Everything on the internet has some sort of price. There’s always a cost somewhere or some sort of limitation.
The most apparent example are ads you see on seemingly free services, these ads can prey on your ‘privacy’ and make for some horrible headaches later on . Some software may be open source and free, but there could be an implementation cost. Other companies offer software and services free of charge to prospective customers, but, in many cases, these versions are limited in functionality.
After acquiring ** GitHub in 2018** , Microsoft recently launched a new GitHub Free service that includes unlimited private code repositories and other features, as well as free public usage of the site.
Although these new capabilities are offered free of charge, Github Free repositories are limited to three developers. Despite this constraint, the new offering might be attractive enough to induce a small team or an individual to consider using GitHub Free.
For some companies, the private repositories service represents a significant improvement, enabling them to test out the functionality without having to use public repositories. For others, however, this restriction might be significant enough to keep them from using the service.
Private repositories are intriguing because they offer security protections that public repositories don’t, such as ensuring that sensitive data like passwords, SSH keys, API keys and other information isn’t accidently exposed. This sensitive information is best stored in a private repository with a publishing process in place to make the appropriate data public as needed.
It can be a very powerful tool when developing your user friendly apps, especially when working with API keys and other information that should be classified as confidential. Try it on your next project and see how useful it can really be!