Choose Azure DevOps if you want an all-in-one suite for planning, code, builds, tests and packages, with Agile boards and test plans built in and the first five Basic users free. Choose GitHub if your developers live in pull requests, open source and GitHub Actions, and you want the biggest developer community plus Copilot. The two are converging: Azure DevOps' own plans page sells GitHub Advanced Security and GitHub Copilot code review for Azure DevOps.
I read Microsoft's what is Azure DevOps page, product page and plans page, and GitHub's plans documentation, features, plans and about pages, to compare what each one bundles and what the free tiers cover.
Azure DevOps and GitHub side by side
| Azure DevOps | GitHub | |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | Azure Boards with Agile tools, Kanban, backlogs and sprints | Issues and Projects |
| Code | Azure Repos, unlimited private Git or TFVC | Unlimited public and private repositories |
| CI/CD | Azure Pipelines | GitHub Actions |
| Testing and packages | Azure Test Plans and Azure Artifacts | GitHub Packages |
| On premises | Azure DevOps Server | Not covered on the pages I read |
| Community | Not stated | 225M+ developers and 800M+ repositories |
| Free option (as of October 2026) | First 5 Basic users, 1,800 Microsoft-hosted pipeline minutes a month, 2 GiB Artifacts | GitHub Free, 2,000 Actions minutes a month and 500 MB Packages |
Two routes to the same jobs
Both tools cover the full software lifecycle, but they're organised differently, and that's what you'll notice first. Microsoft describes Azure DevOps as a cohesive suite of integrated services: Azure Boards for planning, Azure Repos for code, Azure Pipelines for builds and releases, Azure Test Plans and Azure Artifacts for packages. You can use them together or pick individual services, and there's an Azure DevOps Server version for teams who need it on their own infrastructure.
GitHub is built around the repository and the developer. Its plans page explains free and paid plans for personal accounts, organisations and enterprises, and its about page counts 225M+ developers, 4M+ organisations and 90% of the Fortune 100. That network is the reason it's hard to ignore: contributors, open source dependencies and hiring all happen there.
What Azure DevOps bundles for teams
Azure Boards is where Azure DevOps stands out, with work items such as user stories, bugs and tasks, sprint planning, burndown charts and velocity tracking, and workflows you can customise to your process. Azure Repos offers unlimited private Git repositories with branch policies and pull request reviews, and Azure Pipelines runs CI/CD. The Azure DevOps plans page also lists GitHub Advanced Security for Azure DevOps, so you can add secret scanning with push protection to Azure Repos.
What the free plans include
On the Azure DevOps side, the Basic plan gives the first 5 users free, Azure Pipelines includes 1 Microsoft-hosted job with 1,800 minutes a month and 1 self-hosted job with unlimited minutes, and Azure Artifacts includes 2 GiB free per organisation. GitHub Free for personal accounts gives unlimited collaborators on unlimited public repositories with a full feature set, unlimited private repositories with a limited feature set, 2,000 GitHub Actions minutes a month, 500 MB of Packages storage and 120 Codespaces core hours a month.
Questions to settle it
- Do project managers need rich boards, sprints and test plans in the same tool? Azure DevOps.
- Do you publish open source or work with outside contributors? GitHub.
- Must the system run on your own servers? Azure DevOps Server is an option.
- Is your team small and starting fresh? Both free plans cover it; GitHub has more developers already signed in.
- Want security scanning on existing Azure Repos? Azure DevOps sells GitHub Advanced Security for it.
If you're building the team that'll run this, my guide to finding DevOps talent for a growing business helps, and these Kanban tools for visualising task progress show what good boards look like.
My advice on Azure DevOps or GitHub
For a new software team, I'd start on GitHub: it's where developers already are, Actions covers most build needs and the free plan is generous. Choose Azure DevOps when planning and testing matter as much as code, when you need Azure DevOps Server on premises, or when your organisation already standardised on it. If you're torn, keep code on GitHub and use whichever planning tool your project managers prefer; the two link up.
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Do you make developer tools? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place in comparisons like this one.
Frequently asked questions
Is Azure DevOps free?
Azure DevOps gives the first 5 Basic users free, plus 1 Microsoft-hosted pipeline job with 1,800 minutes a month, 1 self-hosted job and 2 GiB of Azure Artifacts.
Is GitHub free for private repositories?
Yes. GitHub Free for personal accounts includes unlimited private repositories with a limited feature set, plus unlimited public repositories.
What is the difference between Azure Pipelines and GitHub Actions?
Both run CI/CD. Azure Pipelines is part of the Azure DevOps suite, while GitHub Actions is built into GitHub, with 2,000 minutes a month on GitHub Free.
Can Azure DevOps run on premises?
Yes. Microsoft offers Azure DevOps Server alongside the cloud-based Azure DevOps Services.
Does Azure DevOps support Git?
Yes. Azure Repos hosts unlimited private Git repositories and also supports Team Foundation Version Control.
