Free
Free
per user per month
Best for: Individuals and small teams getting started
- 2,000 CI/CD minutes a month
- 500MB Packages storage
- community support
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Pricing guide, Developer Platform
GitHub pricing in 2026: Team vs Enterprise, and what Copilot adds
Every GitHub plan in plain numbers, why Copilot can cost more than the platform, and what to pin down before the first year ends.
The short answer
GitHub Team costs USD 4 and Enterprise USD 21 per user per month for the first 12 months, and there is a free plan. Copilot Business adds USD 19 per seat. A 50-developer team pays USD 2,400 a year on Team, or USD 13,800 once every developer also has Copilot Business, at list price.
- Cheapest paid planTeam, at USD 4 per user a month for the first 12 months.
- What most teams needTeam to start. Companies with SSO rules need Enterprise at USD 21.
- Biggest hidden costCopilot at USD 19 to USD 39 per seat, often more than the platform itself.
- Best way to saveGive Copilot to people who use it, and get year two pricing in writing.
Written by Procurement VMS Editorial Team · Reviewed by Michael, Procurement Advisor Expert · Price data dated · 9 minute read
GitHub plans and prices
GitHub's platform fee is small. What pushes the bill up today is everything stacked on top of it: Copilot seats, Advanced Security, and Actions minutes that run every time a pipeline or an AI code review fires.
This guide prices Free, Team and Enterprise from the GitHub pricing page, then adds Copilot so you can see what a working engineering team pays.
Prices below were recorded on 21 September 2026. The headline figure is the lowest price you can get for that plan. Check the official page before you buy, because vendors change prices without notice.
Team
USD4
per user per month
Best for: Engineering teams that need branch protection and reviews
- 3,000 CI/CD minutes
- 2GB Packages
- required reviewers
- code owners
- repository rules
- Codespaces with spend limits
- web support
Enterprise
USD21
per user per month
Best for: Organizations with SSO, audit and compliance needs
- 50,000 CI/CD minutes
- 50GB Packages
- SAML SSO
- SCIM
- Enterprise Managed Users
- Audit Log API
- data residency
- SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports
Copilot Business (add-on)
USD19
per user per month
Best for: Teams adding AI coding assistance
- Unlimited code completions
- 1,900 GitHub AI Credits per user per month
- overage at USD 0.01 per credit
How billing works
GitHub bills per user. The pricing page shows Team at USD 4 and Enterprise at USD 21 per user per month for the first 12 months, and it does not publish the price after that. Actions minutes and Packages storage above your plan allowance are billed as usage. Copilot is its own per-seat charge, USD 19 for Business and USD 39 for Enterprise per granted seat per month, and AI Credits beyond the pooled allowance cost USD 0.01 each.
The tier trap
SAML SSO, SCIM and the Audit Log API come only with Enterprise. The first security review usually moves every user from USD 4 to USD 21 a month, a fivefold jump.
Read this first. GitHub does not publish what Team and Enterprise cost after the first 12 months, so the scenarios below use first-year prices. The Advanced Security prices (USD 19 for Secret Protection and USD 30 for Code Security per committer) come from CloudEagle, not from GitHub's page. We could not confirm the Enterprise trial length.
GitHub cost calculator
Move the slider to see what each plan costs at your size. The figures use the list prices on this page and leave out tax, add-ons and any discount you negotiate.
What a team of 50 really pays
Fifty developers is a mid-sized engineering team. Notice how much of the bill is Copilot and security, not the platform.
| Scenario | Cost per year | Against the headline |
|---|---|---|
| Team for 12 months (50 users) | USD2,400 | Headline price |
| Team plus Copilot Business at USD 19 (50 users) | USD13,800 | +USD 11,400 |
| Enterprise for SSO plus Copilot Business, USD 40 per user (50 users) | USD24,000 | +USD 21,600 |
What each GitHub plan includes
Compare the plans side by side. Where a cell says Check page, the vendor's pricing page was not specific enough for us to fill it in.
| Feature | Free | Team | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| CI/CD minutes per month | 2,000 | 3,000 | 50,000 |
| Packages storage | 500MB | 2GB | 50GB |
| Support | Community | Web | Enterprise |
Features we could not place by plan: Required reviewers and code owners, Codespaces with spend limits, SAML SSO and SCIM, Audit Log API, Data residency and Enterprise Managed Users. Check the official page for which plan includes each one.
Which GitHub plan should you pick?
Free
Pick it if you are a small team and do not need required reviewers or branch rules on private repos.
Team
Pick it if you want protected branches, code owners and required reviews at the lowest paid price.
Enterprise
Pick it if IT requires SAML SSO, SCIM, audit log streaming or data residency.
Copilot Business
Pick it if developers will use AI coding every day. Start with a pilot group, not every seat.
Our view
GitHub Team is one of the cheapest paid developer platforms on the market, and Enterprise is fair value for companies that need SSO and audit controls. The real cost now sits in Copilot and Advanced Security, which can outweigh the platform fee several times over.
You may be overpaying if
You assign Copilot to every developer whether they use it or not, you pay for Enterprise but never use the extra Actions minutes, or you accepted year two pricing without asking for it in writing.
