Home to 180M+ developers worldwide
From open source projects to enterprise software built by the Fortune 100, GitHub is the home for software development. Join 180M+ developers building the future, together.
Why teams choose GitHub
The gold standard for building software: Choosing GitHub means choosing the industry standard—ensuring developers spend their first day shipping code, not learning a new interface. Issues, pull requests, code review—all in the place your team already wants to work. Explore GitHub Enterprise.
Automation without the overhead: If you can dream it, Actions can ship it. Access thousands of pre-built CI/CD workflows to build, test, and deploy in minutes. Spend less time managing your pipeline and more time writing what matters. Explore GitHub Actions.
Security at every step: Secrets blocked at commit. Vulnerabilities flagged in pull requests. AI-powered fixes in real time. Security lives inside your workflow—so protection never becomes the reason your team slows down. Explore GitHub Advanced Security.
Agents integrated across the SDLC: Whether you're planning your next project or delegating complex refactors to custom agents, GitHub Copilot handles the execution so your team can focus on the architecture of what’s next. Explore GitHub Copilot.
What our customers are saying
GitHub keeps us up to speed with the industry's best tools. We want new hires to know GitHub is in our toolchain—it makes them excited to join us.
Head of Emerging Tech - American Airlines
It's like night and day. It's the collaboration, it's the sharing, it's the community. It's all because of GitHub.
Director of Build Platform - Autodesk
One of the big benefits of using GitHub for CI/CD and security automation is that we don't have to build, deploy, or maintain additional tools.
Software Engineer - Mercari
We're a developer-first organization and we live and breathe GitHub. It's not just a developer platform for us.
Chief Security Officer - Hashicorp
GitHub vs GitLab
Use case | GitHub | GitLab |
Desktop, mobile, CLI | Native desktop app for macOS and Windows Native mobile apps (iOS, Android) | Web-focused experience No-native mobile app (third-party only) GitLab CLI available |
Planning, tracking, and project management | GitHub Projects and Issues enable seamless planning and management | Comparable native capabilities |
Collaboration | Pull requests, Discussions, Code review for easy collaboration | Comparable native capabilities |
Application security | Native core capabilities based on GitHub's own IP with GitHub Advanced Security Integrations via SARIF format | Native capabilities with GitLab Secure and GitLab Duo. Integrated DevSecOps platform with native scanners (SAST, DAST, Container Scanning) and AI vulnerability explanation |
Automation and CI/CD | GitHub Actions for CI/CD Tens of thousands of pre-built Actions (automations) available in GitHub Marketplace | Comparable native capabilities Integrated CI/CD with Auto DevOps |
AI-powered development | Agent-native development with GitHub Copilot AI agents integrated across the SDLC Accessible through IDE, Copilot CLI, and github.com | AI programming assistance with GitLab Duo Less mature and comprehensive AI capabilities |
Cloud development environments | Cloud-hosted developer environments with GitHub Codespaces | Isolated environments via GitLab Workspaces |
Platform security and compliance | Native capabilities Data residency available See full certification inventory at GitHub Trust Center | Comparable native capabilities |
Scalability and reliability | Ntive capabilities Hosts the world's largest code graph with 180+ million developers 99.90% uptime guarantee SLA | Comparable native capabilities 50+ million registered users SLA available for Premium/Ultimate tiers (typically 99.5% - 99.9%) |
GitHub vs Bitbucket (Atlassian)
Use case | GitHub | Bitbucket |
Desktop, mobile, CLI | Native desktop app for macOS and Windows Native mobile apps (iOS, Android) | Sourcetree (desktop app) for macOS and Windows. No official native mobile app No official native CLI |
Planning, tracking, and project management | GitHub Projects and Issues enable seamless planning and management | Designed to integrate deeply with Jira Software for advanced planning and tracking Separate licensing for Jira |
Collaboration | Pull requests, Discussions, Code review for easy collaboration | Comparable native capabilities |
Application security | Native core capabilities based on GitHub's own IP with GitHub Advanced Security Integrations via SARIF format | Native capabilities via Bitbucket Security (Secret scanning, etc.) Third-party integrations for SAST/DAST |
Automation and CI/CD | GitHub Actions for CI/CD Tens of thousands of pre-built Actions (automations) available in GitHub Marketplace | Comparable native capabilities via Bitbucket Pipelines Extensible via Bitbucket Pipes and Atlassian Marketplace apps |
AI powered development | Agent-native development with GitHub Copilot AI agents integrated across the SDLC Accessible through IDE, Copilot CLI, and github.com | AI assistance with Atlassian Intelligence/Rovo Dev for code review, PR summaries, and chat Less mature and comprehensive AI capabilities |
Cloud development environments | Cloud-hosted developer environments with GitHub Codespaces | No native cloud dev environment Third-party integrations |
Platform security and compliance | Native capabilities Data residency available See full certification inventory at GitHub Trust Center | Comparable native capabilities |
Scalability and reliability | Native capabilities Hosts the world's largest code graph with 180+ million developers 99.90% uptime guarantee SLA | Comparable native capabilities 15 million developers 99.90% uptime SLA available for Premium, 99.95% for Enterprise |
GitHub vs Jenkins
Use case | GitHub | Jenkins |
Automation and CI/CD | GitHub Actions for CI/CD Tens of thousands of pre-built Actions (automations) available in GitHub Marketplace | Supports full CI and CD workflows 2000+ community-contributed plugins in the Jenkins Plugin Marketplace to extend functionality |
Setup and maintenance | Instant setup: Define workflows in YAML directly in the repo No build server maintenance required | Requires setting up a master node, configuring agents, and maintaining plugins/updates manually |
Deployment models | Cloud-hosted runners: Fully managed GitHub-hosted runners (Linux, Windows, macOS, ARM) Self-hosted: Connect your own runners for control | Self-hosted only for the open-source version (requires installing on your own servers/k8s). CloudBees CI is the enterprise/managed alternative |
Pipeline configuration | YAML-based Visual graph view and integrated editor with autocomplete | Groovy-based (Jenkinsfile) or UI-based Offers "Declarative" and "Scripted" pipelines |
Security | Integrated Secret Management (OIDC, encrypted secrets). Native supply chain security (Dependabot, CodeQL) RBAC included | User responsible for patching Secrets via plugins or external vaults RBAC via plugins |
Scalability | GitHub handles orchestration Self-hosted runners can autoscale via Kubernetes actions | Requires configuring auto-scaling agents (e.g., via Kubernetes plugin) and managing controller load |