Airbnb
Large (~7,300)
GitLab
Large (~2,500)
Best For
Airbnb
Best for: Engineers who want Live Anywhere flexibility with strong comp and no pay cuts
GitLab
Best for: Engineers who want a fully remote, async-first culture with radical transparency
Ratings
AirbnbGitLab
4.1
3.9
Overall
4.0
3.9
Work-Life Balance
4.2
4.0
Culture & Values
4.2
3.8
Comp & Benefits
3.5
3.5
Senior Mgmt
3.5
3.7
Career Opps
👍 80% Recommend
👤 87% CEO Approval (Brian Chesky)
👍 75% Recommend
👤 70% CEO Approval (Sid Sijbrandij)
Culture Values
Airbnb only
🌈 Diverse & Inclusive💎 Strong Comp & Equity
GitLab only
📡 Async-First🪟 Transparent
Shared
🌐 Remote-Friendly⚖️ Work-Life Balance🔓 Open Source
Pros & Cons
Airbnb
- Live and Work Anywhere policy — genuine remote flexibility with no pay cuts
- Strong compensation and benefits with quarterly travel credits and educational stipends
- Limited career growth — senior roles often filled externally, promotions are slow
- Post-IPO cultural shift — increasing bureaucracy and internal politics at mid-to-senior levels
GitLab
- Best-in-class all-remote culture — truly async-first with genuine flexibility
- Radically transparent company with a public handbook and open processes
- Revenue organization has seen quota chaos and low morale
- Some leadership instability at the C-suite level
Bottom Line
Airbnb
Choose Airbnb if you want genuine remote flexibility and travel perks — but promotions are slow and bureaucracy is growing.
GitLab
Choose GitLab if you want the gold standard of all-remote work with public handbook and async processes — but expect bureaucracy at scale and comp below top-tier.
Open Roles
Airbnb — 244 jobs
💻 Engineering
76
📊 Data
23
📋 Product
14
🎧 Support
14
🧠 ML / AI
12
⚖️ Legal
11
⚙️ Operations
11
📣 Marketing
10
💼 Sales / GTM
9
💰 Finance
3
👤 HR / People
3
🎨 Design
2
GitLab — 195 jobs
💻 Engineering
79
💼 Sales / GTM
67
📋 Product
10
⚖️ Legal
5
📊 Data
4
🎨 Design
4
📣 Marketing
4
👤 HR / People
2
⚙️ Operations
2
Summary
Airbnb scores 4.1/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 4.0 work-life balance rating. GitLab scores 3.9/5.0 overall with a 3.9 WLB. That’s a 0.2-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Remote-Friendly, Work-Life Balance, Open Source. Airbnb also emphasizes Diverse & Inclusive, Strong Comp & Equity. GitLab also emphasizes Async-First, Transparent.
On the hiring front, Airbnb has 244 open roles and GitLab has 195 open roles.