How to pay less for GitHub
Ask for year two in writing
The USD 4 and USD 21 prices cover the first 12 months. Lock the renewal price before you sign.
Assign Copilot by usage
Copilot is billed per granted seat. Review activity every month and take back idle seats.
Set Actions and Codespaces budgets
Spend limits stop surprise charges for minutes, storage and Codespaces.
Scope Advanced Security to active committers
It is billed per active committer, so archive stale repos and remove people who no longer commit.
Get a competing quote
GitLab Premium, Bitbucket and Azure DevOps give you credible numbers before renewal.
Check the startup and nonprofit programs
GitHub runs programs for startups and nonprofits. Check you are not eligible before paying list.
Price changes we know of
- January 2026: GitHub cut hosted runner prices by up to 39 percent and added a USD 0.002 per minute platform charge built into the new rates. A planned fee for self-hosted runners was postponed.
Renewal email you can copy
Fill in the brackets and send it about 90 days before the renewal date. It works best next to your renewal tracker.
Subject: GitHub renewal on [renewal date] Hi [account manager], Our GitHub [plan] subscription renews on [renewal date]. Over the last 90 days, [active users] of the [paid users] we pay for used it. We would like to renew with [target users] on a [term] term. Before we sign, please send: 1. The current list price and the price you are offering us, line by line. 2. The cap on any price increase at the next renewal. 3. The notice period if we want to cut users or move to another plan. We are comparing this against [alternative] and plan to decide by [decision date]. If you can offer [target discount] percent off list, or a lower price for a longer term, we are ready to talk this week. Thank you, [name] [company]
Free PDF and Excel
GitHub pricing sheet and cost model
A one page summary of every plan, plus an Excel model that adds up your own seat count.
- All plans and prices on one page
- Excel model with your seat count and yearly cost
- Renewal checklist and the email above, ready to edit
- Date of the price data and the source links
GitHub alternatives and what they cost
If this vendor does not fit, these are the closest options and what they charge.
| Alternative | Starting price | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|
| Bitbucket | USD3.65 per user per month (Standard) | You already run Jira and Confluence |
| Azure DevOps | USD6 per user per month after 5 free users (Basic) | You are a Microsoft shop and want boards, repos and pipelines together |
| GitLab | USD29 per user per month (Premium, billed annually) | You want CI/CD and planning in one self-hostable platform Read our GitLab pricing guide |
Keeping GitHub spend under control
GitHub usage bills rarely arrive as a surprise from one person. They build up as every team adds seats, minutes and security tools in its own corner. The platform fee stays small while the add-ons quietly become the budget line.
- Set budgets and alerts. Usage bills grow without anyone signing anything. Set a monthly budget and an alert at 80 percent of it.
- Tag cost to a team. Give every project an owner so a bill can be traced. Our spend management software guide covers the controls to look for.
- Review commitments before renewal. Committed spend discounts only pay off if you use the commitment. Compare 12 months of real use with the plan before you renew, using a renewal tracker.
- Count the full cost, not the list price. Support, egress, extra seats and add-ons change the real figure. Our total cost of ownership guide shows how to add it up.
Bottom line. Start on Team and move to Enterprise only when SSO and audit controls are required. Give Copilot to the developers who use it, and get year two pricing in writing.
GitHub pricing questions
How much does GitHub cost per user?
GitHub Team is USD 4 per user per month and Enterprise USD 21 per user per month for the first 12 months, according to GitHub's pricing page. The page does not publish year two pricing. Copilot Business is a separate USD 19 per granted seat per month.
Is there a free version of GitHub?
Yes. GitHub Free costs nothing and includes 2,000 CI/CD minutes and 500MB of Packages storage a month, and public repositories are free to use. It lacks Team features such as required reviewers, code owners and repository rules on private repositories.
How much is GitHub Enterprise?
Enterprise is USD 21 per user per month for the first 12 months. It adds SAML SSO, SCIM, Enterprise Managed Users, the Audit Log API, data residency and 50,000 CI/CD minutes. For 50 users that is USD 12,600 a year before Copilot.
How much does GitHub Copilot cost for a team?
Copilot Business is USD 19 and Copilot Enterprise USD 39 per granted seat per month. They include 1,900 and 3,900 AI Credits per user a month. Extra use costs USD 0.01 a credit, and code completions stay unlimited on paid plans.
Is GitHub cheaper billed annually?
GitHub does not publish an annual discount for Team or Enterprise. The per-user price is the same. You save by giving Copilot only to active users, setting Actions spend limits and negotiating year two pricing before you sign.
What is the cheapest alternative to GitHub?
Bitbucket Standard costs USD 3.65 per user per month. Azure DevOps Basic is free for the first five users and USD 6 per user after that. Both suit teams that already run Atlassian or Microsoft tools.
Sources
How we put this page together
We start from the vendor pricing page and note the date. Where a figure comes from a third party instead, we say so on the page. Procurement VMS is a ratings and comparison site, not a software vendor, and nobody paid for a place in this guide. Spot a number that has changed? Tell us on the contact page and we will check it.
Take the GitHub cost model to your renewal meeting
You get a one page PDF and an Excel model with your seat count, the plans above and a renewal checklist.
Choosing software instead of renewing? See the ranked procurement software list.