I used it as an example as I know HN users complain about it quite often: here are some references. Call it what you will, but a lot of people seem to disagree with per-repository pricing for small low-usage repositories, just because they are private.
"For Git projects, the per-repo pricing of Github is insane. They don't even have a public pricing plan for the number of repos I'd need for my personal (and private) coding." -- http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2740757
It's brutal when you think that if you made one giant repo they'd do it for almost nothing, but because you picked this other layout it could cost you $20-$50/month.
I want prices to be based on resource usage for the most part. If I've got a huge repo and I'm always using it, that would cost more. If I've got fifty tiny and essentially static projects then they'd be almost free to host. Give me non-arbitrary pricing and I'll be there.
I (have a private Github account. Let me echo something, "... when you think that if you made one giant repo they'd do it for almost nothing".
In other words, if my project was "open" Github would cost nothing. That's burtal.
Frankly I don't mind paying for repo services. I used Assembla for years. But then I moved away from svn. My problem is the price compared to all the free accounts. I (and all the other paying customers) are subsiding the open repos.
Now that's ok. I do gain from that, since I have several repos (projects) I follow and use. So it pays for itself in the long run. Sort of like public broadcasting. It's the same business model; I donate money every year to both PBS and NPR for the pleasure of tuning in. And I know the guy sitting in the car next to me blasting "Car Talk" probably didn't pay a dime.
That's great (seriously: it is); however, I think it is then important to realize (for others) that GitHub's business model is closer to that of PBS than CBS: they are, in the long run, relying on the fact that they are doing the world a public good, and when competitors with enticing "fair" price points enter this space more powerfully, it will be interesting to see if they manage to "keep up the donation drives" enough to continue subsidizing the world's open source. (edit:) ...especially, to continue the additional point I have been bringing up in this thread, when this competitors are able to "outrun" GitHub, because they aren't carrying around that baggage: they can focus, intently, right where the profit is, allowing them to rip as much of it away from GitHub as they can.
Well, I wouldn't call $7 (5 private repos, 1 private, oo public collaborators) to $20 a month (10 private repos, oo private collaborators, oo private collaborators) "brutal".