Since its inception, the attitude of GitHub toward repositories was to allow unlimited public repositories, while make private ones paying. Whether it’s a consequence of Microsoft’s acquisition or not, this stance changed recently: GitHub announced private repositories were also made free, for up to 3 contributors.
There was a lot of celebration on the Web, but not from my side. This move looks more like a (desperate?) move to keep developers on GitHub. Whether that’s the case or not, I’d like to use the occasion to compare the free-tier offering of the 3 major Git-as-a-Service providers, namely: Microsoft GitHub, Atlassian BitBucket and GitLab.
 |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
Unlimited public repositories | |||
Unlimited private repositories | |||
Max. users per public repo | ∞ | 5 | ∞ |
Max. users per private repo | 3 | 5 | ∞ |
Open Source | |||
Bug tracker | (relies on JIRA) | ||
Project management | |||
Build pipeline | (relies on third-party e.g. Travis CI) | ||
Pages website | (GitHub Pages) | (GitLab Pages) |
Of course, there are other criteria to consider when choosing your GaaS provider.
Some years ago, I chose GitLab to build and host this very blog based on some of those. Nothing in GitHub’s new offering makes me change my mind.