GitHub licensing is the set of plans, licences and metered charges under which GitHub, Inc. sells its software development platform. Every GitHub bill combines an account plan with any other subscriptions and usage-based charges. For organizations and enterprises, the plan part of the bill depends on the number of licensed seats in use.[21] On top of the plan, GitHub sells Advanced Security and Code Quality licences counted per active committer. Actions, Packages, Codespaces and Git LFS are charged by metered usage beyond an included allowance, and Copilot is sold per seat with an allowance of AI credits.[6][2][11]
For a software asset manager, the main questions are these: which people consume a GitHub Enterprise licence, whether Cloud and Server users are deduplicated, how many active committers each security product counts, and how much metered usage falls outside the included amounts. The contract behind the account matters too. The GitHub Customer Agreement governs corporate purchases unless GitHub was bought under a Microsoft agreement. In that case the Microsoft volume licensing agreement applies, including the Microsoft Product Terms for GitHub Offerings.[12]
Product families and licensing models
| Family | Model | Metric | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Free, Pro, Team | Account plan; Team billed per user | User | This article |
| GitHub Enterprise (Cloud and Server) | Per unique user, usage-based or volume | GitHub Enterprise license | GitHub Enterprise licensing |
| Secret Protection, Code Security | Per unique active committer, metered or volume | Active committer | GitHub Enterprise licensing |
| Code Quality | Per active committer, plus Actions minutes and AI credits | Active committer | This article |
| Actions, Packages, Git LFS, Codespaces | Included allowance, then metered | GitHub Actions minute; GB-Hour | This article |
| Copilot | Per seat or personal plan, plus AI credits | Copilot seat; GitHub AI Credit | GitHub Copilot licensing |
Account plans
GitHub offers GitHub Free and GitHub Pro for personal accounts, and GitHub Free for organizations, GitHub Team and GitHub Enterprise for organizations.[1] GitHub Team is billed per user.[19] GitHub Enterprise includes two deployment options: GitHub Enterprise Cloud, hosted by GitHub, and GitHub Enterprise Server, which the customer hosts. It adds Enterprise Support, SAML single sign-on, SCIM provisioning and GitHub Connect. Enterprise Cloud also includes a 99.9% monthly uptime service level agreement and the option of Enterprise Managed Users.[1] On the pricing page GitHub lists Team at USD 4 and Enterprise from USD 21 per user per month, both marked “for the first 12 months”.[19]
Each plan includes an allowance of metered products:
| Included per month | Free | Pro | Free for organizations | Team | Enterprise Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actions minutes | 2,000 | 3,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 50,000 |
| Actions storage | 500 MB | 1 GB | 500 MB | 2 GB | 50 GB |
| Packages storage | 500 MB | 2 GB | 500 MB | 2 GB | 50 GB |
| Codespaces core hours | 120 | 180 | None | None | None |
| Git LFS storage and bandwidth | 10 GB | 10 GB | 10 GB | 250 GB | 250 GB |
Figures are from GitHub’s table of usage included with each plan.[2] GitHub offers free GitHub Team, or 25% off GitHub Enterprise Cloud, to qualifying nonprofits and libraries, and GitHub Team to verified faculty. Discounts on the plan do not extend to other subscriptions or to usage-based billing.[18]
GitHub Enterprise
GitHub uses a unique-user licensing model. The GitHub Enterprise plan entitles the customer to both Enterprise Cloud and Enterprise Server, and each user consumes one licence however many Server instances or Cloud organizations they use.[4] The monthly Enterprise Cloud bill covers the licences used, the usage of products such as Actions or Codespaces beyond the plan’s allowances, and extras such as Copilot or Advanced Security licences.[3] Deduplication across environments depends on license sync: GitHub matches users by the email addresses on their accounts.[4] There are two billing models. Under usage-based billing the customer pays each month for the licences actually consumed. Under volume or subscription billing (“GHE Unified”) the customer buys a fixed number of licences for a term.[5][4] Enterprises that started an Enterprise Cloud trial on or after 2024-08-01 are on usage-based billing.[5] Who consumes a licence, how Server licence files work, and how the two models compare are covered in GitHub Enterprise licensing.
Advanced Security and Code Quality
Since 2025-04-01, the features once sold as a single GitHub Advanced Security licence have also been available as two separate licences: GitHub Code Security and GitHub Secret Protection.[14] The contract terms license these features per “Unique Committer”. This is a licensed user of GitHub Team or GitHub Enterprise who has committed in the last 90 days to any repository with Advanced Security switched on. The customer must acquire a licence for each Unique Committer.[14] The billing documentation counts unique active committers across the whole organization or enterprise and ignores GitHub App bots. Some features are free on public repositories on GitHub.com. Private repositories on GitHub.com, and all repositories on GHE.com and Enterprise Server, need paid licences.[6] Catalog rules: Advanced Security: one license per unique active committer (90-day window) and Advanced Security over the volume limit: existing repositories keep working, new enablement blocked.
