Question 1

Is GitHub free?

Accepted Answer

Yes, GitHub has a permanent free plan — it is not a trial. The free tier includes unlimited public and private repositories, unlimited collaborators, 500 MB of Packages storage, and 2,000 GitHub Actions CI/CD minutes per month for private repositories. Public repositories get unlimited free Actions minutes. It also includes a limited GitHub Copilot AI tier with 2,000 code completions and 50 chat requests per month. There is no time limit on the free plan. The paid Team plan starts at $4/user/month and adds protected branches, required reviewers, and more CI/CD minutes.

Question 2

Does GitHub work for remote teams across APAC timezones?

Accepted Answer

GitHub is well-suited to async remote teams because its core workflow — pull requests, code review comments, and issue tracking — is entirely asynchronous. A developer in Manila can open a pull request at midnight and a reviewer in Singapore can respond the following morning with no meetings required. GitHub Actions runs CI pipelines automatically on code push, so deployments can happen without anyone being online. The platform has no timezone-specific features built in, but that is by design — the pull request thread is the asynchronous communication channel. The main APAC-specific limitation is that customer support is not staffed for APAC business hours on standard plans, and data is stored in the US by default.

Question 3

How does GitHub compare to GitLab?

Accepted Answer

GitHub and GitLab both handle Git hosting, CI/CD, and code review, but they are built on different philosophies. GitHub is an open ecosystem — it has the world's largest developer community, the most integrations via its Marketplace, and the lowest entry price ($4/user/month for the Team plan versus GitLab's $21/user/month for its entry paid tier). Most developers you hire will already know GitHub, and most tutorials assume you are using it. GitLab's advantage is that it is a more self-contained all-in-one DevOps platform with built-in security scanning, container registry, and stronger self-hosting options. GitLab Community Edition can be self-hosted free of charge, which GitHub cannot. For most startups and remote dev teams in Southeast Asia, GitHub is the practical default. GitLab makes more sense if you have strict data sovereignty requirements or need a single platform that handles the entire DevOps lifecycle without connecting external tools.

Question 4

What are GitHub's pricing plans in 2026?

Accepted Answer

GitHub has three plans as of March 2026, all priced in USD. Free: $0 — includes unlimited repos, 2,000 Actions minutes/month for private repos, 500 MB storage, and basic Copilot access. Team: $4/user/month — adds protected branches, required reviewers, 3,000 Actions minutes/month, and GitHub Support. Enterprise: $21/user/month — adds SAML SSO, 50,000 Actions minutes/month, audit log streaming, data residency options, and enterprise security features. GitHub Copilot is a separate add-on: the free tier is included, Pro costs $10/month for individuals, and Business/Enterprise tiers cost more with team policy controls. GitHub Actions runner pricing changed in January 2026 with rates reduced by up to 39% for GitHub-hosted runners, but self-hosted runner usage in private repositories now incurs a $0.002/minute platform charge from March 2026.

Question 5

Is GitHub worth it for small teams?

Accepted Answer

Yes — the free tier alone is genuinely useful for most small teams. You get unlimited private repos, unlimited collaborators, and 2,000 CI/CD minutes per month at no cost. A small team of five doing moderate CI work will likely stay within the free limits for months. If you need protected branches, required reviewers, and a cleaner security model, the Team plan at $4/user/month is one of the cheapest paid developer tools on the market. A 5-person team pays $20/month — that is hard to argue against. The main consideration for small teams in Malaysia, Singapore, or Indonesia is the USD-only billing and any FX fees your bank charges on top of that.

GitHub

Overview

What is GitHub?

Core Features

How Remote Teams Use GitHub

Who Gets the Most Out of GitHub?

Pricing

Frequently Asked Questions