Bitbucket: what is it used for and what are its benefits?

Bitbucket is one of the favorite solutions for many developers. It provides a place to manage Git repositories and enables collaboration with other team members. In this way, it speeds up and facilitates the entire work process and ensures the best results. What benefits does Bitbucket provide and why should you try it?

What is Bitbucket?

Git Bitbucket is a hosting service based on the popular Git system, owned by Atlassian. Bitbucket offers both free accounts and commercial plans with unlimited storage.

Bitbucket was founded in 2008 by Jesper Nøhr. Thanks to its ease of use and the fact that multiple features can streamline many work tasks, Bitbucket has garnered a lot of attention in a short amount of time.

Two years later, in 2010, Bitbucket was acquired by Atlassian. The latter has added several features, including support for Git Large File Storage (LFS), which appeared in 2016.

Bitbucket Services

Bitbucket provides developers with three basic services:

• Bitbucket Cloud
• Bitbucket Server
• Bitbucket Data Center

Bitbucket Cloud

The core service is Bitbucket Cloud, which in the past was referred to simply as Bitbucket. This is a service written in Python using the Django web framework. Bitbucket Cloud is generally used for code review. The service supports the following features:

• Download applications with code checking and comments
• Two-step verification
• Merger checks
• List of allowed IP addresses
• Code search
• Wiki pages for each project
• Support for various accessories
• Tracking problems
• Intelligent mirroring
• Integration with tools such as Jira, Crucible, Bamboo, Jenkins and HipChat
• Deep integration with Trello
• Third-party integration that ensures the entire development process is much more efficient
• REST API for creating third-party applications that can use any programming language
• Git Large File Storage (LFS), an extension that virtually “shrinks” the large files in your repository so they don’t make it unnecessarily difficult to work with or store additional files

Atlassian has a number of Bitbucket Cloud alternatives on offer, which differ from each other not only in the features they provide, but also in price.

• Free – a free option suitable for up to 5 users. The features are quite limited in this alternative, so they may not be sufficient for senior Java developers. Conversely, in the context of programming for beginners, it may be a good choice.
• Standard – a paid option that can be used by an unlimited number of developers. It represents a golden middle way for beginners and advanced.
• Premium – this is an option suitable for larger teams and professionals who require a range of features.

Bitbucket Server

Bitbucket Server, formerly known as Stash, is a combination of a Git server and a web interface written in Java and built using Apache Maven. The service allows users to perform basic Git operations such as checking in or merging code. In addition, it controls the writing of the code and access to read it.

Bitbucket Server also supports integration with other Atlassian tools such as Jira or Open DevOps.

Bitbucket Server, like Bitbucket Data Center, is a commercial software product. Currently, Atlassian is only providing a trial version. After it’s over, you’ll need to get the premium version of Bitbucket Data Center.

Bitbucket Data Center

Bitbucket also offers a Data Center alternative that’s ideal for large teams and companies. Unlike the basic Bitbucket, it provides much higher performance, high availability and so-called Intelligent mirroring. This feature improves cloning speed, which is especially appreciated by teams working with large repositories.

Bitbucket Data Center is only available as a paid service. Its price depends on how many members in the team will use the system. You can choose a license for a minimum of 25 users and a maximum of 30 thousand users.

Bitbucket features

Bitbucket has a number of features that make the work of many developers easier. The main ones include:

Bitbucket CI/CD

With Bitbucket, you can create powerful, automated workflows. The whole setup process is quick and easy. With templates, you can do it in two steps.

Once automation has been applied, you can monitor how the individual processes are progressing step by step. If something doesn’t suit you, you can change and update the procedure at any time.

Cloud Security

Cloud Security focuses on securing your sensitive data. Includes security settings that require two-factor authentication when logging in. In addition, it supports security keys with the FIDO U2F standard.

Cloud Security also encrypts repositories based on AES-256 if you’re not moving them and they’re in the same location. If you move repositories, Cloud Security encrypts them based on TLS 1.2+.

DevSecOps

You can also use DevSecOps, a service that focuses on monitoring weak spots, to ensure your team’s performance. That way you can avoid leaking sensitive information or important data.

Similar to DevOps, DevSecOps is an organizational and technical methodology that combines project management workflows with automated IT tools. DevSecOps integrates active security audits and security testing into agile development and DevOps workflows, ensuring that security is already part of the workflow. It is not only applied to the finished product.