GitHub Code Quality, available on GitHub Team and Enterprise Cloud, is a standalone product with its own licence. It uses the same 90-day active committer rule and does not consume Advanced Security licences. Its scans also consume Actions minutes, and its AI features consume AI credits from the shared pool.[7]
Metered products
Actions. Actions is free for self-hosted runners, and for public repositories that use standard GitHub-hosted runners. In private repositories, each account gets a quota of free minutes and storage for GitHub-hosted runners, and usage beyond it is billed.[8] Minutes are charged to the repository owner, not to the person who triggered the workflow. Larger runners are always charged, even in public repositories.[8] GitHub rounds each job’s minutes up to the nearest whole minute and publishes a per-minute rate and billing SKU for each runner type. For example, Linux 2-core (x64) is USD 0.006, Windows 2-core (x64) USD 0.010 and macOS USD 0.062 per minute.[9] Storage accrues hourly in GB-hours. Actions artifacts and Packages share one allowance, while the Actions cache has a separate 10 GB per repository.[8] The contract terms allow Actions only for developing and testing the customer’s own applications. Only one licensed user may access an Actions virtual machine at a time.[14] Catalog rule: Actions minutes rounded up per job and charged to the repository owner.
Codespaces. A codespace incurs compute charges while it is active and storage charges while it exists. Personal accounts include a free quota. Organization and enterprise plans include none, so all their Codespaces usage is billed.[10]
Copilot. A Copilot licence is required for each user who uses Copilot. Personal plans are priced per calendar month, and Copilot Business costs USD 19 per user per month. Usage beyond the licence is measured in AI credits.[11] Seats, AI credits and data-use terms are covered in GitHub Copilot licensing.
Contracts and purchasing channels
The GitHub Customer Agreement consists of the General Terms, the Product Specific Terms for the products used, and any terms agreed on an order. Product Specific Terms prevail for their products.[12] Products are licensed, not sold, and only for the customer’s internal business purposes. The customer’s Affiliates may use them, and the customer is responsible for that use.[12] Each Subscription License is assigned to one End User, for use on any number of devices, and End User accounts may not be shared. On cloud offerings a Subscription License covers only one cloud service at a time. A person who needs a US-based and a Europe-based enterprise at the same time needs two licences.[12] Catalog rules: Volume Subscription Licenses cannot be reassigned within 90 days, A cloud Subscription License covers one cloud service at a time and Purchases under a Microsoft agreement are governed by Microsoft volume licensing terms.
Organizations and enterprises can pay for metered use through an Azure subscription. Customers using Enterprise Cloud through a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement must connect one to use Advanced Security, Codespaces or Copilot, or to go beyond the included Actions, Git LFS or Packages amounts.[17] Catalog rule: Enterprise Cloud via a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement needs an Azure subscription for metered add-ons.
Billing, renewal and support
Under the General Terms, volume-based fees are paid in full up front, and metered or invoiced fees within 30 days of the invoice date. Amounts paid are non-refundable except under the warranty and third-party claim provisions.[12] Licences expire at the end of the Subscription Term unless renewed. Either party may terminate the agreement without cause on 30 days’ notice, but subscription licences continue until the end of their term.[12] On renewal, the then-current Product Specific Terms replace the earlier ones.[12]
Metered products are billed by calendar month in UTC. Volume-based licences may be billed on the subscription anniversary instead.[15] Licences added mid-cycle are prorated. A removed user loses access immediately, but the full cycle is still billed.[15] Plan upgrades take effect and are billed immediately. Downgrades and cancellations take effect at the end of the current cycle, without proration.[16] Catalog rule: Removing users mid-cycle does not reduce the current bill. Paid plans include support: email support on Pro and Team, and GitHub Enterprise Support on Enterprise.[1] Enterprise Server customers must update the software at least once a year.[13]
Audit and compliance
The General Terms do not include a general audit clause. The GitHub Enterprise Server Product Specific Terms do. The customer must give GitHub a report generated by the software, on 30 days’ notice, verifying that its use complies with the agreement. It must also order enough licences within 30 days to cover any unlicensed use.[13] To use an Enterprise Server instance, the customer must upload a licence file that GitHub provides. For volume customers, overuse of Advanced Security committers has to be covered by buying more licences.[4][6] Catalog rule: GitHub Enterprise Server: software-generated compliance report on 30 days' notice. For audit practice in general, see software license audit.
Cloud and virtualization
GitHub licences count people, committers and metered usage, not processors or virtual machines. Enterprise Server can run in the customer’s data centre or a supported cloud under the same per-user licence as Enterprise Cloud.[4] The Enterprise Cloud allowance includes one deployment, on either GitHub.com or GHE.com, the data residency option.[4] Self-hosted Actions runners, on any infrastructure, consume no Actions minutes.[8]
Recent licensing changes
- 2024-08-01: new GitHub Enterprise Cloud trials are enrolled in usage-based billing for licences.[5]
- 2025-04-01: Advanced Security features also became available as separate Code Security and Secret Protection licences.[14]
- 2025-12-01: self-serve, metered Enterprise Cloud accounts paying by credit card moved to a billing date on the first of the month.[15]
- As published 2026-10-07: Copilot usage is metered in GitHub AI Credits, which also meter Code Quality’s AI features.[11][7]
Guides
- GitHub Enterprise licensing: unique-user counting across Enterprise Cloud and Server, usage-based and volume models, who consumes a licence, Server licence files, the compliance clause and Advanced Security committers.
- GitHub Copilot licensing: Copilot plans, seats, GitHub AI Credits and data-use terms.
- Doe v. GitHub: the class action over Copilot’s output of open-source code, listed under Litigation.
Out of scope
- GitHub Marketplace apps and GitHub Sponsors, which are paid to third parties.
- The Microsoft Product Terms for GitHub Offerings, which govern purchases under Microsoft agreements and are not summarised here.[12]
- The licences of open-source code hosted on GitHub, which are set by each repository’s owner.
- Azure DevOps licensing, which belongs to Microsoft. GitHub Enterprise Cloud customers who manage users with Entra ID can use Azure DevOps without additional per-user cost.[20]