Overview
GitHub is a Git repository hosting platform owned by Microsoft. It is the default home for most open source projects and is widely used by companies for private code.
Teams use it as the center of their development workflow: pull requests for review, GitHub Actions for builds and deployments, Issues and Projects for planning, and built-in dependency and secret scanning.
Key features
- Pull requestsReview changes with inline comments, required approvals and branch protection rules.
- GitHub ActionsRun CI/CD workflows defined in YAML on hosted or self-hosted runners.
- Issues and ProjectsTrack work with issues, labels, milestones and table or board views.
- Security featuresDependabot alerts, secret scanning and code scanning help catch vulnerabilities.
- Packages and PagesPublish packages and container images, and host static sites from a repository.
Best for
- Teams that want code hosting, review and CI in one place
- Open source maintainers who need visibility and contributor workflows
- Organizations standardizing on a widely supported developer platform
Pricing
Freemium. Free plan with unlimited public and private repositories; paid plans are billed per user, with usage-based charges for Actions minutes and storage beyond included amounts.
| Plan | What you get |
|---|---|
| Free | Unlimited repositories with core collaboration features and included Actions minutes. |
| Team | Per-user plan adding protected branches on private repos, code owners and more Actions minutes. |
| Enterprise | SAML SSO, audit logs, compliance controls and cloud or self-hosted deployment. |
Prices and plan limits change often. Check the official website for current pricing. Last reviewed Oct 3, 2026.
Pros & cons
Pros
- Largest developer community and ecosystem of integrations
- Actions marketplace covers most common CI/CD needs
- Strong free plan for individuals and small teams
Cons
- Advanced security features are sold as paid add-ons
- Projects is less capable than dedicated planning tools for complex roadmaps
- Actions costs can grow quickly for large or macOS-heavy build pipelines
GitHub alternatives
-
SaaS Freemium Visit
Linear
Fast, keyboard-driven issue tracking and project planning for product teams.
-
Dev Tools Freemium Visit
Vercel
Frontend cloud for deploying web apps with previews, serverless functions and a CDN.
-
Dev Tools Freemium Visit
Sentry
Error tracking and performance monitoring for application developers.
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Try GitHub
Free plan with unlimited public and private repositories; paid plans are billed per user, with usage-based charges for Actions minutes and storage beyond included amounts.