Author: jimmy

This guide provides a straightforward overview of GitHub storage limits and outlines effective ways to manage them.

GitHub offers a decent amount of storage for your Git repositories. 

However, GitHub sets file and repository size limits to make repositories easier to maintain and work with while keeping the platform running smoothly. 

GitHub’s storage limitations can be challenging when working with data and files of large sizes. 

The good news is that there are tips and tricks to help you overcome GitHub’s storage limits—starting with the best practices and recommended tools below.  

Table of Contents

3 Practical tips for working around GitHub storage limits

• Create smaller files
• Use Git Large File Storage 
• Avoid pushing your file to GitHub

Tools to handle GitHub storage limits

• Backrightup
• Git LFS
• BFG Repo Cleaner

Frequently asked questions

• How do I know the amount of storage I use on GitHub?
• How can I upload files larger than 100 MB to GitHub?
• What are GitHub’s size limits?

Resources you will love

Overcome GitHub storage limitations

3 Practical tips for working around GitHub storage limits

Keep in mind the best practices below to handle limitations on GitHub storage and simplify managing large files. 

1. Create smaller files

Create smaller files from your big ones in GitHub to avoid taking up all the allowed storage limits. 

While this might not always be ideal, it can help you reduce your stored file sizes in GitHub. 

For example, if you use Python, import your data separately from your computing platform and save it as a specific data structure. 

Then, break down the data into smaller structures, export the smaller files separately, and delete the large file that takes up most of your GitHub storage.  

It can be a tedious solution so use it sparingly and only when necessary since it can take a lot of work. 

Creating smaller files also forces you to break down and separate data into groups when it should be a single file. It can lead to potential issues and adds more file clutter to your GitHub repositories.

2. Use Git Large File Storage 

One of the best ways to preserve your commit history and the project’s integrity is to use Git Large File Storage (LFS). 

Git LFS deals with large files by storing the files’ references in the repository but not the actual file. 

It creates a pointer file that acts as an actual file reference stored somewhere else (LFS server), working around Git’s architecture. 

GitHub can manage the pointer file within your repository. 

Plus, GitHub uses the pointer file as a map to your large file when you clone the repository down. 

Essentially, Git LFS intercepts the designated files when you commit and push in GitHub and migrates them to the LFS server. 

Once you install Git LFS on your local device, you can use three lines of code to install LFS in your repository and track the CSV files within.   

Git LFS also lets you look and view the files that are being tracked using a command line. 

After committing the file to your repository, use git-lfs-migrate to add it to the LFS and remove it from your Git history. 

The process can help you save on storage since you’re not storing the actual files within GitHub. 

However, LFS has a ceiling you can only exceed by paying the required fee. 

Discern and use common sense to determine whether using Git LFS (and potentially paying more) is the best option for you. 

3. Avoid pushing your file to GitHub

Another way to help you work around GitHub’s storage limits is to add the filename in your repository’s .gitignore file instead of sending the actual file to GitHub. 

This way, you can keep a local copy of your data and provide a URL to the data source in your project’s README. 

It’s not always a great option if you gathered and created your dataset, but it can be a good solution for data that’s already packaged on the web.

You can create a .gitignore file in your repository’s parent directory and store the file directories you want Git to ignore. 

Use a wildcard symbol (*) so you won’t need to manually add individual files and directories every time you make a new large file. 

Git will automatically ignore them so they won’t get uploaded to GitHub, saving storage space and preventing common error messages. 

Tools to handle GitHub storage limits

The following tools can help you manage your GitHub files and deal with the platform’s storage limits better. 

Backrightup

One of the ways to save storage space is to back up your GitHub repositories. 

This way, you can keep backups of your files and store them in other locations, freeing up space. 

Running regular backups also helps keep you from losing data in case of malicious software attacks, accidental deletions, server crashes, errors, and other issues. 

However, you want to simplify your GitHub backup process to lighten your workload and keep your workflows moving seamlessly. 

An excellent solution is to use Backrightup, our automated backup platform and service for Azure DevOps, Gitlab, Bitbucket, and GitHub. 

Our backup service automates your GitHub backup and restores, making recovering your repository and data quick and easy. 

Our solution also provides full backup storage to your preferred locations, and you won’t need to maintain your backup scripts. 

Git LFS

Git LFS can track the files beyond GitHub’s storage size limit.

As mentioned, Git LFS makes pointer files that reference the actual files usually stored in the LFS server. 

Git LFS lets you store files up to the following:

• 2 GB for GitHub free
• 2 GB for GitHub Pro
• 4 GB for GitHub Team
• 5 GB for GitHub Enterprise Cloud

Git LFS silently rejects new files you add to the repository if you exceed the 5GB limit. 

BFG Repo Cleaner

The BFG is an alternative to git-filter-branch that allow for easier and faster cleansing of bad data from your Git repository history, freeing up GitHub storage space. 

The BFG Repo Cleaner can help you clean up massive files and remove credentials, passwords, and other confidential data stored in GitHub. 

You can even use Scala language when necessary to customize the BFG. 

Frequently asked questions

Below are the common questions people ask about GitHub storage limits. 

1. How do I know the amount of storage I use on GitHub?

You can view your GitHub Packages usage for your personal account in the Access section of the GitHub sidebar. 

Click Billing and plans. You can see your usage for data transfer details under GitHub Packages. 

To see your storage usage for GitHub Packages and GitHub Actions, go to Storage for Actions and Packages. 

2. How can I upload files larger than 100 MB to GitHub?

GitHub places hard limits on file and repository sizes. 

It has a 100MB file limit, so you’ll need to use Git LFS. 

You can place git-lfs into your $PATH to download and install it.

3. What are GitHub’s size limits?

GitHub limits the maximum file size (or sizes) you can add to your repository to 50 MB. 

File sizes larger than 50 MB will get you a warning from Git. 

It is strongly recommended to keep your repositories small, ideally less than one to five GB, to minimize performance impact on GitHub. 

Resources you will love

• How to Organize GitHub Repositories
• Top GitHub Backup Tools
• GitHub Backup Ultimate Guide: Tips, Steps, Tools
• Top 10 GitHub Security Best Practices

Overcome GitHub storage limitations

GitHub’s storage limits might not always be ideal for you and your work, but there are strategic ways to work around these limitations. 

You can create smaller files and use reliable tools such as Backrightup to back up your GitHub repositories easily and save storage space. 
Try Backrightup now to experience our GitHub backup solution’s benefits.

Learn how to organize GitHub repositories to avoid the chaos of codes, data, and projects being all over the place. 

Failing to organize your GitHub repositories can cause inefficiencies in your workflows since your team members need to sort through files and folders to find anything. 

The good news is that the tips and tools below can simplify organizing your GitHub backup files and repositories, making it uber-easy to sort, locate, and access what you need. 

1. Classify your repository with topics

Adding topics makes it easier for other users to find and contribute to your project. 

Include topics in your repositories that are related to your project’s intended affinity groups, subject area, purpose, and other essential qualities.   

Topics in GitHub allow you to do the following:

• Explore repositories in specific subject areas
• Find projects to add or contribute to
• Uncover new solutions to certain problems

You can find topics on a repository’s main page. 

