All GitHub users can keep their code private

Historically, if you've wanted to create a private repository on GitHub, you had to be a paying user, but that's about to change. Starting today, free GitHub users will have access to unlimited private projects as long as there are three or fewer collaborators on board. For larger projects, you'll have to join a paid plan or make your code public, as GitHub isn't changing how it manages public repositories.

Microsoft acquired GitHub last year for $7.5 billion. GitHub CEO Nat Friedman said at the time that the team would be focused on making GitHub more accessible to developers around the world and ensuring reliability, security and performance. He also reiterated that GitHub would continue to operate independently. "We love GitHub because of the deep care and thoughtfulness that goes into every facet of the developer's experience," Friedman wrote in a blog post. "I understand and respect this, and know that we will continue to build tasteful, snappy, polished tools that developers love."

Friedman said today that unlimited free private repositories has been the most requested feature from GitHub users. The company also announced GitHub Enterprise, which brings together Enterprise Cloud and Enterprise Server -- formerly GitHub Business Cloud and GitHub Enterprise, respectively -- into one, unified product. The private repositories for free users are rolling out today.