Integrated CI

Gitea vs Forgejo: Gitea's development moved to a company structure (Gitea Limited) in 2022, prompting a community fork called Forgejo. Both remain fully open source and compatible. Use Forgejo if open governance matters to you; use Gitea for the original project.

Server Requirements

Minimum: 1 vCPU, 512MB RAM, 10GB storage
Recommended: 2 vCPU, 1GB RAM, 20GB storage (Hetzner CX22 at €4.35/month)
Database: SQLite works for personal use; Postgres recommended for teams

Part 1: Docker Compose Setup

docker-compose.yml

# docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  gitea:
    image: gitea/gitea:latest
    container_name: gitea
    environment:
      - USER_UID=1000
      - USER_GID=1000
      - GITEA__database__DB_TYPE=postgres
      - GITEA__database__HOST=db:5432
      - GITEA__database__NAME=gitea
      - GITEA__database__USER=gitea
      - GITEA__database__PASSWD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - gitea_data:/data
      - /etc/timezone:/etc/timezone:ro
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"   # Web UI
      - "2222:22"     # SSH (avoids conflict with host SSH on 22)
    depends_on:
      - db

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=gitea
      - POSTGRES_USER=gitea
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  gitea_data:
  postgres_data:

# .env file:
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your-secure-password-here

docker compose up -d

Gitea is now running at http://your-server:3000.

Part 2: Web Installer

Visit http://your-server:3000 on first run. Gitea shows a setup wizard:

Key settings:

Database: Select Postgres, confirm the values you set
Site title: Your organization name
Repository root path: /data/gitea/repositories (default, inside container)
Git user: git
SSH server domain: your-server-ip or your domain
SSH server port: 2222 (matching your docker-compose port mapping)
HTTP root URL: https://git.yourdomain.com (your final domain)
Admin account: Create the first admin here

Click Install Gitea and you're set.

Part 3: DNS + Reverse Proxy

Put Gitea behind Nginx or Caddy for HTTPS.

With Caddy (simplest)

git.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

With Nginx

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name git.yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/git.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/git.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

    # Increase for large repo pushes:
    client_max_body_size 512m;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Part 4: SSH Access

Gitea handles Git over SSH through port 2222. Users add their SSH key in Settings → SSH/GPG Keys, then clone:

# Clone using Gitea's SSH (port 2222):
git clone ssh://git@git.yourdomain.com:2222/username/repo.git

# Or configure SSH shorthand in ~/.ssh/config:
Host gitea
    HostName git.yourdomain.com
    Port 2222
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

# Then clone with:
git clone gitea:username/repo.git

SSH on Port 22 (Optional)

If you want standard SSH cloning (git@git.yourdomain.com:user/repo.git), forward port 22 to the container:

ports:
  - "22:22"  # Change host SSH to a different port first!

Or use Gitea's SSH passthrough mode — see the Gitea docs.

Part 5: Gitea Actions (CI/CD)

Gitea Actions is GitHub Actions-compatible. Your existing .github/workflows/*.yml files work with minor path adjustments.

Enable Gitea Actions

In Gitea admin panel → Site Administration → Configuration → Enable Actions.

Or via app.ini:

[actions]
ENABLED = true

Install act_runner

Gitea Actions requires an external runner (act_runner):

# Install act_runner on your VPS or a separate server:
curl -L https://gitea.com/gitea/act_runner/releases/download/latest/act_runner-linux-amd64 \
  -o /usr/local/bin/act_runner
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/act_runner

# Register with your Gitea instance:
act_runner register \
  --instance https://git.yourdomain.com \
  --token YOUR_RUNNER_TOKEN \  # From Gitea Admin → Runners
  --name my-runner \
  --labels ubuntu-latest:docker://node:20

# Run as a service:
act_runner daemon

Or via Docker Compose, add a runner service:

  gitea-runner:
    image: gitea/act_runner:latest
    environment:
      GITEA_INSTANCE_URL: https://git.yourdomain.com
      GITEA_RUNNER_REGISTRATION_TOKEN: ${GITEA_RUNNER_TOKEN}
      GITEA_RUNNER_NAME: docker-runner
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - runner_data:/data
    depends_on:
      - gitea

Workflow Example

# .gitea/workflows/ci.yml  (or .github/workflows/ci.yml — both work)
name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'

      - name: Install and test
        run: |
          npm ci
          npm test

Part 6: Migrate from GitHub

Option A: Mirror a Repository

Gitea can mirror GitHub repos (stays in sync automatically):

In Gitea: + New Repository → Migrate
Select GitHub as source
Enter repo URL and personal access token
Enable Mirror checkbox
Set sync interval (every hour, etc.)