Click a topic name to view related topics and a list of other repositories categorized with the topic. 

Find the most searched and used topics here.

You can add any topic to the repo if you’re a repository admin. 

Use helpful topic classifications (and whatever makes sense) based on your repository’s intended purpose, such as community, language, or subject area.  

GitHub analyzes content in public repositories and generates recommended topics that admins can reject or accept. 

GitHub won’t analyze private repository content and will not provide topic suggestions. 

Private and public repositories can have topics, but you will only see private repos that you have access to within topic search results. 

Important note: Creating a topic within a private repository means your topic names are always public.  

Add topics by going to your repository’s main page. 

Click the gear icon on the right side of About.

Type in the topic you want to add to your repo (under Topics) and include a space.

Click Save changes when you’re done adding topics. 

You’re all set. 

There is no right or wrong way to organize your GitHub repository. 

However, you can take inspiration from other platforms and alternatives to GitHub that might offer similar or unique structuring and sorting ideas for repositories.  

2. Create a basic folder structure

If there are GitHub security best practices, there are also tips and tricks to structure your repositories. 

Start by implementing a basic folder structure that consists of the following:

• A test Folder to store your integration, unit, and other tests. 

• An src Folder for your source code (except if you use languages that use headers or if you have an application framework).

• A .build Folder that contains all build process-related scripts, such as Docker compose and PowerShell. 

• A .config Folder which should have the local configuration related to set up on a local machine.  

• A tools Folder that acts as a convenience directory. It should contain scripts for automating tasks in your software projects, such as rename and build scripts. The folder typically contains .cmd and .sh files. 

• A doc Folder containing your documentation.

• A dep Folder that has the directory of your stored dependencies. 

• A samples Folder that provides “Hello World” & Co code supporting the documentation. 

• A res Folder for all your project’s static resources, such as images. 

Add other basic repo folders necessary to your project and team. 

For instance, create a designated folder for your GitHub enterprise backup. 

3. Make special files and folders

Create dedicated repository folders for your special files, including the following:

• An ISSUE_TEMPLATE FILE to let project contributors instantly see the template’s contents within the issues’ body when you add an issue template to your repository. 

Templates allow you to standardize and customize the information you want to include when contributors open issues. 

Create an ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ directory within your project root to add multiple repository issue templates.  

Check this list to see multiple issues and pull request templates. 

• A PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE File to instantly display the template’s content within the pull request body when adding a PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE file to your repository. 

• A README File (or README.txt and README.md) answers your project’s what, why, and how. GitHub recognizes and automatically surfaces the README to the repository visitors. 

• A CHANGELOG File describes what is happening in your repositories, such as software updates, bug fixes, and version number increases.  

• A LICENSE File explains the legal licensing, including restrictions, rights, and regulations (among others). 

• A SECURITY File contains your project’s security policies and a list of versions currently maintained with security updates. The file also provides instructions on how users can submit a vulnerability report. 

• A CODEOWNERS File specifies the individuals or teams responsible for code within a repository. Code owners get automatic requests for review when users open a pull request that changes the code they own. 

Someone with owner or admin permissions who enables required reviews can also require approval (optional) from a code owner before the author merges a pull request within the repository. 

Also, consider organizing your backup files and repositories in special files and folders (when necessary). 

Reliable GitHub backup tools will leave your backups as is when you restore, but it can be good practice to classify your repositories for optimum team collaboration and efficiency.

4. Set up project boards

Using project boards, eliminate the chaos by organizing your open-source projects, including issues and pull requests within your GitHub repositories.  

Doing so makes it easier for you and your teams to visualize the work that is in progress or yet to start. 

GitHub’s project boards provide a platform to organize and visualize projects into separate columns. 

You can use Repository boards in one repository and organization boards within a GitHub organization across various repos (but private to members of the organization).

If you have tons of backup files to sort or consolidate, consider creating Kanban-style project boards when learning how to backup GitHub repository. 

Your choice of a project board (or project boards) depends on your project’s size and structure. 

For example, you could use boards for documentation and development at the organization level and specific repository work, such as a community management board.      

Bring order to our GitHub repositories for better efficiency

Follow the best practices to organize your GitHub repositories, whether you are starting new private or open-source projects. 

A well-organized GitHub repository allows for better team collaboration and contribution, a more elegant project structure, and seamless workflows. 

Organize your GitHub backups as well to get the same results. Use reliable backup services such as Backrightup. 

Register for a Backrightup account to see how it works and benefits your team and projects.  

Learn how to delete a respository in GitHub by following the steps outlined below. (Spoiler alert: The steps are uber easy and quick to pull off.)

Users delete a GitHub repository for several reasons: to remove clutter, erase mistakes, focus on other projects, and get rid of outdated code and data. 

While deleting GitHub repositories is easy, you must know the right way to do it, otherwise, you might only remove local copies while the remote repositories continue to exist.

(Suggested Reading: Top 5 Alternatives to GitHub)

This guide covers the methods and steps to delete a GitHub repo, including walkthroughs and mini-tutorials.  

1. Delete your repository on the GitHub website 

Deleting your GitHub repository on GitHub.com is a straightforward process with these steps. 

Step 1: Log in to your GitHub account

Go to github.com and sign in with your username (or email address) and password.

Click Sign in when you’re done.

Step 2: Go to your repositories library

Go to your repositories library by clicking your profile image and selecting Your repositories from the drop-down list. 

A new page will display all your existing repositories. 

Step 3: Go to your repository settings

Navigate to the repository you want to remove by clicking on its title. 
Then, click Settings on the top toolbar.

Step 4: Enter the Danger Zone section

You need to get inside GitHub’s Danger Zone to delete repositories. 

Scroll down and click on the Delete this repository button.

Step 5. Delete the repository

GitHub will display warnings before you proceed with deleting your repository. 

Review the repository you want to delete, or better yet, learn how to backup GitHub repository, especially if you’re deleting it because you want to move to another platform. 

Also, deleting a private repository removes all the repository’s forks.  

After reading the warnings, type in the repository name in the designated field. 

Click on the I understand the consequences, delete this repository to confirm the deletion. Your repository will be deleted. 

You’ll be redirected to GitHub’s main page with a banner that shows that the repository has been successfully deleted. 

Important reminders when deleting a repository in GitHub via the web:

• Only members with organization owner privileges or repository admin permissions can delete an organization’s repository.

• Only organization owners can delete an organization’s repositories if the Allow members to delete or transfer for this organization is disabled. Learn more about repository roles for organizations from this GitHub documentation.

• Deleting a public repository won’t delete forks in the repository.  

• Go over your GitHub backup if you want copies of your repository but want to remove the original from its current location. Consider archiving your repositories before deleting them permanently. 

• Unless the repository was part of a fork network that isn’t empty, you could restore a deleted repository within 90 days. 

A fork network has a parent repository and the repository’s forks (including the forks of the repository’s forks). 

You can’t restore a repository that was previously part of a fork network unless the other network repositories are deleted or detached from the network. Learn more about forks here. 

• You can restore a successfully deleted GitHub repository that was part of a network (and is not currently empty) by contacting GitHub support.

• It can take an hour after you delete the GitHub repository for the repository to be restored.  

• Restoring GitHub repositories won’t restore team permissions or attachments, and Issues that get restored won’t be labeled. 

