How Loha compares
Where Loha sits today against the platforms teams usually evaluate against: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and CircleCI. We avoid scoring tables, since they oversimplify, and instead lay out the differences plainly.
What's the same
If you're coming from GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or CircleCI, Loha will feel familiar:
- YAML pipeline-as-code committed in your repo (
.loha.yml). - Per-step containers with isolated environments.
- Job DAG with explicit
needs:dependencies. - Matrix builds: one job fans out across every combination of up to 5 axes (at most 20 combinations). See Matrix builds.
- Triggers on push, pull request, and manual dispatch.
- Workspace-scoped secrets with per-step injection.
- Real-time log streaming in the dashboard.
- Webhook-driven build triggers.
- Caching task with key + restore-keys semantics.
- Artifact upload / download.
- Built-in vulnerability scanning (Trivy).
- Image build → registry push to a private workspace registry.
- Multi-host Git support. GitLab, GitHub, and Gitea repositories all connect the same way (a personal access token), with equivalent build triggering, commit/PR status reporting, and pipeline-editor commit-back support.
How Loha differs
Where Loha makes a different choice on purpose:
- Sovereign by default. Every component runs in a Thai datacenter. Source code, secrets, images, and logs never leave the country during normal operation. Useful when PDPA, BoT, or government procurement requires it.
- No foreign cloud in the data path. Loha is a managed cloud platform operated in-country; there's no SaaS dependency in another jurisdiction handling your code, secrets, or images.
- Open architecture. Every component in the data path is open-source. No proprietary closed-source service sits between you and your builds.
- Hardened separation of duties. The internet-facing dashboard cannot reach the build environment directly; every privileged operation goes through an audited internal boundary. Useful for auditors and security reviewers.
- Rootless image builds out of the box. No Docker-in-Docker, no privileged containers in workspace boundaries.
- Bilingual product surface. Thai and English first-class, with terminology choices that match the local market.
Where Loha doesn't yet match
The roadmap names target versions for each.
| Capability | GHA / GitLab CI / CircleCI | Loha today | Loha planned |
|---|---|---|---|
Reusable workflows / extends: | Yes | No | v0.7.0 |
| Approval gates between jobs | Yes | No | v0.7.0 |
| OIDC-issued cloud credentials | Yes | No | v0.8.0 |
| PR preview environments | Partial / via plugins | No | v0.8.0 |
| Customer-authored marketplace tasks | Yes | No (16 official tasks only) | post-v1.0.0 |
| Multi-region failover | Yes | No (single-region in Thailand by design) | by design |
| Foreign-cloud / offshore data option | Yes | No (data stays in Thailand by design) | by design |
| GitHub App install (org-wide, tokenless) | Yes | Partial / feature-flagged: PAT-based GitHub repos are fully supported today; only the App-install flow itself (no per-repo token) remains partial | v0.7.0 |
When Loha is a strong fit
- Your data must stay in Thailand for PDPA, BoT, or contractual reasons.
- You want better CI/runner ergonomics without managing runner infrastructure.
- You value a small, open, inspectable platform over a feature-maximalist SaaS.
- The features in the "doesn't yet match" table aren't blockers for your near-term needs.
This page is updated on every minor release as capabilities ship.