GitHub Pages Limits in 2026: Bandwidth, Size and Usage Rules
GitHub Pages limits explained: 1 GB site size, 100 GB soft bandwidth, 10 builds an hour, public repo rules on GitHub Free and what's not allowed.
6 min read
GitHub Pages limits published sites to 1 GB and has a soft bandwidth limit of 100 GB a month and a soft limit of 10 builds an hour. Deployments time out after 10 minutes. On GitHub Free, Pages only works with public repositories, and GitHub's policy says Pages isn't for running an online business. Going over a soft limit can mean rate limiting, not a bill.
This post covers each limit, the difference between soft and hard limits, the usage policy wording and the workarounds worth knowing. For alternatives, see our guide to free static page hosting.
Limits checked 14 October 2026 against each provider's official docs. Free plans change often; check the linked pages before you commit.
What are the GitHub Pages limits?
These come from GitHub's GitHub Pages limits page and what is GitHub Pages.
| Limit | Value | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Published site size | 1 GB | Hard |
| Source repository size | 1 GB recommended | Guidance |
| Bandwidth | 100 GB per month | Soft |
| Builds | 10 per hour (not with custom Actions workflows) | Soft |
| Deployment timeout | 10 minutes | Hard |
| User or organisation sites | 1 per account | Hard |
| Project sites | 1 per repository | Hard |
| Repository visibility on GitHub Free | Public only | Plan rule |
| Custom domain + HTTPS | Included, with Enforce HTTPS | Feature |
GitHub Pages only serves static files. There are no serverless functions or built-in form handling, so anything dynamic needs a third-party service.
Soft limits vs hard limits on GitHub Pages
A hard limit is enforced automatically. A site over 1 GB won't publish, and a deployment that runs longer than 10 minutes fails.
A soft limit is a guideline GitHub uses to spot sites that are outgrowing the service. If you go over the 100 GB bandwidth or 10 builds per hour limits, rate limits may apply, in which case visitors can get an HTTP 429 response.
There's no billing for overages and no automatic pause. That makes GitHub Pages one of the more forgiving free hosts: a busy month doesn't take your site offline the way Netlify's credit limit does (see Netlify free plan limits).
What is the GitHub Pages bandwidth limit in practice?
100 GB a month is a lot for a static site. A documentation page or blog post with optimised images might be 1 to 2 MB, so 100 GB covers tens of thousands of page views, more with caching.
Sites that hit it usually serve large files: videos, datasets, installers or high-resolution image galleries. Those belong on a file host or release download service, with the Pages site linking to them.
What is the GitHub Pages size limit?
The published site can't exceed 1 GB, and GitHub recommends keeping the source repository under 1 GB as well. These are separate: a repo can hold source files, drafts and history that never get published.
If you're getting close:
- Compress and resize images before committing.
- Keep large binaries out of the repo.
- Use a GitHub Actions workflow so only the build output is published, not the whole repo.
Can you use GitHub Pages with a private repo?
Only on a paid plan. According to GitHub's plans page:
| Plan | Pages from public repos | Pages from private repos | Access-controlled private site |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Free | Yes | No | No |
| GitHub Pro / Team | Yes | Yes | No |
| GitHub Enterprise Cloud | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Even when the repository is private on Pro or Team, the published site is still public to anyone with the URL. Only Enterprise Cloud can restrict who sees the site. Never put anything confidential in a Pages site.
What does GitHub's usage policy prohibit?
The limits page is direct about this. GitHub Pages is:
"not intended for or allowed to be used as a free web-hosting service to run your online business"
It also says Pages shouldn't be used for sensitive transactions, such as sending passwords or credit card numbers.
In practice, a personal site, portfolio, open-source project docs or a blog is exactly what Pages is for. A shop, a SaaS product or a site whose main purpose is selling is not. If your project is commercial, read free static hosting for commercial use before choosing a host.
How do you work around GitHub Pages limits?
Use GitHub Actions to publish. The 10 builds per hour soft limit doesn't apply when you build and publish with a custom GitHub Actions workflow. If you push often, switch the Pages source to GitHub Actions. Actions also lets you use any static site generator, not just Jekyll.
Keep deployments under 10 minutes. Cache dependencies in your workflow and avoid processing large media during the build.
Move heavy files elsewhere. Big downloads and videos are the main reason sites approach the bandwidth and size limits.
Use a different host when you outgrow it. If you need private repos on a free plan, previews for pull requests or serverless functions, compare GitHub Pages vs Netlify, or look at Cloudflare Pages free plan limits, which has no static bandwidth cap.
How do GitHub Pages limits compare with other free hosts?
| GitHub Pages | Netlify Free (credits) | Cloudflare Pages Free | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bandwidth | 100 GB/month (soft) | 20 credits per GB from 300 credits | Static requests unlimited |
| Built-in forms | No | Yes (unlimited) | No |
| Preview deployments | Not built in | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Over the limit | Possible rate limiting | All sites paused | Functions return Error 1027 |
| Business sites | Not allowed | No restriction found | No restriction found |
GitHub Pages is the most forgiving at the limit, but the strictest on what the site may be used for.
Is GitHub Pages a good free host?
For personal and open-source projects, yes. It's free, stable, supports custom domains with HTTPS, and the soft limits are generous. The weak points are the public repo requirement on GitHub Free, the lack of previews and functions, and a usage policy that rules out business sites.
New to it? Our step-by-step guide shows how to host a website on GitHub Pages for free.
Add a working contact form to your static site
GitHub Pages only serves files, so a form that posts to your own page won't send anything. Point the form's action at a FormSubmit endpoint instead and submissions arrive by email, with spam filtering included. The free plan includes 1 form and 50 submissions a month, and our GitHub Pages contact form guide has copy-paste code.
