Mumbai, Apr 15 (IANS): Microsoft-owned software development platform GitHub on Wednesday announced that it has made private repositories with unlimited collaborators available to all of its users, means that all of its core features are now available for free for everyone.

Until now, if an organization wanted to use GitHub for private development, it had to subscribe for one of GitHub's paid plans.

"We believe every developer should have access to GitHub, and price should not be a barrier. India also has a large and vibrant startup ecosystem and today's announcement will make it easier for those teams to get started with their software development," Maneesh Sharma, General Manager, GitHub India said in a statement.

With the new change, teams can now manage all their work including CI/CD, project management, code review and packages, together in one place.

Teams that need advanced features (like code owners), enterprise features (like SAML), or personalized support can upgrade to one of GitHub's paid plans.

Meanwhile, GitHub is also reducing the price of its paid Team plan from $9 per user/month to $4 per user/month, effective immediately.

Existing customers will have their bills automatically reduced going forward.