Free Git Hosting
Which Git hosts a startup can keep its private repositories and review code on for free today, how many users and how much CI or storage the free plan allows, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, read from each provider's own page.
Free allowances read on each provider's own pages, all checked on or after . Git hosts change their free plans from time to time: confirm the terms on the provider's page before you rely on it.
Git hosts a startup can use for free today include GitHub (Unlimited public and private repos), Gitea (Free, MIT-licensed, self-hosted), Azure Repos (Unlimited private repos, 5 users free), Forgejo (Free and open-source software, always), and Codeberg (Free Git hosting for open-source projects). Each of the 8 free plans below links to the provider's page that states it, with its main limit, the users or storage it allows, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs.
Every startup's code needs a home with private repositories, pull requests and code review. The big hosted Git services have free plans for small teams, and open-source Git servers are free to run on your own machine.
The headline rarely tells you how far it goes. Free plans cap users or CI minutes, some free hosts are for open-source projects only, and self-hosted servers are free but yours to run and maintain. Each host below shows what is free, its main limit, the users and storage it allows, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, quoted from the provider's own page with the date we read it.
Which hosts we picked and the order they appear in are our editorial choices; the terms are the providers'. Some of these providers pay us a referral commission when someone signs up through our link: those links are labeled, and they play no part in which hosts are listed or where.
Hosted Git services with a free plan
Keep private repositories in the cloud, free for small teams.
- 1
GitHub
Private repos and CI for a team, free
GitHub's Free plan includes unlimited public and private repositories and 2,000 CI/CD minutes a month. The first paid plan, Team, costs $4 per user a month.
- First paid plan
- Team: $4 per user a month (source: github.com)
- 2
Azure Repos
Small teams already on Azure DevOps
Azure Repos in the Basic plan gives unlimited private Git repositories, and the first 5 users are free. Each user after that costs $6 a month.
- Users and storage
- First 5 users free (source: azure.microsoft.com)
Start free at MicrosoftTerms read on azure.microsoft.com on Azure Repos: the free allowance and how to start - 3
Codeberg
Open-source projects that want free hosting
Codeberg's Git hosting is for free and open-source projects. Codeberg does not offer private hosting services, so keep commercial private code elsewhere.
Open-source Git servers you can self-host
Run your own Git server, free.
- 1
Gitea
Teams that want a Git server they run themselves
Gitea's self-hosted edition is free under the MIT license, with unlimited users and repositories. Support on the free version is community support only.
- Users and storage
- Unlimited users and repositories (source: about.gitea.com)
- 2
Forgejo
A forge you host yourself, free software only
Forgejo will always be Free and Open Source Software. You download it to self-host your own forge on your own server.
- 3
OneDev
CI/CD, issues and code search on one server
OneDev's Community Edition is free to start. Community support runs through its issue tracker, and Enterprise Edition costs $6 per user a month.
- First paid plan
- Enterprise: $6 per user a month (source: onedev.io)
- 4
Gogs
A small Git server you run yourself
Gogs is a simple, self-hosted Git service, MIT-licensed since 2014, with all of its source code public. You run it on your own infrastructure.
- 5
GitBucket
A GitHub-style Git server on Java
GitBucket is open source under the Apache License Version 2.0. You download it and run it with Java on your own server.
Start free at GitBucketTerms read on gitbucket.github.io on GitBucket: the free allowance and how to start
Also useful for cloud and hosting
Referral links, picked for fit and ordered by fit (70%) and what a signup earns us (30%), at no cost to you. They never change this page's ranking.
Compare the top options
How this comparison is built
The list covers Git hosting services a founder can use for free today without applying to a program. The order and the "best for" notes are our editorial reading of each host's terms. Every term comes from the host's own pricing or help page on the date shown, never from a third-party list; follow each link for the full conditions. A cap on users or collaborators, CI minutes or storage, advanced reviews and security kept for paid plans can matter more than the headline, so the comparison quotes them wherever the provider states them. Some of these hosts pay StartupPerks a referral commission, and their links are labeled as referral links; that decides neither whether nor where a host appears, and no host pays for a placement on this page.
Read the full methodologyCommon questions
What is the best free Git hosting for a startup?
By the terms each provider states, GitHub Free includes unlimited public and private repositories with 2,000 CI/CD minutes a month, and Azure Repos includes unlimited private repositories free for the first 5 users.
Is GitHub free for private repositories?
Yes. GitHub's free plan includes unlimited public and private repositories with 2,000 CI/CD minutes a month. Team is $4 per user a month.
Can a company use Codeberg for free?
Codeberg is free Git hosting for open-source projects and says it does not offer private hosting services; its private storage is limited to 100 MB for contributors to free software.
Can I host my own Git server for free?
Yes. Gitea and Gogs are free under the MIT license, Forgejo is free and open-source software, GitBucket is open source under Apache 2.0, and OneDev's Community Edition is free to start.
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