Additionally, reliable GitHub backup tools such as Backrightup allow you to easily restore deleted repositories. 

There you have it. You’ve just deleted a repository in your GitHub organization in five quick and easy steps. 

2. Delete a local GitHub repository

You want to delete a remote GitHub repository—that is, delete the copy you received by cloning the remote repository. 

Use the “rm -rf” on the .git file in your Git repository’s root to delete a local Git repository. 

It should look like this:

$ rm -rf <repo_folder>/.git

Deleting the .git file removes the GitHub repository without deleting the files located in your project folder. 

Consequently, this allows you to initialize a new Git or GitHub repository with “git init”, include a remote using “git remote add”, and begin committing new files.

$ git init

$ git remote add origin [email protected]:<user>/<repository>.git

$ git push -u origin master

Be mindful when using the git push command since you’ll be asked to give the upstream branch without the “-u” (for upstream branch). 

Like implementing GitHub security best practices, reviewing your existing repositories and backups is always a good idea before deleting anything. 

Doing so helps ensure you don’t accidentally delete repositories you shouldn’t. 

It can also keep you from losing critical files and data that might impact your GitHub compliance. 

There are instances where you are the organization owner or have admin permissions, but the option to delete a GitHub repository isn’t available (appears grayed out). 

Try to clear your cache and cookies since these can sometimes cause web pages to load slowly, making the delete repository option unavailable.

In-progress updates on the GitHub website can also cause errors. Come back later to see if the issue has been resolved. 

This is why it’s important to run a GitHub enterprise backup so you can restore a repository you accidentally deleted because of a glitch or error on the website.  

Your last resort is to contact GitHub support since problems with your account can cause the potential issues. 

Delete GitHub repositories quickly and easily

Removing GitHub repositories can be simple and fast when you know how to do it correctly. 

Learn from this guide’s tips to delete GitHub repository without losing critical data and eliminating clutter. 

While you’re at it, invest in robust GitHub backup service solutions such as Backrightup. 

The tool allows hassle-free, automated GitHub repository backup and restore, so you can easily recover your backups and accidentally deleted repositories.  
Register for a Backrightup account to see how the platform works and enjoy its benefits.

If you want to learn how to backup GitHub repository, this guide is for you.

Have you ever had that mini-heart attack because your GitHub repository and data disappeared or corrupted?

If you have, you know how devastating it is to lose all your business-critical codes and data, pouring all your team’s hard work down the drain. 

One solution is regularly backing up your GitHub repository to help keep your data and codes secure and intact. 

Continue reading to know more about the top three main ways to run a GitHub backup.

1. GitHub Issues API

Use curl to access the GitHub issues API within your terminal with this general form of the request:

GET /repos/<OWNER>/<REPOSITORY>/issues            

Use your GitHub username as the <OWNER>  and project name as the <REPOSITORY>. 

Customize the query with parameters such as sort. It allows you to determine how to organize the state (if you only want open Issues) or data. 

Start simple by using the three required parameters: “repository,” “owner,” and “accept.” 

The “accept” parameter should be your application/vnd.github.v3+json custom media type. It ensures that the custom reactions get included in your results. 

The entire curl request should look like this:

You won’t need to include your API key in the request since the Octocat Hello World repository is publicly visible. 

If you try to access a private repository using the command, the response will show:

You’ll have to follow GitHub’s instructions to generate a personal access token. Then, add it to the curl request like this:

Another way to grab a lot of data like this is to save it directly within a file. Add > <FILENAME> at the end of your cure request, so it looks something like this:

When you’re done, your curl will create a new JSON file backup for your GitHub issues.

Using the GitHub Issues API doesn’t require additional software, and it’s free (unlike most backup tools). 

However, the process involves manual work that takes additional steps to automate or schedule. 

The Pull Requests and Issues can get mixed together, and configuring and managing API token access can be time-consuming and tedious.

Plus, it can take multiple calls to download Issues from various repositories. 

2. GitHub Migrations API

The GitHub API previews program allows migrations and lets developers test new APIs before officially becoming part of the GitHub API.  

The Migration API is intended to download repositories from your GitHub organization or user account to back up, review, and migrate your data to the GitHub Enterprise Server. 

Go to your GitHub account settings and the Personal Access Tokens page. 

Click Generate a personal access token and add a note to remind you why you generated the token. 

Then, tick the repo box beside “Full control of private repositories” and select Generate Token.  

You should get a ~40 character alphanumeric string that allows you to access private repositories through the GitHub API. 

Ensure you save your new token since GitHub won’t display it again. You’ll need to re-generate a new token if you can’t find your existing one. 

Next, start your migration. 

Starting migration requires a request in POST /user/migrations {“repositories”: [<LIST_OF_REPOSITORIES>]} form. 

In the first method, we mentioned the custom media type. 

However, since the Migration API is currently in the preview period, you must set the value to:

application/vnd.github.wyandotte-preview+json

A sample curl command can look like this:

Input the <REPOSITORY> name (or multiple repository names separated by commas) that you wish to backup. 

You’ll also need to provide your GitHub access token and username to begin the migration. Take note of the migration ID from the response since you’ll need this in the final step.             

Finally, download your migration. 

Use the previous step’s migration ID to retrieve the URL for downloading your migration. 

Open the migration URL in your web browser’s response to begin the download. You can also modify the curl command to download the migration to your filesystem directly.

The -L flag informs the curl to follow redirects, while the -o flag specifies where to send the output file. 

You should see the migration_archive.tar.gz within your home directory if there are no issues. 

Running a GitHub enterprise backup for free and without installing a third-party tool has its benefits, but it’s also crucial to make the process as efficient as possible. 

However, configuring and managing API taken access can be a hassle since it’s a manual process that requires additional steps for scheduling and automating.  

3. Reliable GitHub backup solution

One of the easiest and quickest ways to back up your GitHub repositories is to use a reliable GitHub backup service such as Backrightup. 

The flexible platform and service can automate your GitHub repository backups and restore. 

Use Backrightup to run your GitHub repository backups with the quick and easy steps below. 

Step 1: Sign up or log in to Backrightup

Register for a Backrightup account (or sign in if you already have an account). 

Click Get Started.

Step 2: Setup and connect Backrightup

Select GitHub to back up.

Install and authorize the GitHub app to get access to run your backups.

Provide the requested information, such as your current role in your organization and why you signed up for Backrightup.

Click Save and Continue.

Backrightup’s system will start running the backups in the background. 

Within a few minutes, you should see your organizations and repository backups appearing in the Backrightup interface. 

That’s pretty much the whole process of backing up your GitHub repository. 

Backrightup recommends tasks you can do while waiting for the system to finish your backup.

Running GitHub repository backups with Backrightup is simple, fast, and reliable. 

It allows you and your team to focus on more pressing tasks while streamlining your backup workflows.

Keep your GitHub repository safe and secure with backups

While there are several ways to back up your GitHub repository, opt for the most seamless and hassle-free method.

Quick, easy, and robust backups help keep your GitHub repositories safe in case of data loss and breaches from human error, malware, server crashes, and other issues. 

If you’re looking for alternatives to GitHub, this guide is for you. 

