Introduction

Bitbucket has announced major changes to its Free plan, effective April 28, 2025. These updates significantly limit storage, user access, and key features for free-tier users. If your workspace exceeds the new limits, you’ll need to either upgrade to a paid plan or migrate to an alternative platform like GitHub.

In this guide, we’ll cover:
✅ What’s changing in Bitbucket’s Free plan
✅ A detailed comparison between Bitbucket and GitHub Free
✅ Step-by-step instructions to migrate your repositories to GitHub

What’s Changing in Bitbucket’s Free Plan?

According to an official email from Atlassian, here are the biggest changes affecting Bitbucket Free users:

• Storage Limit: Free workspaces will be restricted to 1 GB total across all repositories.
• Snippets & Downloads Removed: These features will no longer be available.
• Pipelines Log Retention: CI/CD logs will be deleted after 90 days.
• Inactive Repository Archival: Any repository inactive for 3+ months may be archived.
• Workspace Read-Only Mode: If you exceed limits, your workspace will be locked until you upgrade or reduce storage.

If you rely on Bitbucket Free, these limitations may impact your workflow—especially for teams working with large repositories, pipelines, or frequent automation.

GitHub vs. Bitbucket Free

If you’re considering a move to GitHub, here’s a side-by-side comparison of their Free plans for private repositories:

Step-by-Step Guide: Migrating from Bitbucket to GitHub

If you’ve decided to migrate from Bitbucket to GitHub, follow these steps to transfer your repositories without losing branches, commits, or history.

1. Create a New Repository on GitHub

1. Sign in to GitHub and create a new repository.
2. Do not initialize it with a README, .gitignore, or license.
3. Copy the GitHub repository URL.

2. Clone Your Bitbucket Repository Locally

To preserve all branches, commits, and tags, use the --mirror option:

git clone --mirror https://bitbucket.org/your-username/repository.git

This downloads the entire repository, including remote-tracking branches and metadata.

3. Push the Repository to GitHub

Change to the cloned repository directory:

cd repository.git

Then, update the remote URL to GitHub and push all data:

git remote set-url --push origin https://github.com/your-username/repository.git
git push --mirror

This transfers everything—branches, commits, and tags—to GitHub.

4. Verify the Migration

• Check your repository on GitHub to confirm all branches and history are intact.
• Update local clones to point to GitHub instead of Bitbucket:

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/your-username/repository.git

5. (Optional) Migrate CI/CD Pipelines

If you used Bitbucket Pipelines, you’ll need to migrate to GitHub Actions.

Create workflows in .github/workflows/ using YAML configuration files. GitHub provides actions for Docker, Node.js, Python, Java, and more to automate builds and deployments.

6. (Optional) Delete Your Bitbucket Repository

Once everything is successfully migrated and tested, you can delete your Bitbucket repository from Settings → Repository Details → Delete Repository.

Conclusion

If you’re affected by the Bitbucket Free plan limitations, migrating to GitHub Free is a smart move.

✅ More storage (5 GB vs. 1 GB)
✅ Unlimited contributors (vs. Bitbucket’s 5-user limit)
✅ Better CI/CD log retention (indefinite vs. 90 days on Bitbucket)
✅ No automatic archiving of inactive repositories

For individuals, open-source projects, and small teams, GitHub offers a better long-term free option with fewer restrictions and more flexibility.