Using DevSecOps is simple and fast. Even a beginner can do it. The service provides you with clear information and statistics about your security.

You can also combine DevSecOps with CI/CD by using CI/CD(continuous integration and continuous delivery) to introduce regular security testing of your workflow.

Code review

Checking the code can be complicated and time-consuming in some cases. Bitbucket therefore provides you with a handy service called Code review. This service checks the code for you and provides detailed comments on errors or other complications. This way it won’t take you hours to fix the code, but just a few minutes.

This feature also has the advantage of a one-page display. In other words, you don’t have to switch between tabs when you fix the code. Everything in one place.

Bitbucket documentation

Bitbucket is especially easy to use thanks to its detailed documentation, which makes it easy to find out everything you need to know in a matter of seconds. You can also find a lot of important information directly on the product on the official website. There are practical steps on how to get started with Bitbucket. There is also a clear introduction to the product.

You can also find expert articles on the web, e-books or practical videos on YouTube or Facebook to help you study Bitbucket.

Bitbucket tutorial

Using Bitbucket is fast. All you have to do is register on the official Bitbucket.org website, create a username for Bitbucket Cloud and create your first storage or import it into the system. Then you can start working.

Explore the different features and options Bitbucket gives you. If you are unsure about something, contact support or read the detailed documentation.

Bitbucket vs GitHub

In addition to Bitbucket, you may use other programs or services as part of your development. These include, for example, GitHub, which shares some similar features with Bitbucket, but they are generally quite different solutions.

GitHub is a hosting service that is designed for software development and version control through Git. Github provides several features for developers. These include, for example, error tracking, task management and access control.

Most developers use GitHub as a hosting platform to develop open-source projects. In addition, many people use it as a free storage space for private repositories. GitHub started providing this service in January 2019.

GitHub has several features. The main ones include:

• Documentation,
• wiki for each project,
• tracking errors,
• storing version history,
• emoticon support,
• integration of directories,
• creation of nested task lists in files,
• visualization of geospatial data,
• browsing PDF documents.

GitHub has a lot of great benefits that make it useful for a variety of tasks. But let’s get down to the differences themselves. How are GitHub and Bitbucket most different?

Third-party extensions and integrations

Individual services provide a number of extensions and applications that improve their functionality and usefulness. In terms of quantity, Bitbucket has the edge over GitHub. The Atlassian Marketplace contains more than 2,300 apps that you can use in Bitbucket.

GitHub Market provides fewer apps (just over 90), but on the other hand it has “GitHub Actions” which are easy to integrate into GitHub and provide great functionality. Although the lower number of applications may signal that Github will be lacking something, for many developers who prefer programming in Java or another language, it will be enough.

User interface

In terms of user interface, Bitbucket is the winner for many, with its clean and intuitive environment. This makes the work easier for both beginners and developers with a lot of experience.

GitHub can generally be said to be not too complicated, but at times it is less clear and confusing.

Wiki pages

Another difference that is important to mention is the wiki pages. These can often facilitate collaboration and communication between team members. Bitbucket provides wiki pages for each of the repositories, and you can set whether the pages are private or public.

GitHub only provides wiki pages for free public repositories. So if you use private storage, you won’t have access to the wiki.

Community and support

Bitbucket is mainly aimed at organisations and businesses. GitHub is the exact opposite. It is one of the largest systems used by millions of people around the world. In addition to the many features, many developers enjoy the large open-source community, which can help you efficiently in case of any problems.

Price

Price is also a big difference between the services. In the case of Bitbucket, it varies depending on which alternative you choose. If you choose Bitbucket Cloud, in addition to the free option, you can also choose Standard for $3 per month per user or Premium for $6 per month per user.

If you opt for the Data Center, the cost starts at $2,300 per year for 25 members.

The price of GitHub also depends on the alternative you choose. In addition to the free option, the Teampackage is available for $44 per year per user and Enterprise for $231 per year per user.

Try Bitbucket for yourself

Bitbucket is a great solution for many developers, companies and large teams. Learn how to work with it and simplify the whole process of your work. Operating a service such as Bitbucket is also a great addition to your CV. If you’re interested in working in IT, take a look at our job offers and see if you can find something for yourself.