GitHub is a popular, top-quality platform for DevOps teams to house open-source and software development projects. It’s also a widely-used repository hosting platform that utilizes Git to control revisions. 

However, while GitHub is one of the best software development platforms in the market, it might not offer all the features you need—from the GitHub backup process to the tool’s pricing.  

One solution is to look at GitHub alternatives. 

This guide covers the top five alternatives to GitHub to help you compare features, pricing, security, and other essential factors. 

Let’s get right to it.   

1. Bitbucket

Bitbucket by Atlassian is a Git-based code hosting and collaboration tool for teams. 

The tool is specially designed for professional DevOps and IT teams to collaborate with members, plan projects, execute tasks, and test code on one platform. 

Bitbucket provides free and unlimited private repositories for small teams and best-in-class integrations with project management tools such as Trello and Jira. 

It also offers a comprehensive code review option to help you find bugs and fix them before deployment. Plus, you can insert files via the Git command line. 

Bitbucket’s other key features include the following:

• Code aware search to save your team time and branch permission to get access control.
• Pull requests to help you get higher quality code and share it across team members. 
• Easy access to embedded Trello boards to sort multiple projects and work with team members seamlessly. 
• Large file and rich media storage in Git Large File Storage (LFS). 
• Flexible options for deployment and execution.
• Multiple views, desktop client, build integration, and third-party integrations. 
• Built-in CI/CD tool, Bitbucket pipeline to help you create automated workflows.

Security features

Bitbucket security includes:

• The Atlassian Bugcrowd bug bounty program 
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), IP allowlisting, and Single Sign-On (SSO) available with Bitbucket premium 
• Encryption via (Transport Layer Security) TLS 1.2+ to secure your data from unauthorized modification and disclosure
• Incident resolution via Opsgenie through the Bitbucket and Opsgenie integration 
• Integrations with platforms such as Bitbucket, Gitlab, and GitHub backup tools 

Pricing

Bitbucket offers a free plan for up to five users, 50 build minutes per month, and 1 GB Git LFS (among other basic features). 

Paid Bitbucket plans start at $3 per user/month.  

2. GitLab 

GitLab is a Source Code Management (SCM) platform and one of the top GitHub alternatives. 

It helps DevOps teams collaborate seamlessly and offers 100% built-in integration favoring GitLab’s Continuous Integration (CI) tools. 

GitLab is designed to streamline the entire DevOps lifecycle and software development process. It provides a complete procedure—from project planning and source code management to monitoring, CI/CD, and security. 

The tool’s CI/CD allows time and resource efficiency, helping developers spot issues and address them early. 

GitLab’s main features include the following:

• Value stream management, smart card support, and IP whistling for authentication
• Authentication and authorization with protected tags, flexible permissions, and server access
• Risk, portfolio, backlog, team, and workflow management tools (among others)
• Comment changes, track description, and task drag-drop with advanced time-tracking 
• Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) group sync filters and support, multiple integrations, and Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) SSO for groups. 

Security features

GitLab offers an internal security notification dashboard through email or Slack to provide high-priority security notifications for teams. 

The platform also has a security department option for app development, security research, and an on-call engineer to help with relevant issues within the Service-Level Agreement (SLA). 

Pricing

GitLab offers a free plan with essential features for individual users. 

Paid plans with advanced GitLab features start at $19 per user per month. 

3. Google Cloud Source Repositories

Another GitHub alternative is the Google Cloud Source Repositories.

Cloud Source Repositories allow you to host, track, and manage big codebase changes via the Google Cloud Platform through extended Git workflows and other Google Cloud tools.

The Google Cloud tools your Git workflows can link to include Cloud Build, Pub/Sub, App Engine, and others. 

The Cloud Source Repositories can connect to operations products, including Cloud Logging and Monitoring. 

The Google Cloud Source Repositories’ core features include:

• Regex for quick code search
• Unlimited private Git repositories
• Automated sync changes to Cloud Source Repositories when pushing changes to Bitbucket or GitHub
• Automated processes for building and testing, tracking changes, and debugging in production. Cloud Source Repositories also provides detailed audit logs 
• Code feedback on any changes, including built-in CI integrations

Security features

Google Cloud Source Repositories provide cloud compliance features, such as:

• HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations alignment 
• PCI DSS
• ISO/IEC 27001, 27017, 27018, and 27701
• FedRAMP certifications
• SOC 1, 2 and 3

Pricing

Google Cloud Source Repositories is free for up to five project users with an additional $1 per project-user per month. 

It also comes with a storage charge of $0.10 per GB storage per month (above 50GB) and network egress charges of $0.10 per GB egress per month (above 50GB). 

One Google Cloud project can have 1,000 repositories maximum.

4. SourceForge

Sourceforge is a free, open-source platform that helps IT developers create, review, share, and download open-source projects. 

The free service platform offers open-source repositories that allow you to host code with Git, Mercurial, Bazaar, and CVS, including Subversion repositories. 

Sourceforge’s main features:

• It offers an open-source directory that allows you to categorize your projects, generate videos, take screenshots, and share content on social media.
• Operates as a worldwide mirror network that has unlimited bandwidth for open-source projects. 
• It runs on Apache Allura, allowing you to host your forge and do enhancements.
• Provides download analytics for your software projects anytime using filters such as by platform, region, location, etc. 

Security

Sourceforge doesn’t offer as extensive security features as GitHub, so you’re not likely to implement measures as you would when following GitHub security best practices.  

However, Sourceforge covers security vulnerabilities for Sourceforge-provided services. It also scans open-source software projects uploaded to SourceForge.net.

Pricing

Sourceforge is free and open source. 

5. Azure Repos

Azure Repos offers a suite of version control tools for seamless code management with two version control types: 

• Distributed version control (Git) 
• Centralized version control (Team Foundation Version Control or TFVC)

It lets code development teams share code via Eclipse, Intellij, Command line, Visual Studio Code, and Xcode.  

Azure Repos’ core features include the following:

• Built-in CI/CD to automate builds, tests, and deployments, helping teams build quality software efficiently.
• Branch policies to ensure code quality
• Azure DevOps with Azure Boards (for planning and tracking), including Azure Pipelines for building, testing, and deploying with CI, and Azure Repos. 
• Webhooks and API integration (via REST APIs) and semantic code search
• Free pull requests and code search, including a private Git repository (or repositories)

Security

Azure Repos offer:

• Microsoft Azure’s bug bounty program
• Excellent security measures documentation, and tutorials to help protect your source code repositories 

Pricing

Azure DevOps Services offer one free Microsoft-hosted CI/CD, one free self-hosted CI/CD for Azure Pipelines, and 2 GiB free ($2 per GiB for additional GiB) for Azure Artifacts.  

User Licenses are free for the first five users and start at $6 per additional user per month.  

Which GitHub alternative is for you?

Software development platforms are crucial in creating and deploying any project. 

While there are a lot of factors to consider before choosing the platform you want, focus on what matters most to your organization and DevOps teams. 

Like when choosing a GitHub backup service, consider core features. 

Choose tools that can give you seamless code collaboration functionalities, such as those from a reliable software collaboration platform. 

Include other factors, such as whether you need a lightweight code hosting solution, code reviews, and an intuitive repository viewer and user interface. 

