Developer collaboration
GitHub and GitLab, side by side
Compare the captured plan prices and the limits that can affect a development team.
US captures from November 5, 2026
Paid plans
Start with the billing terms
The captured prices have different stated billing terms, so compare them with the quote and features your team needs.
GitHub
Team
$4 per user / month
The captured page does not specify a billing interval for this displayed price. GitHub’s documentation says organizations can choose monthly or yearly billing.
Captured November 5, 2026
View GitHub pricing
GitLab.com
Premium
$29 per user / month
The captured Premium price is billed annually. Additional seats, usage and taxes can affect the bill.
Captured November 5, 2026
View GitLab pricingBefore you upgrade
What the free plans allow
Private collaboration
GitHub Free lists unlimited collaborators on private repositories.
GitLab.com Free limits private top-level groups to five users. Public top-level groups and self-managed Free are excluded from that limit.
CI usage
GitHub Free lists 2,000 CI/CD minutes. Its billing guidance describes a shared compute allowance: the figure is a standard Linux runner equivalent, and other runners have different rates.
GitLab.com Free lists 400 compute minutes per month for shared runners. Usage is weighted by runner and project type; its own runners do not use the shared-runner quota.
These allowances have different scopes and billing rules. Check your repository visibility, runner types and usage before comparing them.
Seats and overages
Who adds to the bill?
Count contractors and occasional contributors as well as your core team before estimating costs.
GitHub Team
Organization members and outside collaborators on private repositories consume seats. An outside collaborator with access to several repositories in the same organization is counted once; pending private-repository collaborator invitations also use a seat.
When an organization adds seats, GitHub shows the prorated cost for the rest of its billing cycle. See who uses a license and how to manage seats.
GitLab.com Premium
A user in multiple projects or subgroups under the same subscribed top-level group is counted once. GitLab measures the maximum number of billable users during the billing period; exceeding purchased seats can result in an overage.
Eligible subscriptions reconcile quarterly, charging for extra seats on a prorated basis for the remaining term. Annual true-up instead charges the full annual subscription fee for users added during the year. Eligibility depends on the subscription and purchase channel; ask which applies to your quote.
Restricted access can prevent new billable users from being added when seats run out. See seat usage and overage billing.