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Github has started charging me on the free tier? (piefed.social)
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by mesamunefire@piefed.social to c/programming@programming.dev
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I had an interesting email come in about billing. GitHub thinks I owe them money...cents on the dollar but still $$. I am on the free tier on GitHub and have been the past 15+ years. image
Up til recently, ive had no bills and im not an admin on any org. It looks like all my GitHub actions on my repos are accruing billing now. None of these repos are private. So im not 100% why this is occurring.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is there something im missing here?

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[-] mesamunefire@piefed.social 27 points 6 months ago

Thanks @bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone

I went ahead and opened a support case. They fixed the issue on their side.

[-] bamboo 7 points 6 months ago

Awesome glad that worked out

[-] bamboo 18 points 6 months ago

Did you ever adjust your budgets in your settings for your account: https://github.com/settings/billing/budgets

I also have the free account, and I never touched the budgets section. In here, GitHub action budget is set to $0 and has Stop usage enabled.

If these settings are set to $0 and you got charged, then I guess you can open up a case support case, since that seems like a bug.

[-] mesamunefire@piefed.social 8 points 6 months ago

Ah yeah that's a good idea. I'll do that.

[-] FrostyPolicy@suppo.fi 17 points 6 months ago

Stop using github. Move to something else e.g. codeberg.

[-] mesamunefire@piefed.social 14 points 6 months ago

I dont have that option. Its for work.

[-] imrighthere@lemmy.ca 26 points 6 months ago

Sounds like your bosses bill, not yours.

[-] mesamunefire@piefed.social 11 points 6 months ago

Its on my account. I have hundreds of repos over my career. I switched a majority of them over but there is some major projects that use the repos for open source. One has been downloaded over 1.7 million times (im trying not to sound like a humble brag) If I remove them, it could potentially cause downtime. I just disabled all github actions and other things that could potentially cause billing.

[-] thingsiplay@beehaw.org 10 points 6 months ago

The first thing that comes to my mind is, it might be a scam. Confirm the mail is from Github. Can't help otherwise, but this is what I think first.

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Especially if no bank account is attached and if it isn't tied to anything on here

https://docs.github.com/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/about-billing-for-github-actions

@mesamunefire@piefed.social does anything show up when you log in to GitHub and check billing?

[-] 30p87@feddit.org 5 points 6 months ago

I'll be damned when Forgejo (or gitlab) starts charging me for selfhosting.

Sounds like a hard you-problem to me there.

[-] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 54 points 6 months ago

User 1: "I'm having an issue with a service, has anyone else experienced this?"

User 2: "I do not use that service." <-- This contributes nothing to the discussion, and makes User 2 sound like a prick. Don't be like User 2.

[-] 30p87@feddit.org 5 points 6 months ago

User 1: "I pointed a loaded gun at my foot, and now shot myself!"
User 2: "Don't do that."

[-] andioop@programming.dev 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Okay, everyone knows guns are literal weapons. Not everyone has the time to look into things and develop an anticorporate opinion to the point simply using a service is a loaded weapon and simply using it is cause enough for "no sympathy, sucks to be you!" when they have trouble with it. Maybe this might make them change their minds eventually, but even if it doesn't… this seems a bit more blaming the victim. Get angry at the corporation, not the person who wasn't born believing corporations bad. If I fail to lock my door, that is probably unwise of me, but everyone should be more mad at the thief for stealing from me in the first place.

[-] RonSijm@programming.dev 2 points 6 months ago

Since you're getting downvoted, maybe you want to explain why using Github free is "pointing a loaded gun at your foot"?

I'm using github for a bunch of my public repos as a free backup service... Why would I want to use a self hosted or way more obscure git forge? Seems riskier than just dumping it on github

[-] 30p87@feddit.org 2 points 6 months ago

Because you're essentially putting data into a limbo, in hopes that a heavily profit oriented company does not fuck you as they please. They need more money? They'll charge money. Someone with any power reports you? You're banned/striked, no questions asked. Much cheaper and convenient than giving a second thought. And, of course, automated. You lose decades of work? No one will care if you aren't either a company earning millions or are a huge public figure.

The model of for-profit companies, especially as hosters for services, is deeply flawed.

[-] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 1 points 6 months ago

a loaded gun, sure. is that what you also think about the billions of windows users?

[-] 30p87@feddit.org 1 points 6 months ago

Yes.

[-] mesamunefire@piefed.social 10 points 6 months ago

I have to use Github for work. And prior to all this ive had no real issues with it...other than all the ethical arguments of course.

I have my own forgejo (and codeberg, contributed to lemmy and other projects too). works really well for my tiny projects.

[-] FrostyPolicy@suppo.fi 8 points 6 months ago

According to wikipedia Forgejo development is run by Codeberg which is a non-profit organization so I doubt they will start charging money. GitLab is managed by a for-profit corporation so anything is possible with them.

this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
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