It also helps to check if you need very minimal memory requirements, Jira integration, a plugin system, user management, and other features. 

Factor in the costs and anticipate potential expenses if you use the platform long-term. 

The best software development platform should be a tool that fits your organization’s unique needs and manages source code repositories efficiently. 

If you don’t follow GitHub security best practices, you put your repositories, codes, and data at risk.

A recent malware attack infected over 35,000 GitHub repositories. The attack is a great reminder of why it’s more crucial than ever to strengthen your security measures against current cyber threats.

While you can implement security plans and strategies with robust GitHub backup tools, it’s always a good idea to follow tried and tested ways to fortify your protection measures. 

Follow the GitHub security tips below to level up the protection for your repositories, business-critical codes, and data.  

1. Avoid storing your credentials as code or config (including confidential data) on GitHub 

Keep sensitive data out of your repository to avoid compromising your sensitive information. 

Use tools such as git-secrets to statistically analyze your commits (through a pre-commit Git Hook). It helps ensure you don’t push sensitive data or passwords into your GitHub repository. 

The tool will reject commits that match configured regular expression patterns designed to spot sensitive information.

While it can slightly slow down pushes, it’s worth the trouble. 

You can also use git-secrets in your CI/CD pipelines to actively break builds when sensitive data is found in a config file or code. 

2. Implement tight access controls

Ensure your users follow practices and basic settings on GitHub and implement access controls to reduce unauthorized access to your repositories and data.  

Implement these basic security and access control practices for your contributors:

• Never let users share any GitHub account details and passwords.
• Require two-factor authentication (2FA) on all contributors’ GitHub accounts.
• Ensure your administrators manage team access to your data. Provide only the necessary access to data your contributors need to do their work.  
• Deploy security measures and apps on laptops, desktop computers, and other devices that have access to your source code.
• GitHub accounts are often personal, so ensure you revoke access to your repositories and GitHub backup from users no longer in your organization.

3. Remove  sensitive files and confidential information stored in your GitHub history and files

If you have sensitive information in your GitHub repository, invalidate the previously public passwords and tokens. 

Assume that any sensitive information that was public on the internet is already compromised, so act promptly and accordingly.   

Remove the sensitive data from your GitHub repository and the changelogs that list your confidential information from the commits history.

Clearing your GitHub history when removing sensitive data from your repositories can reduce the chances of compromised information. 

Ensure you do the same for your GitHub Enterprise backup. 

4. Validate your GitHub apps carefully

Keep your repositories and data secure by considering these factors when choosing and installing GitHub apps:

• Validate that the organization or author behind the app is credible and legitimate before giving access to your repositories, whether the app is for automated code review or a GitHub backup service tool. 

Apply a similar validation process when you bring in new committers. 

• Assess why an app needs the access level it asks for and think about the potential damage it can cause if it has that level of access. 

• Avoid giving applications more access rights or privileges than they require. 

Mitigate the risks from third-party apps by not giving access to apps with a poor security posture. 

A breach of the app’s code can give attackers access to your most sensitive assets and codes.

5. Include a SECURITY.md file

Add a SECURITY.md file to highlight the security-related information for your projects. 

It gives users the necessary security information while compelling maintainers to think about the best way to handle security disclosures, general security practices, and updates. 

The topics you can include in your SECURITY.md file are:

• Security update policy. Provide a well-defined process for sharing relevant information to your users, including the severity of a specific security vulnerability, its associated risks, and how users can move a fixed version of your code.

• Disclosure policy. Define the process for how users can fully disclose discovered security issues responsibly. Include information on who the users can contact and how.  

• Known security gaps and future enhancements. Inform users of the security controls your project doesn’t currently have. Doing so ensures users know the whole story and make informed decisions on how they will use your project. 

• Security-related configuration. Offer users suggested settings to help strengthen their security posture when deploying your project. 

6. Rotate personal access tokens and SSH keys

GitHub access is usually via personal user tokens (instead of passwords when you enable 2FA) or SSH keys. 

Refresh your tokens and keys regularly to secure them and mitigate potential damages that leaked or stolen keys might bring. 

7. Utilize the appropriate GitHub offering that best fits your security needs

You might be restricted to software that only runs locally (depending on your organizational regulations and project).

The restrictions can also be on your source code’s storage location and the specific organizations that can access it.  

As such, you’ll need a fully on-premise option, such as the GitHub Enterprise plan, to fully host repositories within your organization.  

GitHub Enterprise allows you to disconnect from the internet but still have internal access to projects in your repositories while maintaining compliance with regulations. 

8. Add security testing to Post Requests (PRs)

GitHub’s event-driven Git Hook framework lets you send HTTP POST requests to your preferred service when events are fired. 

One of the most helpful for incremental code change testing is the pull_request event. 

Static code analysis tools provide support to Git Hooks, so when a PR is created, an HTTP post gets fired to prompt testing on your latest updates.

It’s an excellent point in time to make sure the code and config changes align with your security expectations.  

9. Audit codes you import into GitHub

Always perform a complete audit before importing to GitHub. 

It may be a trivial task for smaller projects, but if you don’t do it before importing, it can take your DevOps teams weeks or months to do a full audit, update, and pull in everything to an open-source repository. 

It can be more tedious and time-consuming once your codebase reaches a specific size.  

10. Prioritize security when creating new projects 

Always create your projects with security in mind. 

Avoid hacking around and taking shortcuts to get your app up and running quickly since this can make you sloppy with sensitive information—whether it is stored locally in config or hardcoded.

Consider showing how you seed random numbers or relying on a secret algorithm to authorize input, even for closed-source projects. 

You’ll likely write better and more secure code if others can see and potentially exploit your code.   

Secure your GitHub data

Protect your GitHub codes and data and make your source code accessible and recoverable. 

Robust protection measures can help secure your GitHub data and ensure your team can work seamlessly without interruptions during outages. 

Also, following best practices to secure your GitHub data helps make sure you can always access your intellectual property and assets while maintaining a good reputation and customer trust.    

GitHub compliance can be tricky to nail. 

After all, compliance programs come with multiple requirements and complexities, depending on your target industry and the data being managed.

And so the question becomes…

How do you achieve GitHub compliance, and what are the steps to assess and execute GitHub’s security features effectively? 

Start by learning the basics of GitHub compliance and its common essential areas—which we’ll cover in this guide. 

Let’s dive right in. 

1. Data location

When incorporating GitHub into your organization, a critical compliance decision is whether to use GitHub’s Enterprise option to self-host or the platform’s hosted SaaS service. 

It’s vital to decide on the hosting options from the get-go since your data location and the types of data you store on GitHub can impact your compliance with regulatory requirements. 

For instance, many compliance programs require storing information, such as customer data, and running a GitHub backup on hosted services with specific security features.  

Others can also require using certain data storage and classification of configuration data, source code, infrastructure diagrams and documentation, and other sensitive information. 

Deciding on hosting options can help determine if specific regulatory requirements prohibit using GitHub’s hosted services.  

The factors impacting your decision include your internal support criteria, uptime and operational requirements, and other aspects. 

2. User management and access control

Compliance requirements are often particular with how services are accessed, who has access to them, and managing that access. 

The requirements can also include processes to revoke access when necessary. 

