In this guide
Quick answer
GitHub Team costs $4 and Enterprise $21 per user per month for the first 12 months, with a free plan. Copilot Business adds $19 per seat. A 50-user team pays $2,400 a year on Team, or $13,800 once every user also has Copilot Business, at list price.
Key takeaways
- Cheapest paid option: Team at $4 per user per month for the first 12 months.
- Most teams need Team; companies with SSO rules need Enterprise at $21.
- Biggest hidden cost: Copilot at $19 to $39 per seat, often more than the platform.
- Best way to save: assign Copilot by real usage and get year two pricing in writing.
GitHub's platform fee is modest. What drives the bill today is everything added on top: Copilot seats, Advanced Security, and Actions minutes that run every time a pipeline or AI code review fires.
This guide prices Free, Team and Enterprise from GitHub's official page, then adds Copilot so you can see what a real engineering team pays.
How much does GitHub cost?
Free
$0
2,000 CI/CD minutes a month, 500MB Packages storage, community support
Team
$4
3,000 CI/CD minutes, 2GB Packages, required reviewers, code owners, repository rules, Codespaces with spend limits, web support
Enterprise
$21
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)
$19
Unlimited code completions, 1,900 GitHub AI Credits per user per month, overage at $0.01 per credit
GitHub (Free, Team, Enterprise, plus Copilot add-on). Source: github.com, Prices verified 21 September 2026
GitHub bills per user, and the pricing page shows Team at $4 and Enterprise at $21 per user per month for the first 12 months, with the year two price not published on the page. Actions minutes and Packages storage above the plan allowance are billed as usage. Copilot is a separate per-seat charge ($19 Business, $39 Enterprise per granted seat per month) and AI Credits used beyond the pooled allowance cost $0.01 each.
What each GitHub plan includes
| Feature | Free | Team | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| CI/CD minutes per month | 2,000 | 3,000 | 50,000 |
| Packages storage | 500MB | 2GB | 50GB |
| Required reviewers and code owners | Not included | Included | Included |
| Codespaces with spend limits | Not included | Included | Included |
| SAML SSO and SCIM | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Audit Log API | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Data residency and Enterprise Managed Users | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Support | Community | Web | Enterprise |
GitHub cost calculator
Your estimate
—
per year at list price
- per user per month
- —
- Billed
- —
- 3 years
- —
List prices only. Taxes, custom quotes and negotiated discounts are not included.
Hidden costs to budget for
| Scenario | Annual cost | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Team for 12 months (50 users) | $2,400 | Headline price |
| Team plus Copilot Business at $19 (50 users) | $13,800 | +$11,400 |
| Enterprise for SSO plus Copilot Business, $40 per user (50 users) | $24,000 | +$21,600 |
- Copilot seats. Copilot Business is $19 and Copilot Enterprise $39 per granted seat per month, often more than the GitHub plan itself.
- AI Credit overages. Copilot Business includes 1,900 AI Credits per user per month; usage beyond the pool costs $0.01 per credit.
- Year two pricing. Team and Enterprise list prices apply to the first 12 months, and the page does not publish what follows.
- Actions minutes and storage. Usage above 3,000 minutes on Team or 50,000 on Enterprise is billed. From 1 June 2026, Copilot code review workflows also consume Actions minutes.
- Advanced Security. Secret Protection and Code Security are sold separately per active committer; CloudEagle lists them at $19 and $30 per committer per month.
- Codespaces. Cloud dev environments are metered; Team adds spend limit controls, so set one.
How GitHub pricing has changed
- January 2026 GitHub cut hosted runner prices by up to 39%, with a new $0.002 per minute platform charge built into the rates. A planned self-hosted runner fee was postponed. Source
- 21 September 2026 Checked against the official pricing page. Prices above are current.
Which GitHub plan should you choose?
- Free. Choose if you are a small team and do not need required reviewers or branch rules on private repos.
- Team. Choose if you need protected branches, code owners and required reviews at the lowest paid price.
- Enterprise. Choose if IT requires SAML SSO, SCIM, audit log streaming or data residency.
