How use of Git LFS is measured
Previously, Git LFS billing used pre-paid data packs. These have been removed and replaced with metered billing and you only pay for what you actually use.
Each GitHub account includes a quota of free bandwidth and storage for Git Large File Storage (Git LFS).
- Bandwidth: Your free quota resets at the start of each billing cycle.
- Storage: Charges accrue continuously throughout the month based on hourly usage. Your accrued storage total resets to zero at the beginning of each billing cycle.
If you exceed this quota, what happens next depends on your Git LFS budget setting:
- Budget set to $0: You are not charged for overages, but Git LFS usage is blocked for the rest of the calendar month. Usage resets on the first of the next month.
- Budget deleted: There is no spending limit, and you are billed for all usage beyond the free quota.
Git LFS storage is calculated based on all Git LFS objects associated with a repository, regardless of when they were uploaded. Storage usage is only zero when no Git LFS objects are associated with the repository.
If you delete Git LFS objects partway through a calendar month, the storage usage for that month is not recalculated. Storage resets on the first of the following month.
To learn how to reduce your usage going forward, see Removing files from Git Large File Storage.
Working in a public or private repository with Git LFS:
- When you commit and push a change to a Git LFS file, a new version of the entire file is pushed and the total file size is included in the repository owner's storage use.
- When you download a Git LFS file, the bandwidth you use is included in the repository owner's bandwidth usage.
- When you upload a file to Git LFS, the file is included in the repository owner's storage use but the bandwidth is not measured.
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Anyone with write access to a repository can push files to Git LFS without increasing their personal bandwidth and storage use.
Examples of how usage is measured
- If you push a 500 MB file to Git LFS, you'll use 500 MB of the repository owner's storage and none of their bandwidth. If you make a 1 byte change and push the file again, you'll use another 500 MB of storage and no bandwidth, bringing the total usage for these two pushes to 1 GB of storage and zero bandwidth.
- If you download a 500 MB file that's tracked with Git LFS, you'll use 500 MB of the repository owner's bandwidth. If a collaborator pushes a change to the file and you pull the new version to your local repository, you'll use another 500 MB of bandwidth, bringing the total usage for these two downloads to 1 GB of bandwidth.
- If GitHub Actions downloads a 500 MB file that is tracked with Git LFS, it will use 500 MB of the repository owner's bandwidth.
Git LFS objects in source code archives
If you include Git LFS objects in source code archives for your repository, downloads of those archives will count towards bandwidth usage for the repository. See Managing Git LFS objects in archives of your repository.
Usage in forks
Bandwidth and storage usage always count against the repository owner's account. Forking and pulling a repository counts against the parent repository's bandwidth usage.
Free use of Git LFS
The following amounts of storage and bandwidth for downloads are included in your GitHub plan.
| Plan | Bandwidth | Storage |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Free | 10 GiB | 10 GiB |
| GitHub Pro | 10 GiB | 10 GiB |
| GitHub Free for organizations | 10 GiB | 10 GiB |
| GitHub Team | 250 GiB | 250 GiB |
| GitHub Enterprise Cloud | 250 GiB | 250 GiB |
Using more than your included quota
If you use more than your included quota of storage without a payment method on file:
- You can still clone repositories with large assets
- You will only retrieve the pointer files, see About Git Large File Storage
- You will not be able to push new files back up
If you use more than your included quota of bandwidth per month without a payment method on file, Git LFS support is disabled on your account until the next month.
Paying for additional Git LFS use
You pay for any additional use above your quota using the payment method set up for your GitHub account. See Managing your payment and billing information.
Bandwidth is billed for each GiB of data downloaded. Storage is billed by calculating an hourly usage rate.
- To estimate costs for paid Git LFS usage, use the GitHub pricing calculator.
- To view your current storage and bandwidth, see Viewing your usage of metered products and licenses.
Example storage cost calculation
For example, if you use 1 GiB above what is included for free for the first 15 days of April, then use 2 GiB starting from April 16th to the end of the month, your storage costs will be calculated in the following way.
- 1 GiB × 15 days × 24 hours per day = 360 GiB-hours
- 2 GiB × 15 days × 24 hours per day = 720 GiB-hours
- 360 GiB-hours + 720 GiB-hours = 1080 GiB-hours
- 1080 GiB-hours / 720 hours in the month = 1.5 GiB-months
In this example, you would pay for 1.5 GiB of additional storage for the month of April.
Included usage alerts for Git LFS
You can receive email notifications when your included Git LFS usage reaches 90% and 100% during a billing period. See Git Large File Storage billing to learn more about why you may be receiving the notification.
For more information, including on how to disable them, see Budgets and alerts.
If you’d like to continue using LFS storage and bandwidth for the current calendar month, you can adjust the account’s budget to allow overages. On your next billing date, you’ll be charged for the actual usage in the previous calendar month.
Managing your budget for Git LFS
If your account does not have a valid payment method on file, usage is blocked once you use up your quota.
If you have a valid payment method on file, spending may be limited by one or more budgets. Check the budgets set for your account to ensure they are appropriate for your usage needs. See Setting up budgets to control spending on metered products.