GitHub Settings can help you directly address these concerns. 

GitHub Enterprise plan subscribers can deploy Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication via SAML-compliant identity providers. 

The option allows managing your organization’s access to GitHub using the existing providers instead of re-implementing directly within GitHub. 

It eliminates another combination of username and password, which can be easily lost or compromised without proper management. 

Also, sending user management to external identity services removes a huge part of routine and necessary access review checks. 

For instance, you can delegate it to a federated identity provider instead of routing most of SOC II’s quarterly user access reviews to the managing GitHub team. 

However, without SSO, the checks can turn into time-consuming, manual tasks to review hundreds (or thousands) of users within your GitHub organization.  

If you do user management directly in GitHub, enforce two-factor authentication (2FA) at the organization level. 

You can do this through the GitHub organization settings pages to ensure that every user accessing the GitHub organization uses 2FA to log in.  

IP address restriction is another GitHub Enterprise feature that can reduce the scope of access reviews for compliance and improve security. 

The Enterprise plan lets you upload a list of IP addresses, such as a VPN egress or office address. GitHub uses these to restrict access to your GitHub organization, including your associated repositories.  

While this isn’t meant to provide sufficient control, it can significantly reduce potential attack surfaces in case your user credentials get compromised.  

Finally, while using groups for user access management isn’t required by most compliance programs, it can greatly reduce the burdens of access review and management. 

After all, without it, validating access to hundreds of code repositories when users are added as contributors instead of groups as contributors can be complex and tedious. 

GitHub supports managing users through teams (group membership), but it’s easier to enforce access via direct access as a user. 

To ensure compliance, you’ll need to validate this control during quarterly access reviews and when automating with GitHub’s APIs.

3. Role-based access controls

GitHub includes a built-in Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) system. It ensures granular access to your repositories and settings, including GitHub repository backup. 

Users who are added to your GitHub organization can be:

• Owners who are administrators with full access to your organizations, settings, source code, and other users. 

For security and compliance, it’s best to keep owners to a minimum while ensuring at that least one owner is available to deal with urgent setting changes and other essential activities. 

• Members who should be private to help prevent social engineering attacks that target specific users according to known organization associations. 

You can add members to repositories under five roles—from Read (basic read-only role) to Administrator (full access role). 

However, instead of adding members to your repository directly, you can invite them to a team that can have the same roles as the repository. 

It’s easier to maintain user access while reducing unintended over-provisioning that exposes your organization to risks and even leads to non-compliance. 

4. Auditing

Logging all access to your systems is fundamental in most compliance programs and other systems, such as when running a GitHub Enterprise backup.

An access log is critical in assessments after security incidents and disaster recovery. It can show who accessed your system, the request’s origin, and the data accessed. 

All this information is crucial to recovering any data losses or breaches after an incident and maintaining compliance.  

GitHub’s detailed audit logging with timestamps, usernames, accessed resources, and IP addresses can help your auditing, compliance, and security needs.  

5. Third-party access

Besides users, other entities can get access to GitHub. 

OAuth integrations, API integrations, webhooks, and third-party apps such as a GitHub backup service can gain various access levels to GitHub’s repository source code and settings. 

To improve security and maintain compliance, you’ll need to limit third-party access, including developing a tight scope and conducting regular audits. 

Apps and services from other providers are not owned or maintained by GitHub. You are responsible for ensuring they don’t compromise your organization and repositories’ compliance and security.   

6. Backup and restore

GitHub is generally responsible for backing up its user data and systems. 

However, a lot of compliance programs require GitHub and other third-party tool users to have a shared responsibility in the backup and recovery process. 

In simple terms, GitHub isn’t likely to permanently lose your data, but you have a compliance obligation to keep backups that can be easily restored in case of emergencies or security issues. 

Full adherence to compliance program requirements often means running backups in consistent intervals, off-site or separate hardware or system storage, and regular testing for disaster recovery. 

Many compliance programs have various acceptable procedures and timeframes, making it crucial to invest in reliable GitHub backup tools such as Backrightup.  

Over to you

Aligning your organization’s compliance requirements with how you use GitHub can be daunting and complex.

However, you can streamline and simplify the process with built-in and third-party options.

Adopting the right solutions and strategies can improve your organization’s security posture, ensuring your data is safe and compliant with regulations and customer expectations.

Like most DevOps teams, you weigh the pros and cons of in-house vs. third-party GitHub repository backups.

The big question is, where do you start, and how do you compare the two to know which one fits your needs?

Survey data shows that 99% of IT decision-makers say they have backup strategies, but only 26% admitted they couldn’t fully restore all the data when recovering from a backup. 

While many factors can impact failed full data restore from a GitHub backup, one critical aspect is your repository backup tool and whether it is an in-house or third-party app. 

After all, third-party apps can offer features and functionalities built-in tools might not (and vice versa). 

To help you get the information you need to decide, we created this post on in-house vs. third-party GitHub repository backup options. 

Let’s check it out. 

In-house GitHub repository backup: What it means

Using built-in GitHub repository backup tools means you are responsible for all the business processes, infrastructures, and ongoing repair costs to create your backups.

While this can be a more cost-effective option, ongoing maintenance and labor enterprises can add up quickly, especially when running an enterprise GitHub backup.   

Managing your backups with in-house options can also mean your team can use up cycles on something not part of your core business. 

You might get better control, but at a high cost of your time and resources.  

Third-party GitHub repository backup: What it means

A third-party GitHub backup service, also known as Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS), involves outsourcing your backup management responsibilities to another company. 

Third-party backups solutions remove the responsibility of running and maintaining backups from your business. 

However, while these solutions seem more expensive upfront than in-house backup tools, you’ll get the bang for your buck since providers can handle everything else. 

Set up your account and GitHub repository backup schedules once, and the provider can handle the rest, including implementation, ongoing maintenance, and API updates (which happen regularly). 

One drawback of using third-party GitHub backup solutions is that you’ll get less control. 

For instance, the provider’s terms of service can change according to the company’s discretion. 

Not all BaaS providers might also be as transparent as you would like in terms of how they access data (among others). 

Essential considerations when choosing between in house and third party backup tools

Running GitHub backups with native tools gives you complete control over the process. You won’t have to install, integrate, pay for, and manage additional tools to run your backups. 

The catch is that managing and implementing GitHub backups can be laborious and time-consuming since it involves manual methods. 

Opting for reliable third-party GitHub backup tools means automating your backups. Backup service providers can also manage everything, giving back your precious time and energy. 

However, using third-party solutions to back up your GitHub repositories can have reliability concerns, integration issues, and cost considerations. 

Weigh the pros and cons of using in-house or third-party backup services and compare them by considering the following factors. 

1. Quick restore

Backup repositories and data you can’t restore are more or less useless. 

After all, what good is having backup data if you can’t use it? 

Manual or internal backups often face this issue. 

You can set up custom scripts to back up your GitHub repository and think the job is done. 

However, manual backups that often come with in-house tools are known to fail when you try to restore your GitHub data. 

Also, keeping your data fresh can be challenging since you’ll need to spend time and effort restoring from each of your current backed-up data and repositories.  

Third-party solutions can offer automated features that regularly back up your data to a secure location without human intervention. 