Option B: One-Time Migration (Full History)

# Clone from GitHub with all history:
git clone --mirror https://github.com/username/repo.git

# Push to Gitea:
cd repo.git
git remote add gitea https://git.yourdomain.com/username/repo.git
git push gitea --mirror

Migrate Issues and Pull Requests

Gitea has a built-in GitHub migrator that transfers issues, pull requests, labels, and milestones:

+ New Repository → Migrate → GitHub
Enter your GitHub personal access token
Check Issues, Pull Requests, Labels, Milestones
Click Migrate Repository

Part 7: Container Registry

Gitea includes a built-in container registry (Docker/OCI compatible):

# Login to Gitea's container registry:
docker login git.yourdomain.com -u your-username

# Tag and push an image:
docker tag myapp:latest git.yourdomain.com/username/myapp:latest
docker push git.yourdomain.com/username/myapp:latest

In a Gitea Actions workflow:

- name: Build and push Docker image
  run: |
    echo "${{ secrets.GITEA_TOKEN }}" | docker login git.yourdomain.com -u ${{ gitea.actor }} --password-stdin
    docker build -t git.yourdomain.com/${{ gitea.repository }}:latest .
    docker push git.yourdomain.com/${{ gitea.repository }}:latest

Maintenance

Updates

cd /path/to/gitea-compose
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Gitea has excellent backward compatibility — updates rarely require manual intervention.

Backups

# Backup Gitea data (inside running container):
docker exec -u git gitea gitea dump -c /data/gitea/conf/app.ini -f /tmp/gitea-backup.zip

# Copy backup out:
docker cp gitea:/tmp/gitea-backup.zip ./backups/gitea-$(date +%Y%m%d).zip

# Backup Postgres:
docker exec db pg_dump -U gitea gitea | gzip > ./backups/gitea-db-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

Monitoring

Gitea exposes Prometheus metrics at /metrics (enable in app.ini):

[metrics]
ENABLED = true
TOKEN = your-metrics-token

Resource Usage in Practice

Instance Type	RAM Usage	Users	Repos
Personal	~40MB	1	Any
Small team	~150MB	5–20	Any
Medium org	~400MB	50–100	Any
Large org	~1GB	500+	Any

Gitea is exceptionally lean. Compare this to GitLab CE's minimum of 4GB RAM.

Why Self-Host Gitea?

The case for self-hosting Gitea comes down to three practical factors: data ownership, cost at scale, and operational control.

Data ownership is the fundamental argument. When you use a SaaS version of any tool, your data lives on someone else's infrastructure subject to their terms of service, their security practices, and their business continuity. If the vendor raises prices, gets acquired, changes API limits, or shuts down, you're left scrambling. Self-hosting Gitea means your data and configuration stay on infrastructure you control — whether that's a VPS, a bare metal server, or a home lab.

Cost at scale matters once you move beyond individual use. Most SaaS equivalents charge per user or per data volume. A self-hosted instance on a $10-20/month VPS typically costs less than per-user SaaS pricing for teams of five or more — and the cost doesn't scale linearly with usage. One well-configured server handles dozens of users for a flat monthly fee.

Operational control is the third factor. The Docker Compose configuration above exposes every setting that commercial equivalents often hide behind enterprise plans: custom networking, environment variables, storage backends, and authentication integrations. You decide when to update, how to configure backups, and what access controls to apply.

The honest tradeoff: you're responsible for updates, backups, and availability. For teams running any production workloads, this is familiar territory. For individuals, the learning curve is real but the tooling (Docker, Caddy, automated backups) is well-documented and widely supported.

Server Requirements and Sizing

Before deploying Gitea, assess your server capacity against expected workload.

Minimum viable setup: A 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM VPS with 20GB SSD is sufficient for personal use or small teams. Most consumer VPS providers — Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr — offer machines in this range for $5-10/month. Hetzner offers excellent price-to-performance for European and US regions.

Recommended production setup: 2 vCPUs with 4GB RAM and 40GB SSD handles most medium deployments without resource contention. This gives Gitea headroom for background tasks, caching, and concurrent users while leaving capacity for other services on the same host.

Storage planning: The Docker volumes in this docker-compose.yml store all persistent Gitea data. Estimate your storage growth rate early — for data-intensive tools, budget for 3-5x your initial estimate. Hetzner Cloud and Vultr both support online volume resizing without stopping your instance.

Operating system: Any modern 64-bit Linux distribution works. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Debian 12 are the most commonly tested configurations. Ensure Docker Engine 24.0+ and Docker Compose v2 are installed — verify with docker --version and docker compose version. Avoid Docker Desktop on production Linux servers; it adds virtualization overhead and behaves differently from Docker Engine in ways that cause subtle networking issues.

Network: Only ports 80 and 443 need to be publicly accessible when running behind a reverse proxy. Internal service ports should be bound to localhost only. A minimal UFW firewall that blocks all inbound traffic except SSH, HTTP, and HTTPS is the single most effective security measure for a self-hosted server.

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Running Gitea without a tested backup strategy is an unacceptable availability risk. Docker volumes are not automatically backed up — if you delete a volume or the host fails, data is gone with no recovery path.

What to back up: The named Docker volumes containing Gitea's data (database files, user uploads, application state), your docker-compose.yml and any customized configuration files, and .env files containing secrets.

