Comparison · Self-hosted vs Managed

Crucible vs GitHub Pull Requests

GitHub Pull Requests is $4/user/mo (Team). Crucible is a self-hosted alternative at $0.99/mo. Here's when each makes sense.

Try Crucible Free Crucible overview
CrucibleGitHub Pull Requests
HostingSelf-hosted, your infraManaged SaaS (cloud only)
Data locationYour server, your diskGitHub Pull Requests's cloud
Free tier3 reposPaid only
Pro pricing$0.99/mo$4/user/mo (Team)
DependenciesNone (single binary + SQLite)N/A (managed)
Setup time~30 secondsAccount signup
DashboardBuilt-in at /uiCloud dashboard
LicenseBSL 1.1Proprietary SaaS
When to use Crucible

Pick Crucible when you want simplicity and ownership.

Crucible is a single Go binary with embedded SQLite. Install it with one command, and you are running in under a minute. Your data stays on your server.

curl -fsSL https://stockyard.dev/crucible/install.sh | sh
Install Crucible Crucible docs

GitHub Pull Requests makes sense when you need more.

GitHub PRs are the standard for code review. If your code is on GitHub, PRs are the natural choice. Crucible is for teams using self-hosted Git (Gitea, GitLab) that want a lightweight review tool without GitHub's ecosystem.
The trade-off

Before choosing between Crucible and GitHub Pull Requests, consider what happens when you need to leave. GitHub Pull Requests exports vary in completeness — some fields, some history, some metadata may not come with you. Crucible stores everything in a single SQLite file. Leaving means copying that file. This is not a hypothetical concern: the average team changes tools every 18 to 24 months.

Architecturally, Crucible and GitHub Pull Requests could not be more different. GitHub Pull Requests runs on distributed cloud infrastructure with load balancers, managed databases, CDNs, and redundancy across availability zones. Crucible is a single process writing to a single file on a single disk. That sounds fragile until you realize that SQLite handles more concurrent readers than most web applications will ever need, and WAL mode means reads never block writes.

Migration path

Switching from GitHub Pull Requests to Crucible is straightforward for most teams. Export your data from GitHub Pull Requests (most services offer CSV or JSON export), then POST each record to Crucible's API. A migration script that reads the export and writes to /api/ endpoints typically takes less than 50 lines of code. The reverse migration is equally simple — Crucible's SQLite database is a standard file you can query with any SQLite client.

FAQ
Is Crucible a GitHub PR alternative?
GitHub PRs are tightly integrated with GitHub. Crucible is standalone code review that works with any Git host.
Does Crucible integrate with GitHub?
Crucible connects to any Git repo via URL. For GitHub-native features like code owners and checks, use GitHub PRs.
Related

Crucible overview

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Self-hosted code review tool in 30 seconds.

Single binary. Free to start. $0.99/mo for Pro.

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