What is GitHub?
GitHub is an AI-powered cloud platform for version control, collaborative development, CI/CD automation, security, and project management. It provides tools for teams to build, secure, and deploy software.
GitHub pricing
Plans, per-tier features and add-ons, dated and linked to live pricing. Pricing changes often; always verify at source before you rely on it.
Free tier + Team at $4/user/month. 30-day free trial for Enterprise including Copilot and Advanced Security.
Free
FreeThe basics for individuals and organizations
- packages_storage
- 500MB (public repos only)
- ci_cd_minutes_month
- 2,000 (public repos only)
- Unlimited public/private repositories
- Dependabot security and version updates
- 2,000 CI/CD minutes/month (public repositories)
- 500MB Packages storage (public repositories)
- Issues & Projects
- Community support
Team
Advanced collaboration for individuals and organizations
- Everything in Free
- GitHub Codespaces access (compute $0.18/hr, storage $0.07/GB/month)
- Repository rules
- Multiple reviewers in pull requests
Enterprise
Contact salesEnterprise-grade AI-powered developer platform
Add-ons
- GitHub Advanced Security
- Copilot for Business
- Premium Support
What GitHub does
The capabilities that matter for version control, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.
- VCS model
- Distributed
- Underlying VCS supported (Git / Mercurial / SVN / Perforce / multiple)
- Git
- Hosting
- Cloud only
- Code review
- PR / MR
- Large-file / binary handling
- -
- Monorepo scale (partial clone / sparse / VFS)
- -
- Built-in CI
- ✓
- Access control granularity
- Branch
- Federation / decentralisation (ActivityPub / email)
- -
- Open-source core
- Closed
- Self-managed license model
- -
- API surface (REST / GraphQL / webhooks)
- REST, GraphQL
- SSO / SAML / SCIM
- -
- Signed commits / supply-chain (GPG / SSH / sigstore)
- -
Platform & deployment
Independently observed- CLI
- Web
- Cloud / SaaS
Integrations (2)
Independently observed- GitHub Marketplace
- MCP Registry
GitHub alternatives
Other version control we track, ranked by the same independent score.
- GitA free and open source distributed version control systemlow · 6%
- ForgejoBeyond coding. We forge.low · 3%
- MercurialWork easier, Work fasterlow · 8%
- GerritThe open source, patchset based, code review platform for Git-based developmentlow · 29%
- FossilA Coherent Software Configuration Management Systemlow · 14%
- Apache SubversionEnterprise-class centralized version control for the masseslow · 10%
The Vioscale score: one lens on the evidence
Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for GitHub, not the verdict.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Security Posture | 75 | 13.00 | 975.0 | ✓ |
| Pricing Transparency | 100 | 8.00 | 800.0 | ✓ |
| Price Level | 80 | 6.00 | 480.0 | ✓ |
| Capabilities | 29 | 16.00 | 462.5 | ✓ |
| Reliability | 50 | 8.00 | 400.0 | ✓ |
| Integrations | 14 | 8.00 | 109.8 | ✓ |
| Github Stars | 0 | 5.00 | 0.0 | - |
| Github Activity | 0 | 18.00 | 0.0 | - |
| Release Cadence | 0 | 10.00 | 0.0 | - |
| Package Downloads | 0 | 26.00 | 0.0 | - |
| Stackoverflow Activity | 0 | 12.00 | 0.0 | - |
Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.
All data & sourcesshow ↓
Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.
Features
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | {"hosting":"cloud","vcs_model":"distributed","api_surface":"REST, GraphQL","built_in_ci":true,"code_review":"pr_mr","access_control":"branch","underlying_vcs":"Git","open_source_core":"closed"} | mediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 60% |
Integrations
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | mediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 60% |
Pricing
Reliability
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Status page | Yes | mediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 60% |