- Copilot Business. Choose if developers will use AI coding daily; start with a pilot group, not every seat.
Is GitHub worth the price?
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 add-ons, which can outweigh the platform fee several times over.
You are likely overpaying if: You assign Copilot to every developer regardless of use, pay Enterprise only for minutes you do not use, or accepted year two pricing without asking for it in writing.
How to pay less for GitHub
- Ask for year two in writing. The $4 and $21 prices cover the first 12 months, so lock renewal pricing before you sign.
- Assign Copilot by usage. Copilot is billed per granted seat; review activity monthly and reclaim idle seats.
- Set Actions and Codespaces budgets. Spend limits stop surprise usage charges on minutes, storage and Codespaces.
- Scope Advanced Security to active committers. GHAS is billed per active committer, so archive stale repos and remove inactive contributors.
- Get a competing quote. GitLab Premium, Bitbucket and Azure DevOps give you credible numbers before renewal.
- Use startup and nonprofit programs. GitHub runs programs for startups and nonprofits; check eligibility before paying list.
Copy-ready renewal email
Hi [Account manager], Our GitHub [plan] renewal is on [renewal date]. We have [active users] active users of [licensed users], and [active Copilot users] of [Copilot seats] Copilot seats used Copilot in the last 30 days. We want to renew at [target users] users and [target Copilot seats] Copilot seats, with year two pricing confirmed in writing and any increase capped at [cap]. We are also evaluating GitLab Premium. Can you share your best offer by [date]?
GitHub alternatives and what they cost
| Tool | Entry price | Cheaper when |
|---|---|---|
| Bitbucket | $3.65 per user per month (Standard) | You already run Jira and Confluence |
| Azure DevOps | $6 per user per month after 5 free users (Basic) | You are a Microsoft shop and want boards, repos and pipelines together |
| GitLab | $29 per user per month (Premium, billed annually) | You want CI/CD and planning in one self-hostable platform |
The bigger picture: why GitHub bills drift
GitHub spend drifts because engineering owns the org, while finance only sees the invoice. Copilot seats are assigned in bulk, new repos add Actions usage, and the first-year price quietly changes at renewal without anyone reviewing it.
Usage spikes surprise finance
GitHub bills move with usage, and nobody owns the budget line.
Spend by vendor, team and category against budget, synced with your ERP.
Shadow accounts on cards
Engineers open new GitHub accounts or workspaces outside procurement.
Purchase requests with approvals
New tools and upgrades are requested and approved before anyone buys.
Commitments renew unnoticed
Annual commits and plan renewals roll over before anyone reviews usage.
Contract management with renewal alerts
Commit terms, renewal dates and owners tracked with alerts ahead of time.
Variable invoices are hard to check
Usage invoices rarely match the original PO amount.
AP automation with PO matching
Invoices matched to POs and receipts, with exceptions held before payment.
Security reviews start from zero
SOC 2 reports and DPAs for GitHub live in someone's inbox.
Vendor onboarding and compliance
Vendor documents collected once, tracked for expiry and kept audit-ready.
The bottom line
Team is the right starting point, and Enterprise is justified once SSO and audit controls are required. The discipline is in the add-ons: assign Copilot by usage and confirm renewal pricing before year two. Zapro runs that renewal habit across every tool, so the GitHub date never sneaks up.
GitHub pricing FAQs
How much does GitHub cost per user?
GitHub Team costs $4 per user per month and Enterprise $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 $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, with usage on public repositories free. It lacks Team features such as required reviewers, code owners and repository rules on private repositories.
How much is GitHub Enterprise?
GitHub Enterprise is $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 $12,600 a year before Copilot.
How much does GitHub Copilot cost for a team?
Copilot Business costs $19 and Copilot Enterprise $39 per granted seat per month. They include 1,900 and 3,900 GitHub AI Credits per user per month; extra usage costs $0.01 per credit. 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. Savings come from assigning 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 $3.65 per user per month and is free for up to 5 users. Azure DevOps Basic is free for the first 5 users, then $6 per user per month. Both fit teams already on Atlassian or Microsoft tools.