Manage multiple clients

Are you a freelance developer working on multiple projects for multiple clients, and want to manage them here on GitHub? Never fear, this guide will detail the most common solutions to this problem.

Using organization accounts

This method gives the control over the repos (and the bill) to your client, but still allows you to administrate and work in all your clients’ repos from your user account.

To start, create an organization account for your client on the free plan. Have the client create a free user account to log in with and then add this account as an owner. They can now upgrade the org to a paid plan, after which you can create and work in repos on their org account.

This approach is the cleanest, it gives the client their own account and keeps those repos within their own context. You can easily switch between each client’s org without cluttering up your personal account with their repos. Unless you or the client chooses to publicize your membership, it won’t be visible to anyone outside the org that you work in that org account.

Using your own account

This approach lets you retain control over the repos, but still gives your clients access to them. In many cases it is the cheapest route overall, though you will be stuck paying the bill yourself (unless you bill it to the client).

To use this strategy, upgrade your personal or org account to a paid plan. Now you can add private repos for the client directly to this account. If the client wishes to access the repos directly, they can create a free personal account and you can add that user as a collaborator (if the repos are on your personal account) or to a team (if the repos are on an org account). With an org account you can also give them admin access to the repo if you wish.