This version of GitHub Enterprise will be discontinued on This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2020-08-20. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

Article version: Enterprise Server 2.18

Setting up a trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud

You can try GitHub Enterprise Cloud for free.

In this article

About trials of GitHub Enterprise Cloud

You can set up a 14-day trial to evaluate GitHub Enterprise Cloud on a new organization account. You do not need to provide a payment method during the trial unless you add GitHub Marketplace apps to your organization that require a payment method. For more information, see "About billing for GitHub Marketplace."

Your trial includes 50 seats. If you need more seats to evaluate GitHub Enterprise Cloud, contact GitHub's Sales team. At the end of the trial, you can choose a different number of seats.

Trials are also available for GitHub Enterprise Server. For more information, see "Setting up a trial of GitHub Enterprise Server."

If you're not sure whether GitHub Enterprise Server, GitHub Enterprise Cloud, or both are best for your organization, contact GitHub's Sales team.

Organizations with 12 or more developers typically benefit the most from GitHub Enterprise. If your organization has 11 or fewer developers, consider GitHub Team. For more information, see "GitHub's products."

Setting up your trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud

Before you can start your trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud, you must have an existing user account or create a new user account. For more information, see "Signing up for a new GitHub account."

  1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click your profile photo, then click Settings.
    Settings icon in the user bar
  2. In your user settings sidebar, click Organizations.
    User settings for organizations
  3. In the "Organizations" section, click New organization.
    Button for creating a new organization
  4. Under "Enterprise", click Start your 14-day free trial.
    Button to start your trial
  5. Type your company name.
    Company name field
  6. Under "Organization account name", type a name for your organization account.
    Field to type an organization name
  7. Under "Full name", type your full name.
    Full name field
  8. Under "Work email", type the email address you use for work.
    Work email field
  9. Use the Industry drop-down menu, and select the industry your company is in.
    Industry drop-down menu
  10. Use the Number of employees drop-down menu, and select the number of employees at your company.
    Number of employees drop-down menu
  11. Review the Evaluation License Agreement, then click Next.

Exploring GitHub Enterprise Cloud

After setting up your trial, you can explore GitHub Enterprise Cloud by following the Enterprise Onboarding Guide.

For information on planned features and products, see the GitHub public roadmap.

Finishing your trial

You can buy GitHub Enterprise or downgrade to GitHub Team at any time during your trial.

If you don't purchase GitHub Enterprise or GitHub Team before your trial ends, your organization will be downgraded to GitHub Free and lose access to any advanced tooling and features that are only included with paid products, including GitHub Pages sites published from those private repositories. If you don't plan to upgrade, to avoid losing access to advanced features, make the repositories public before your trial ends. For more information, see "Setting repository visibility."

Downgrading to GitHub Free for organizations also disables any SAML settings configured during the trial period. Once you purchase GitHub Enterprise or GitHub Team, your SAML settings will be enabled again for users in your organization to authenticate.

  1. In the top right corner of GitHub Enterprise, click your profile photo, then click Your profile.
    Profile photo
  2. On the left side of your profile page, under "Organizations", click the icon for your organization.
    organization icons
  3. Under your organization name, click Settings.
    Organization settings button
  4. In your organization's Settings sidebar, click Billing.
    Billing settings
  5. Under "GitHub Enterprise Cloud Free Trial", click Buy Enterprise or Downgrade to Team.
    Buy Enterprise and Downgrade to Team buttons
  6. Follow the prompts to enter your payment method, then click Submit.

Further reading

Ask a human

Can't find what you're looking for?

Contact us