Is GitHub worth the price?
GitHub Team at $4/user/month is the cheapest mainstream Git hosting for small teams, but the sticker price hides a sprawling add-on ecosystem.
A 5-developer team paying $240/year for Team seats can easily spend $11,400/year on Copilot Business alone, dwarfing the platform cost. The January 2026 Actions pricing overhaul cut hosted-runner rates by ~40% but introduced a $0.002/minute platform charge on self-hosted runners — a new cost for teams that previously paid nothing for CI/CD compute.
Enterprise at $21/user/month remains the gate for SAML SSO, audit logs, and Advanced Security (now unbundled into Secret Protection at $19/committer/month and Code Security at $30/committer/month). For most 5-person teams, Team + Copilot Business is the realistic baseline.
Pricing Plans
14-day Free TrialFree
Free
For individuals and small teams
- Unlimited public and private repos
- 2,000 CI/CD minutes/month
- 500MB Packages storage
- Dependabot security updates
- Issues and Projects
- Community support
Team
$4//user/month
For growing teams and organizations
- Everything in Free
- 3,000 CI/CD minutes/month
- 2GB Packages storage
- Repository rules and code owners
- Required reviewers and draft PRs
- GitHub Codespaces
- Web-based support
Enterprise
$21//user/month
For enterprises with advanced security needs
- Everything in Team
- 50,000 CI/CD minutes/month
- 50GB Packages storage
- SAML SSO and SCIM provisioning
- Enterprise Managed Users
- Data residency (EU, Australia)
- Advanced audit log and API
- Premium 24/7 support with SLA
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
Copilot Business at $19/user/month costs more than GitHub Team itself ($4/user/month) — for 5 devs, Copilot adds $1,140/year vs $240/year for the platform
Actions minutes burn fast on macOS ($0.062/min, ~10x Linux cost) — a 20-minute macOS build costs $1.24 vs $0.12 on Linux. The 3,000 Team minutes deplete in ~48 macOS builds/month
LFS is $5/month per 50 GB data pack (bandwidth + storage). Teams with large assets (game dev, ML models) can accumulate multiple packs — 200 GB of LFS costs $20/month
Packages storage overage is $0.25/GB/month beyond the 2 GB Team allowance. Docker image registries grow fast — 20 GB of container images costs $4.50/month extra
Self-hosted runners now incur $0.002/min platform charge (since March 2026) — a team running 10,000 self-hosted minutes/month pays $20/month that was previously free
Advanced Security is unbundled
Secret Protection ($19/committer/month) + Code Security ($30/committer/month) = $49/committer/month for the full suite. For 5 active committers: $2,940/year
Codespaces compute at $0.18/hour adds up — 4 hours/day per dev for 22 workdays = $79/dev/month ($4,752/year for a 5-person team)
Enterprise plan ($21/user/month) is required for SAML SSO — a hard gate that forces a 5.25x price jump from Team
Which Plan Do You Need?
Teams already embedded in the GitHub ecosystem (Issues, Actions, Packages, Copilot)
Open-source maintainers (unlimited free public repos, free Actions on public repos)
Small teams that need affordable Git hosting with CI/CD included
Organizations that want Copilot AI tightly integrated with their code host
Our Recommendation
startup
Team at $4/user/month + Copilot Business at $19/user/month is the sweet spot. For 5 devs: $1,440/year. Skip Advanced Security until you handle sensitive data or face compliance requirements.
enterprise
Enterprise at $21/user is starting price. At 100+ seats, negotiate 15-30% off. Budget for Copilot Enterprise ($39/user) and Advanced Security ($49/committer) separately — these can exceed the platform cost.
freelancer
Free plan covers solo work. Add Copilot Pro ($10/month) for AI assistance. Total: $120/year.
small Business
The Team-to-Enterprise jump ($4 → $21/user) is steep but unavoidable if you need SSO. For 5 devs, Enterprise + Copilot Business = $3,600/year. Negotiate — GitHub discounts Enterprise for annual commits.
Team Cost Scenario
Team of 5, 12 months: Baseline with Copilot. Without Copilot: $300/year. Add $2,940/year for full Advanced Security.
| lfs | $5 x 12 = $60 (1 data pack) |
| team Plan | $4 x 5 x 12 = $240 |
| actions Overage | ~$0 (3,000 min/month covers most teams on Linux) |
| copilot Business | $19 x 5 x 12 = $1,140 |
| packages Overage | ~$0 (2 GB sufficient for small teams) |
| Annual Total | $1,440 |
Recent Pricing Changes
January 2026
Actions hosted-runner prices cut ~40% across all sizes. New $0.002/min platform charge on self-hosted runners (effective March 2026).
Advanced Security unbundled into Secret Protection ($19) and Code Security ($30) per committer/month, now available on Team plan (previously Enterprise-only).
How GitHub Compares to Competitors
GitLab Premium ($29/user/month billed annually) costs 7.25x more than GitHub Team ($4/user) but bundles CI/CD compute minutes (10,000/month), built-in security scanning, and project management — no add-ons needed. A 5-dev team on GitLab Premium pays $1,740/year for platform alone vs GitHub Team at $240/year, but adding Copilot Business ($1,140) and one LFS pack ($60) to GitHub narrows the gap to $1,440 vs $1,740. Bitbucket Standard ($3.30/user/month or $16.50 flat for up to 5 users) is cheapest at $198/year, but its CI/CD (2,000 build minutes on Standard) and ecosystem are thinner. Bitbucket Premium ($6.60/user/month) adds deployment permissions and 3,500 minutes/user. For teams wanting an all-in-one DevOps platform, GitLab wins on integration. For teams that want best-of-breed tools (GitHub for code, separate CI, separate security), GitHub Team is cheaper as a foundation.
GitHub Pricing FAQ
How much does GitHub cost?
GitHub starts at $4/user/month on the Team plan. It offers 2 paid tiers ranging from $4/user/month up to $21/user/month. A free plan is also available with limited features.
Does GitHub have a free plan?
Yes. GitHub offers a free plan called "Free". It includes: Unlimited public and private repos, 2,000 CI/CD minutes/month, 500MB Packages storage.
Does GitHub offer a free trial?
Yes, GitHub offers a free trial lasting 14 days. No credit card is typically required to start the trial, though this may vary.
What is the cheapest GitHub paid plan?
The cheapest paid plan for GitHub is "Team" at $4/user/month. Key features include: Everything in Free, 3,000 CI/CD minutes/month, 2GB Packages storage.
Is there a cheaper alternative to GitHub?
Yes. Popular alternatives to GitHub include GitLab, Bitbucket, SourceForge, Gitea. Free alternatives include GitLab, Bitbucket, SourceForge. Compare them side-by-side on Toolradar.
How much does GitHub cost for a team of 10?
For a team of 10 users on the Team plan, GitHub costs about $40/month, or $480/year. Larger teams may qualify for volume discounts on annual billing.
Cheaper alternatives to GitHub
5 of 5 direct competitors below offer a free plan. Per-seat pricing varies up to 60% across this set.
