Review GitHub: GitHub is the world's #1 code storage and developer collaboration platform — Pull Request workflow

Detailed Review

GitHub was founded by four developers in 2008 and launched at RailsConf in April of that year. Tom Preston-Werner and Chris Wanstrath, both freelancing in San Francisco, wanted to create a "social coding" platform — a place where code is the social currency. The name GitHub combines Git (Linus Torvalds' version control system) and Hub (a place to connect). In its first few months, GitHub grew entirely organically.

Pure Git hosting was the starting feature, but the Pull Request workflow — a GitHub invention — completely changed how software teams collaborate. Instead of sending patches via email as the Linux kernel community did, pull requests created a structured conversation around code changes. Code review became the standard best practice. This is GitHub's most important innovation for the engineering industry.

Microsoft acquired GitHub in 2018 for $7.5 billion. The community's initial fear that "Microsoft will ruin GitHub" never materialized. On the contrary, Microsoft invested heavily: GitHub Actions CI/CD (generously free for public repos), GitHub Codespaces (cloud-based dev environments), GitHub Copilot (AI coding), and GitHub Advanced Security. GitHub today has 100 million developer accounts.

Strengths

• Pull Request workflow is the code review standard — inline comments, suggested changes, and approvals are intuitive
• GitHub Actions CI/CD is powerful with a 10,000+ action marketplace — complex pipelines without building from scratch
• GitHub Copilot deeply integrated with your own codebase context — smarter code suggestions
• GitHub Pages hosts static websites for free with a github.io domain — best for portfolios and documentation

Areas for Improvement

• Private repos for teams require GitHub Team at $4/user/month — costs scale quickly with larger teams
• Free Actions minutes (2,000/month) run out fast with heavy CI pipelines, requiring additional spending
• GitHub Projects (kanban) still falls short of Jira or Linear for issue tracking features in technical teams

Verdict

GitHub is an excellent choice for anyone needing a powerful tool in the PC Software category. Founded in 2008 by Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, PJ Hyett, Scott Chacon, this product has undergone years of development and continuous improvement. With a rating of 9.5/10, it ranks among the best in its segment. We encourage you to try the free version before deciding to upgrade.