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This guide summarizes the two primary GitHub Enterprise deployment models, their differences, and when to choose each. Use this to align your organization’s requirements—control, compliance, scalability, and identity management—with the right platform: self-hosted or managed cloud.

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Overview

There are two main GitHub Enterprise deployment options:
  • GitHub Enterprise Server
  • GitHub Enterprise Cloud
The core distinction is where the platform runs and who operates the infrastructure:
  • GitHub Enterprise Server is self-hosted on your infrastructure (on-premises or IaaS). It gives you full control over hardware, networking, backups, compliance controls, and update cadence.
  • GitHub Enterprise Cloud is hosted and operated by GitHub (built on GitHub.com). It delivers a managed, multi-tenant cloud experience with built-in scalability and many cloud-first features.

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Feature comparison

The image is a comparison chart detailing features of GitHub Enterprise Server and GitHub Enterprise Cloud, including hosting location, features, reliability, and user management.

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Why choose GitHub Enterprise Cloud?

Key cloud-specific advantages often included or available with enterprise plans:
  • Large automation capacity: enterprise plans commonly include significant allocations of GitHub Actions minutes for CI/CD workflows (examples vary by plan).
  • Generous GitHub Packages storage: enterprise plans frequently include substantial package storage (for example, 50 GB in many offerings).
  • Service-level agreement (SLA): enterprise-tier accounts typically receive high-availability SLAs (for example, 99.9% uptime).
  • Centralized administration: enterprise dashboards simplify billing, security policy enforcement, and governance across multiple organizations and teams.
Useful links:

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Identity and account management differences

A major cloud-only capability is Enterprise Managed Users. These are company-owned GitHub accounts that your organization controls on GitHub Enterprise Cloud. They simplify provisioning, access control, and offboarding. Key characteristics:
  • Centralized provisioning and deprovisioning: organizations can create and remove accounts to control onboarding/offboarding.
  • Federated sign-in: integrates with enterprise identity providers and SSO systems (SAML, OAuth) so developers authenticate with corporate credentials.
  • Immediate access revocation: when an employee leaves, the organization can quickly disable or delete the managed account to revoke access.

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Add-ons and extras

Some premium services are add-ons and are billed separately from core enterprise plans.
  • GitHub Copilot: an AI coding assistant offered as an add-on. Organizations purchase Copilot seats and manage them through enterprise billing and provisioning controls.

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Choosing between Server and Cloud

Consider these high-level criteria when deciding:
  • Choose GitHub Enterprise Server when:
    • You require strict data residency or on-premises deployments.
    • You need full infrastructure control for compliance or custom integrations.
    • You want to control upgrade and patch schedules.
  • Choose GitHub Enterprise Cloud when:
    • You prefer a managed, scalable service with built-in automation.
    • You want centralized administration, enterprise identity features, and vendor-managed availability.
    • You want to reduce operational burden and leverage cloud-native capabilities.
Choose GitHub Enterprise Server when you need full control over infrastructure, strict data residency, or customized compliance requirements. Choose GitHub Enterprise Cloud when you prefer a managed, scalable service with built-in automation, centralized administration, and cloud identity features.

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