Branching Strategies Comparison
Comparison table and decision tree to choose between Trunk-Based, GitHub Flow, GitFlow and GitLab Flow.
#Summary
| Axis | Trunk-Based | GitHub Flow | GitLab Flow | GitFlow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent branches | 1 (main) |
1 (main) |
main + environments/releases |
2 (main, develop) |
| Working branch lifetime | Hours | Hours to a few days | A few days | Days to weeks |
| Delivery | Continuous | Continuous | Continuous with approvals | Planned releases |
| Parallel versions | Hard | No | Yes (release branches) | Yes |
| Requires mature CI | Yes, a lot | Yes | Yes | Less |
| Complexity | Low | Low | Medium | High |
| Merge cost | Minimal | Low | Medium | High |
| Best for | SaaS, teams with good CI | SaaS, small/medium teams | Approval-gated environments | Desktop, mobile, libraries |
#Decision tree
CSHARP
External contributors without write access? → Forking Workflow
Several supported versions at once? → Release branches (GitFlow or GitLab Flow)
Need per-environment approvals? → GitLab Flow
Deploy continuously with solid CI? → Trunk-Based
Small team, continuous deploy, want simple? → GitHub Flow#Key questions before deciding
| Question | If the answer is… | Lean towards |
|---|---|---|
| How often do you deploy? | Several times a day | Trunk-Based / GitHub Flow |
| How does the software reach the user? | Install or app store | GitFlow / release branches |
| How much do you trust your tests? | Little | Slightly longer branches, improve tests first |
| Team size? | Very large | Trunk-Based with feature flags |
| Manual QA gate or compliance? | Yes | GitLab Flow |
| Do you master feature flags? | No | GitHub Flow before pure Trunk-Based |
Rule: start with GitHub Flow and shorten branches towards Trunk-Based as your CI improves. Use GitFlow only if your product genuinely has versions.
#comparison #git