These services keep your data within your repositories intact and provide one-click options to restore your data quickly. 

With robust third-party GitHub repository backup tools, you can set and forget about your backups and restore everything easily in a few steps. 

2. Easy access

Running GitHub repository backups can prevent lost work, but it also ensures that your data is accessible at all times. 

Built-in backup tools can give you easy access to your repositories. 

However, saving copies internally and in one location can make your data vulnerable to cyber-attacks. 

Also, keeping all your eggs in one basket can make it hard to access your data in case of GitHub outages and server crashes.  

Your best bet is to follow the 3-2-1 rule:

• Create one (1) primary backup and two (2) copies of your GitHub data
• Save your backups on two (2) separate media types
• Store at least one (1) backup file offsite

Most third-party GitHub repository backup solutions have features that facilitate following the 3-2-1 rule of keeping backups. 

If you want an easier and faster way to run backups and keep multiple copies of your data in separate and secure locations, then third-party backup tools can be a better option. 

3. Compliance features

Running GitHub repository backups are not just crucial for your daily operations; they’re also important for maintaining SOC2 compliance. 

SOC2 auditors often check that backups of specific database and app components are run daily. 

With in-house backup options that involve manual processes, it can be easy to overlook backups. 

Automated GitHub repository backups from third-party solutions can help eliminate this problem. 

The service providers can keep your repositories and data secure and intact while helping you maintain compliance. 

You’ll also get code backups support recovery in case of service failures. It can add another protection layer, giving you the peace of mind that you’ll get your software or app back up and running for customers quickly. 

Verdict: Should you choose an in-house or a third-party GitHub repository backup?

Finding the best GitHub Repository backup option all boils down to which tool can best address your needs. 

Research, read reviews, and learn the important factors when choosing between an in-house or third-party backup tool. 

You can also join online communities, read forums, and reach out to the service provider’s sales team to better understand their BaaS. 

Weigh the pros and cons of each option and determine how you can get what you need without compromising on quality, cost, essential features, and other factors.

Do you want affordable yet feature-packed GitHub backup tools to secure your business-critical codes, repositories, and data? 

You’re not alone. 

The 2017 Equifax data breach caused mainly by internal security vulnerabilities cost the company more than $4 billion. Since then, many other companies have continued to experience similar security issues and losses. 

If you don’t want your company to add to that statistic, cover all your bases to reduce security risks—and one way of doing that is to run regular GitHub backups using reliable tools. 

To help secure your business against data loss and cybercriminals, among other threats, we put together this top five GitHub backup tools guide. 

With these tools, you can rest easy knowing you’re protected, and your business operations continue to operate unhindered.

Let’s jump right in. 

1. Backrightup

Backrightup is an automated backup service and platform for Gitlab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, and GitHub. 

The platform simplifies and automates your GitHub backup and restore. It allows you to recover your codes quickly to prevent data loss. 

Backrightup’s existing integrations include Azure DevOps backup and restore (with Gitlab, Bitbucket, and GitHub integrations coming soon).  

Backrightup gives you full backup storage to your desired custom locations without maintaining your backup scripts. 

Besides your repositories, you can back up everything, including items often tedious to back up, such as your pipelines and wiki. 

You can choose and click specific items in your backup and instantly restore them in one click.

The platform lets you run daily automated backups for the following:

• Board/work items
• Build definitions
• Release definitions
• Variable/task group 
• Test plan
• Process template
• Artifacts

With Backrightup, you can keep your Azure DevOps instance and GitHub backups safe from accidental data corruption due to malicious intent, integration errors, accidental deletions, and data loss from rogue third-party apps. 

It’s an easy-to-use GitHub backup solution that can help you recover and restore your repos and other data quickly, especially when running a GitHub enterprise backup. 

Backrightup’s pricing plan starts at $8 per month. 

2. Rewind Backups (Formerly BackHub) for GitHub 

Rewind Backups for GitHub is a managed backup solution that lets you run automatic daily backups. 

It offers on-demand data and other advanced features to help protect your GitHub data from cyber-attacks, mistakes, and errors that lead to data breaches and losses.  

Rewind Backups’ main features include the following:

• Automated daily backups (with metadata). Rewind creates automatic backup snapshots of your GitHub repositories, including metadata. 

It also offers a cloud sync feature that lets you automate creating daily backup copies on your Amazon S3 or Azure Blob storage. 

The platform lets you restore a backup snapshot rapidly via the self-service portal. The backups are created directly on your GitHub account without affecting your existing codes. 

• Compliance and audit options. Rewind lets you choose EU or US-based servers for your cloud storage location. Using either server for your backup cloud storage can help you comply with regulatory requirements. 

The platform complies with Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It helps you mitigate third-party risks and facilitates your audit processes. 

Additionally, Rewind provides an audit log to help you centralize and track user activity, such as logins, backups, restores, account creations and deletions, logouts, and others for security purposes. 

Rewind’s pricing plan starts at $4 for one user per month (US-based servers). 

3. Cloudback Backup

Cloudback is a backup-as-a-service for your GitHub repositories.

The GitHub backup service creates backups of your entire Git repository and GitHub-specific metadata, including labels, milestones, issues, and more. 

Cloudback backs up your repository into an archive, sends the archive to your storage, and wipes it from Cloudback’s disk, so it’s not stored or recovered from the Cloudback servers. 

The process reduces the risks of data loss in case of a breach. 

Cloudback’s key features include the following:

• Automated daily backups. Enable the backup once, and Cloudback will run your daily repository backups for you.

• Backup storage options. Cloudback supports Microsoft OneDrive, Azure, Alibaba Cloud, OpenStack Swift, and Google Cloud.

• Once-click manual backups. Create backups on-demand with Cloudback’s one-click backup option. 

• Easy backup downloads. Cloudback lets you download every backup on your PC, including the code and repository metadata. 

• Quick restore to GitHub. Cloudback lets you restore your GitHub backups quickly with a few clicks. 

• Bulk operations option. Manage multiple repositories seamlessly with Cloudback’s bulk operations dialog. It allows you to apply settings to multiple repositories at once.

Cloud back offers a free trial. You can get the basic plan for ten repositories at $10 per month.  

4. GitProtect.io

GitProtect.io is a fully manageable backup and recovery solution for DevOps ecosystems, including BitBucket, Jira, GitLab, and GitHub. 

The software lets you easily set up automatic and secure backups without maintenance and do point-in-time restore. It also offers robust disaster recovery features for your compliance needs.   

GitProtect’s main features include the following. 

• Automated backup and restore for repository and associated metadata, including wiki, pull request, issues, actions, and more. 

Configure a backup plan and schedule, and GitProtect can do the rest. You’ll have control over the type of copy (full, incremental, or differential), unlimited retention, encryption, rotation scheme, compression, and others. 

GitProtect lets you use your AWS S3 compatible storage (cloud, on-premise, or both). You can also use GitProtect Cloud Storage and your preferred data center location in the EU or US. 

• Instant GitHub restore and disaster recovery functionalities that let you restore your GitHub data from any point in time. 

GitProtect also lets you recover GitHub repositories with metadata to a different version control hosting platform, such as GitLab or BitBucket. You can do this with a few clicks, ensuring instant disaster recovery and eliminating downtime. 

