GitHub’s free users will now have unlimited access to private repositories

Microsoft-owned GitHub, the largest source-code repository in the world, has announced a GitHub Free plan, which offers users unlimited private repositories for free.

For those unaware, this is GitHub’s first major update since it was officially acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion in October last year.

While GitHub always had a free tier that developers can use to store and manage their code, the company, however, charged $7 a month for a private repository.

“For the first time, developers can use GitHub for their private projects with up to three collaborators per repository for free,” the company said in a brief blog post.

“Many developers want to use private repos to apply for a job, work on a side project, or try something out in private before releasing it publicly.

“Starting today, those scenarios, and many more, are possible on GitHub at no cost.”

GitHub Free will give unlimited private repositories with up to three collaborators per repository for free. However, if you need more than three collaborators, you would have to get a paid account, which is now called GitHub Pro. Also, GitHub Enterprise, compromising of GitHub Business Cloud and GitHub Enterprise will be unified into a single plan.

Given below is detailed information of the offerings by GitHub:

  • GitHub Free gives you unlimited private repositories with up to three collaborators per repository at no cost—and continued access to unlimited public repositories with unlimited collaborators.
  • GitHub Developer is now called GitHub Pro. It includes everything in GitHub Free, unlimited collaborators for private repositories, and advanced code review tools for private and public repositories.
  • GitHub Enterprise is the new unified product for Enterprise Cloud (formerly GitHub Business Cloud) and Enterprise Server (formerly GitHub Enterprise). Organizations that want the flexibility to use GitHub in a cloud or self-hosted configuration can now access both at one per-seat price.

Public repositories will continue to remain free and include unlimited collaborators, the company said. The new offering of unlimited private repositories will be an advantage to students and small developers.

Source: GitHub