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Last checked October 15, 2026

Best Free Alternatives to GitHub (2026)

GitHub is the forge plus the workflow around it. A replacement is another forge. Actions compatibility is the cell that is easy to overstate.

DevelopersSmall teamsPrice unverified

What GitHub costs

Paid plans exist. A current dollar figure is not copied into this listing.

GitHub website·Pricing source

Ranked by Drop-in score

How we rank

#1 is the highest-scoring alternative that is not sponsored. A featured listing, when one is sold, is labeled and sits after #1.

  1. 89
    #1Open sourceReview notes

    Forgejo

    A community forge, GPL-3.0 since v9.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · GPL-3.0-or-later

    Self-hostLinux
    Cost and detailsMigration guideWebsite
  2. 84
    #2Open sourceReview notes

    Gitea

    A lightweight Git forge.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · MIT

    Self-hostLinux
    Cost and detailsWebsite
  3. 79
    #3Open sourceReview notes

    GitLab Community Edition

    The MIT edition of GitLab, without EE.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · MIT (community)

    WebSelf-host
    Cost and detailsWebsite
  4. 58
    #4Open sourceReview notes

    SourceHut

    Git hosting composed of small services.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · GPL (confirm the service you deploy)

    WebSelf-host
    Cost and detailsWebsite
  5. 42
    #5Open sourceReview notes

    Radicle

    A peer-to-peer code forge.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · MIT OR Apache-2.0

    LinuxMac
    Cost and detailsWebsite

Feature by feature

Full is the whole job. Partial is a real version with a gap. Missing means it does not do this. Not checked counts as zero in the score.

FeatureForgejo#1 · 89Gitea#2 · 84GitLab Community Edition#3 · 79SourceHut#4 · 58Radicle#5 · 42
Git hostingWeight 10FullFullFullFullFull
Pull or merge requestsWeight 8FullFullFullFullPartial
IssuesWeight 8FullFullFullPartialMissing
GitHub Actions-compatible CIWeight 8PartialPartialPartialMissingMissing
A project wikiWeight 4FullPartialMissingMissingPartial

Real cost

Forgejo

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Moderate. A single binary or container, plus a database if you outgrow SQLite.

Gitea

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Moderate. Plan on Docker or a small VM. A hosted plan, when one exists, is separate from the free self-host.

GitLab Community Edition

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Hard. Official install is heavy. A small team should budget RAM, not a toy VM.

SourceHut

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Moderate. Plan on Docker or a small VM. A hosted plan, when one exists, is separate from the free self-host.

Radicle

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Moderate. You run a node. There is no single box that is 'the GitHub'.

Top pair

Migrate from GitHub to Forgejo

Mirror the Git repositories.

Read the migration guide

Questions