You don't really need gitlab/github for that, you can automate any kind of tests/build/deployment process with pure git hooks. I personally feel gitlab/github

You don't really need gitlab/github for that, you can automate any kind of tests/build/deployment process with pure git hooks. I personally feel gitlab/github are useful from community and collaboration aspects - there is nothing I couldn't do without github on my solo projects from purely technical point of view, it's strengths are issue tracking, pull requests, wikis, distribution of code.