GitHub's core code tools are now free for everyone

GitHub may have made life a little easier for programmers. The Microsoft-owned service is making its core features available to everyone for free, including teams. Your company won’t have to pay for a subscription just to manage all its code in one place, including private repositories for unlimited users. Individuals get a break, too, with unlimited collaborators available at no charge.

The new GitHub Free tier comes alongside better deals if you do need to pay. Both GitHub Pro and GitHub Team now cost $4 per month per user (down from $9). Pro now offers 2GB for storing packages and 10GB for data transfer, while Team has ditched the minimum seat requirement and 3,000 Actions minutes per month for private repositories after May 14th.

The company isn’t shy about its reasoning: it wants “every developer on Earth” to have access. GitHub and Microsoft are hoping to become a go-to resource for coders, and that means enticing people who were otherwise put off by the costs. Not that people will necessarily complain, especially during a pandemic — this could help programmers work from home, or experiment with programming in their spare hours.