---
layout: markdown_page
title: "Gartner Magic Quadrant for Application Release Orchestration 2018"
---

## UPDATE: GitLab named Challenger

Gartner has named GitLab a Challenger in the 2019 Magic Quadrant for Application Release Orchestration. You can visit the [2019 ARO MQ commentary page]](/analysts/gartner-aro19/) to read more.

Commentary on the 2018 MQ is below. 

## GitLab and the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Application Release Orchestration 2018*
This page represents how Gartner views our application release orchestration capabilities in relation to the larger market and how we're working with that information to build a better product. It also provides Gartner with ongoing context for how our product is developing in relation to how they see the market.

![Gartner MQ ARO](/images/analysts/gartner-app-release.jpg){: .small}

### Gartner's Key Takeaways on the ARO Market at time of report publication:

**Strategic Planning Assumption**
By 2023, 75% of global enterprises will have implemented at least one application release orchestration (ARO) solution, which is a substantial increase from fewer than 20% today.

**Market Definition/Description**
ARO tools provide a combination of deployment automation, pipeline and environment management, and release orchestration capabilities to simultaneously improve the quality, velocity and governance of application releases. ARO tools enable enterprises to scale release activities across multiple, diverse and multigenerational teams (e.g., DevOps), technologies, development methodologies (agile, etc.), delivery patterns (e.g., continuous), pipelines, processes and their supporting toolchains.

### Gartner's take on GitLab at time of report publication:

In this report, GitLab is ranked as a “niche player." The placement is based on GitLab’s focus on forward-looking, next-generation technologies like Kubernetes, while lacking broad and robust support for application release orchestration using legacy IT platforms.

Gartner notes GitLab strengths, such as all functionality contained in one product so there is no confusion as to which features customers are getting.

### Lessons Learned and Future Improvements

While GitLab has maturity in areas such as Source Code Management (SCM) and [Continuous Integration (CI)](/analysts/forrester-ci/), ARO is a relatively new space for GitLab. Other tools in the report have been creating this functionality for years. Being on the MQ at this early a stage is an indicator that GitLab is now in this space and moving in the right direction. While other vendors may make it into many reports with many different products, GitLab is the only vendor who has be listed in multiple reports with the same product, which strongly re-enforces GitLab's message of using a single application for the entire DevOps lifecycle.

One area of functionality highlighted by the report that GitLab lacks is a release dashboard. Based on feedback from this report and customers, we plan to create [releases as first class entities](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/32819) as well as a [release orchestration dashboard](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/3277).

Interested in the full report? [Download here](/resources/gartner-aro/)

To learn more, view GitLab's [full vision for Release Orchestration](/direction/release/release_orchestration/).

**Note:** Magic Quadrant for Application Release Orchestration, Colin Fletcher, Laurie Wurster, Christopher Little, 10 September 2018.
{: .note .font-small .margin-top40}

This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from GitLab.
{: .note .font-small}

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
{: .note .font-small}