• Agile management tools that let you add as many admins, accounts, privileges, and set roles as you need.

GitProtect also facilitates continuous monitoring through Slack notifications, email, visual statistics, and advanced audit logs to streamline your data security information tracking.

You can try GitProtect for free or get the Cloud Pro plan at $18 per month. 

5. BackupLABS

BackupLABS lets you automatically backup your important GitHub data and other cloud-based apps. 

The software can help secure your metadata and repositories from risks, such as accidental deletion, malicious users, ransomware, and other threats. 

BackupLABS offer the following key features:

• Quick and easy setup so you can protect your GitHub account and repositories in minutes.
• Comprehensive repository data backups to help protect your repositories, issues, commits, projects, etc., from risks that lead to data loss, corruption, or beach. 
• Automated daily backups without user intervention.
• Seamless backup and restore directly to GitHub with a few clicks.
• Daily audit logging and email reporting to ensure you track activities and information across your GitHub backups and repos
• Zip file support allows you to download and save your backups as Zip files on your devices.

Get BackupLABS starting at $9.60 per month. 

Find the best GitHub backup tool for you

Not all GitHub backup tools are made equal. 

Find the backup service that can address your unique needs, from essential and sophisticated features to pricing. 

Backrightup’s reliable, affordable, and secure GitHub backup service is trusted by businesses to keep their data secure.

Sign-up for a Backrightup account now.

Running GitHub Enterprise backups is crucial to streamline your DevOps processes and secure your repositories.

What’s more, without securing your GitHub backups, you run the risk of losing your critical codes and data. 

This is where GitHub Enterprise Backup Utilities come in handy. 

GitHub Enterprise Backup Utilities is a full GitHub Enterprise Server backup and recovery system through two utilities: ghe-backup and ghe-restore. 

It is a set of tools that takes periodic and consistent application-aware snapshots of GitHub Enterprise Server instances over a Secure Shell (SSH) connection.  

If you’re still on the fence about running GitHub Enterprise Backups, continue reading to find out why it’s important to help secure your repository data.

Must read: Top GitHub Backup Tools

1. Lets you take snapshots of repository data

GitHub Enterprise Backup Utilities lets you take regular snapshots of your data and restore them easily.

You can use the following commands after running an initial backup:

• ghe-backup takes incremental snapshots of your repository data, including full snapshots of all your other important data stores. 
• ghe-restore restores the snapshots to the same (or separate) GitHub Enterprise appliance. You’ll need to include the backup host’s SSH key in the target GitHub Enterprise Server appliance before you can use this command. 

The commands run on the host where you installed Backup Utilities.

Running the commands allows you to protect and keep track of your repository data. It can help you act promptly and accordingly if your data gets corrupted, compromised, or lost.  

Set up the backup and restore behavior using your own configuration file. 

You can also use the sample configuration file (backup.config-example) as a template to set up your environment for backing up and restoring. 

Other essential considerations when running the backup and restore commands include the following. 

• You can pass several command line options to the ghe-restore command. If you use an external MySQL service but want to restore from a snapshot before enabling the command (or vice versa), you need to migrate the MySQL data outside the backup-utils’ context. Then, pass the –skip-mysql flag to ghe-restore. 

• Restoring to a new GitHub Enterprise Server instance restores the license, settings, and certificate data. 

However, you must review and save the settings before using the GitHub Enterprise Server to ensure all migrations happen and all the required services start. 

If you restore to an already configured GitHub Enterprise Server instance, license, certificate, and settings data won’t get restored. It helps avoid overwriting manual configuration on the restore host. 

• Back up the GitHub Actions data separately on your external storage provider since it’s not included in regular GitHub Enterprise Server backups. 

2. Allows you to schedule regular backups

Running regular GitHub Enterprise backups is crucial to protecting and preserving your business-critical codes and data. 

The challenge is that manually implementing backups can take too much time and effort. It also opens your data to risks, such as: 

• Data loss because of rogue employees or simply human error
• Server crashes
• Unplanned downtimes 
• Accidental repository and data deletions
• Data breaches due to phishing, malware, ransomware attacks, and hacking

A more efficient and effective approach is to schedule routine GitHub Enterprise backups to run them automatically. 

Schedule regular backups using cron(8) or similar command scheduling services on the backup host. 

The backup frequency dictates your backup plan’s worst-case Recovery Point Objective (RPO). 

After installing Backup Utilities in /opt/backup-utils, ensure the crontab entry is under the same user manual backup/recovery commands are issued. The crontab must also have write access to the already set up GHE_DATA_DIR directory.

Important note: The GHE_NUM_SNAPSHOTS option within backup.config must be tuned based on the backup frequency. The last ten snapshots get retained by default, and you can adjust the number based on the available storage and backup frequency. 

Below are some examples of scheduling backups with the GitHub Enterprise Backup Utilities.

• Schedule hourly backup snapshots using verbose informational output written to a log file and errors that create an email. 

Use this sample command:

[email protected]

0 * * * * /opt/backup-utils/bin/ghe-backup -v 1>>/opt/backup-utils/backup.log 2>&1

• Schedule nightly backup snapshots using this command:

[email protected]

0 0 * * * /opt/backup-utils/bin/ghe-backup -v 1>>/opt/backup-utils/backup.log 2>&1

Running regular GitHub Enterprise backups helps you monitor your repository data. It can also reduce or eliminate risks that lead to data loss and corruption. 

3. Provides a backup snapshot file structure

You could have a library of repository data snapshots, but finding the backup snapshots you want can be challenging without an existing file structure. 

GitHub Enterprise Backup Utilities provides a solution. 

Backup Utilities store snapshots in rotating increment directories that are named after the time and date the snapshots were taken.    

Every snapshot directory has a complete backup snapshot of all essential data stores. Search, Pages, and Repository data are stored seamlessly through hard links. 

Important note: You’ll need to maintain symlinks when archiving backup snapshots. Excluding or dereferencing symlinks or storing snapshot contents on filesystems that don’t support symlinks can lead to operational issues when restoring data. 

GitHub Enterprise Backup Utilities also provide an MS SQL Server backup structure. 

Actions service utilizes MS SQL Server as a backend data store. Every snapshot includes a suite of backup files for MS SQL Server databases.  

Streamline your backup by implementing a three-level backup strategy. 

You can do this via the GHE_MSSQL_BACKUP_CADENCE that takes a log backup at each snapshot—either (D)ifferential, (F)ull backup, or a (T)ransaction. 

Hard links are created that point to previous backup files at each snapshot, saving disk space. 

Also, only newly created backup files get transferred from appliance to backup host. 

Newly created full or differential backups become the new hard links source and baseline for transaction log backups and subsequent snapshots.  

A suite of backup files gets restored (during restore) within the sequence of full -> differential -> chronological transaction log. 

Must read: How to Choose a GitHub Backup Service

Run a regular GitHub Enterprise Backup 

Protect your GitHub Enterprise repository data from security risks and keep your assets intact by running regular GitHub Enterprise backups. 

Leverage the GitHub Enterprise Backup Utilities and incorporate the set of tools into your backup strategy. It helps you mitigate and prevent security issues that lead to costly data loss and DevOps process interruptions.