GitHub review
Code hosting, pull requests and CI in one place
- GitHub (Microsoft)
- Free + paid plans
- iPhone & iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Web
Does it deserve #2?
The verdict
GitHub is the default home for open source and many company codebases, and its tools are hard to beat. Pull requests, code review, Issues and Projects cover the full workflow, and Actions runs your builds and deployments. Copilot adds AI code review and a coding agent that can open pull requests for you. Private repos are free. The catch is growing complexity, and an outage can stall your whole team.
- Pull requests and code review
- GitHub Actions for CI/CD
- Copilot coding agent
- Issues and Projects boards
Score breakdown
Overall = features 30% · design 20% · speed 20% · value 15% · privacy 15%. Why these weights?
What we like
- Industry-standard home for code and open source
- Actions automates builds, tests and deploys
- Generous free plan with unlimited private repos
What could be better
- Feature sprawl makes settings hard to navigate
- Outages can stall your whole team's workflow
Developers and teams who want hosting, code review and CI in one place
you want to self-host your repositories for free on your own servers
Questions about GitHub
Is GitHub free?
Yes, the free plan includes unlimited public and private repositories, plus a monthly allowance of Actions minutes and Codespaces hours. Team and Enterprise plans add advanced permissions, security and support.
What is the difference between Git and GitHub?
Git is the free, open-source version control tool that tracks changes on your machine. GitHub is a hosted service built around Git that adds collaboration, code review, automation and project tracking.
What are the best alternatives to GitHub?
The closest alternatives are Linear, Visual Studio Code and Raycast. See all of them ranked on our GitHub alternatives page.
Where does GitHub rank?
GitHub ranks #2 of 8 in our Developer Tools ranking, with an overall score of 9.0 out of 10.