Gitlab has protected branches feature for quite sometime. I was wondering when Github is going to implement it. Finally!!!
It's a very interesting market. I think we're (we as in: GitLab, GitHub, Stash) all very aware of each others features and shortcomings, not in the least because of the intense comparison that every customer does before they decide on a purchase.
At GitLab a large part of our new features are driven by requests of customers or shortcomings that they noticed in competitors' products. In the end, we also believe this benefits everyone.