Codeberg vs GitHub
Written by Mateus Rocha ·
Edited by Sebastiaan Smits ·
Fact-checked by Priya Nandakumar ·
Published September 30, 2026 · Updated September 30, 2026
Codeberg is free hosting for open source projects only, run by a German non-profit whose members vote on its rules. GitHub is a commercial host owned by Microsoft that takes any code, public or private, and has the largest contributor pool. Maintainers who care about governance choose Codeberg; companies and projects chasing contributors choose GitHub.
Side by side
 Codeberg |  GitHub | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Free non-profit hosting for open source only | The default Git host, owned by Microsoft |
| Best for | Open source maintainers, never proprietary company code | Teams that want the biggest ecosystem and easiest hiring |
| Headquarters | Germany | United States |
| Pricing model | Open source | Per user / month |
| Pricing | Free at any size for projects that qualify; there is no paid tier and no commercial plan to buy. | Free plan covers unlimited public and private repositories; Team is $4 per user per month; Enterprise starts at $21 per user per month, published. |
| Free option | Open source | Free plan |
| Place in our version control software ranking | #15 of 15 | #4 of 15 |
| Website | codeberg.org | github.com |
Both are reviewed in full in Best Version Control Software in 2026. Position in that ranking can be paid for; the wording of a review or of this comparison cannot. Placement disclosure.
Which one to choose
Choose Codeberg if
your project is free and open source, you want it hosted by a member-governed non-profit with a bylaw against AI training on your code, and you can live with shared CI capacity.
Codeberg, #15 in the ranking · Visit Codeberg →
Choose GitHub if
you host proprietary code, need private repositories or enterprise controls, or want your open source project where the most contributors and third-party integrations already are.
GitHub, #4 in the ranking · Visit GitHub →
Where they differ
What you are allowed to host
Codeberg's terms of use limit it to free and open source projects, so a company's private, proprietary codebase is not eligible at any price. GitHub's free plan covers unlimited public and private repositories, with Team at $4 and Enterprise from $21 per user per month. For anything closed-source, the comparison ends here and GitHub is the only candidate.
Edge: GitHub
Who makes the rules
Codeberg is a registered association whose members elect the board and vote on rules, and in 2026 they adopted a bylaw that the platform will not train AI tools on hosted code or data. GitHub is a US subsidiary of Microsoft, within reach of US legal process wherever the customer sits. Maintainers who want a host without shareholders get that from Codeberg.
Edge: Codeberg
CI capacity under load
Codeberg provides Woodpecker CI on shared capacity, which queues at busy times. GitHub-hosted runners scale past that, and the Actions marketplace supplies prebuilt steps a team can install rather than write. A project with heavy or time-sensitive builds will notice the difference; a small library with occasional pipelines may never hit Codeberg's queue.
Edge: GitHub
Reaching contributors
More engineers already hold a GitHub account and more open source projects already live there than on any competing host, which lowers the barrier for a drive-by contribution. Codeberg offers the working parts, including issues, a wiki, Pages with custom domains and a container registry, all free at any size. What it does not bring is that built-in audience.
Edge: GitHub
Tally: Codeberg 1, GitHub 3, even 0.
When neither fits
A company with proprietary code that does not want a US-owned host fits neither. Gitoro is a Danish SaaS platform aimed at small teams, and Forgejo is open source software governed by a non-profit that you run on your own server, with no vendor to call.
See Gitoro and Forgejo among the 15 products in Best Version Control Software in 2026.
Questions and answers
Can a company use Codeberg instead of GitHub for private code?
No. Codeberg's terms of use restrict it to free and open source projects, and there is no paid tier or commercial plan to buy. GitHub's free plan already covers unlimited private repositories, with paid Team and Enterprise tiers above it.
Does Codeberg or GitHub train AI on hosted code?
Codeberg's members wrote a bylaw in 2026 stating the platform will not train AI tools on the code or data it hosts. Our data records no equivalent commitment for GitHub and does not describe GitHub's practice, so check GitHub's current terms directly.
Is Codeberg really free compared with GitHub?
Yes, for projects that qualify: hosting, issues, a container registry and Pages with free HTTPS cost nothing at any size. GitHub is also free for public and private repositories, charging $4 per user for Team and from $21 for Enterprise features such as SSO and an audit log.