Backup approach: For simple setups, stop the container, archive the volume contents, then restart. For production environments where stopping causes disruption, use filesystem snapshots or database dump commands (PostgreSQL pg_dump, SQLite .backup, MySQL mysqldump) that produce consistent backups without downtime.

For a complete automated backup workflow that ships snapshots to S3-compatible object storage, see the Restic + Rclone backup guide. Restic handles deduplication and encryption; Rclone handles multi-destination uploads. The same setup works for any Docker volume.

Backup cadence: Daily backups to remote storage are a reasonable baseline for actively used tools. Use a 30-day retention window minimum — long enough to recover from mistakes discovered weeks later. For critical data, extend to 90 days and use a secondary destination.

Restore testing: A backup that has never been restored is a backup you cannot trust. Once a month, restore your Gitea backup to a separate Docker Compose stack on different ports and verify the data is intact. This catches silent backup failures, script errors, and volume permission issues before they matter in a real recovery.

Security Hardening

Self-hosting means you are responsible for Gitea's security posture. The Docker Compose setup provides a functional base; production deployments need additional hardening.

Always use a reverse proxy: Never expose Gitea's internal port directly to the internet. The docker-compose.yml binds to localhost; Caddy or Nginx provides HTTPS termination. Direct HTTP access transmits credentials in plaintext. A reverse proxy also centralizes TLS management, rate limiting, and access logging.

Strong credentials: Change default passwords immediately after first login. For secrets in docker-compose environment variables, generate random values with openssl rand -base64 32 rather than reusing existing passwords.

Firewall configuration:

ufw default deny incoming
ufw allow 22/tcp
ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp
ufw enable

Internal service ports (databases, admin panels, internal APIs) should only be reachable from localhost or the Docker network, never directly from the internet.

Network isolation: Docker Compose named networks keep Gitea's services isolated from other containers on the same host. Database containers should not share networks with containers that don't need direct database access.

VPN access for sensitive services: For internal-only tools, restricting access to a VPN adds a strong second layer. Headscale is an open source Tailscale control server that puts your self-hosted stack behind a WireGuard mesh, eliminating public internet exposure for internal tools.

Update discipline: Subscribe to Gitea's GitHub releases page to receive security advisory notifications. Schedule a monthly maintenance window to pull updated images. Running outdated container images is the most common cause of self-hosted service compromises.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Container exits immediately or won't start

Check logs first — they almost always explain the failure:

docker compose logs -f gitea

Common causes: a missing required environment variable, a port already in use, or a volume permission error. Port conflicts appear as bind: address already in use. Find the conflicting process with ss -tlpn | grep PORT and either stop it or change Gitea's port mapping in docker-compose.yml.

Cannot reach the web interface

Work through this checklist:

Confirm the container is running: docker compose ps
Test locally on the server: curl -I http://localhost:PORT
If local access works but external doesn't, check your firewall: ufw status
If using a reverse proxy, verify it's running and the config is valid: caddy validate --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

Permission errors on volume mounts

Some containers run as a non-root user. If the Docker volume is owned by root, the container process cannot write to it. Find the volume's host path with docker volume inspect VOLUME_NAME, check the tool's documentation for its expected UID, and apply correct ownership:

chown -R 1000:1000 /var/lib/docker/volumes/your_volume/_data

High resource usage over time

Memory or CPU growing continuously usually indicates unconfigured log rotation, an unbound cache, or accumulated data needing pruning. Check current usage with docker stats gitea. Add resource limits in docker-compose.yml to prevent one container from starving others. For ongoing visibility into resource trends, deploy Prometheus + Grafana or Netdata.

Data disappears after container restart

Data stored in the container's writable layer — rather than a named volume — is lost when the container is removed or recreated. This happens when the volume mount path in docker-compose.yml doesn't match where the application writes data. Verify mount paths against the tool's documentation and correct the mapping. Named volumes persist across container removal; only docker compose down -v deletes them.

Keeping Gitea Updated

Gitea follows a regular release cadence. Staying current matters for security patches and compatibility. The update process with Docker Compose is straightforward:

docker compose pull          # Download updated images
docker compose up -d         # Restart with new images
docker image prune -f        # Remove old image layers (optional)

Read the changelog before major version updates. Some releases include database migrations or breaking configuration changes. For major version bumps, test in a staging environment first — run a copy of the service on different ports with the same volume data to validate the migration before touching production.

Version pinning: For stability, pin to a specific image tag in docker-compose.yml instead of latest. Update deliberately after reviewing the changelog. This trades automatic patch delivery for predictable behavior — the right call for business-critical services.

Post-update verification: After updating, confirm Gitea is functioning correctly. Most services expose a /health endpoint that returns HTTP 200 — curl it from the server or monitor it with your uptime tool.

See all open source GitHub alternatives at OSSAlt.com/alternatives/github.

The SaaS-to-Self-Hosted Migration Guide (Free PDF)