What is a primary benefit of using Canary Deployments in GitLab?

Using Canary Deployments in GitLab offers the significant benefit of enabling changes to be deployed to a small group of users initially. This approach allows teams to monitor performance and user feedback before rolling out the changes to a larger audience. By exposing only a subset of users to the new features or updates at first, teams can mitigate risks associated with deploying untested code in a live environment.

This staged rollout gives developers the opportunity to catch and address any unforeseen issues or bugs, and it can help in gathering valuable insights on how the new changes are performing. This process is essential in maintaining application stability and ensuring a smooth transition for all users.

In contrast, the other options do not accurately describe the benefits of Canary Deployments. Complete application downtime would be detrimental to user experience and service availability; version control for Docker images relates more to the management of containerized applications rather than deployment strategies; and simplifying user management is not a core feature associated with the concept of Canary Deployments. Hence, the focus on targeted user experiences makes Canary Deployments particularly valuable in modern development practices.