Let’s assume that you are working on a programming project or app and you want to make it open source. There are few ways to do that. It doesn’t matter which way you follow, you need to share your files to make it an open source project. For that, you need to host your files. To help you in that, here are some websites those will let you host your files without any problem. You can share your files with anybody you want and anybody from anywhere in the world can access your files.

Best Ways to Host Open Source Project

1] Github

Github is one of the best tools out there that you can use to host your open source projects. No matter whether you have one project or fifty, you can certainly host the files on Github without any problem. Although many people have ditched this website after the Microsoft’s acquisition, there is still many essential things you can get on Github those are unavailable on other websites. If you are willing to work as open source projects for public, you do not have to pay any rent. Otherwise, you need to pay a couple of dollars to get started. The Developer plan costs around $7/month. On the other hand, you can use the TEAM plan that costs around $9/user/month. Those plans will let you create private projects. This website is being used by millions of people from across the globe. No matter whether you want to share a C# code or PHP or HTML+CSS, you can do everything on this website. Following that, you will get a unique link that you can share with anyone. The best thing is there are multiple WordPress plugins those can let you insert the Github code in your blog post. Hence, you can offer a better view to your readers.

2] Sourceforge

No matter if you have an open source mobile app or PC software, you can host that on Sourceforge for free. The best thing about using Sourceforge is you can host your project for as long as you want at free of cost. According to the official statement, more than 33 million users are using this website and you can imagine how big it is by this number. Every week more than 20 million downloads happen. Regarding compatibility, you can host any software of any platform including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows Phone and so on. Although many people think that Sourceforge is the best alternative to Github, they are quite different in terms of functionality and flexibility. Considering everything, you can use this website without any issue.

3] Own Website

If you want to pursue your career as a software or app developer, you should check out every possible option. When you need to host your files for a long time without any problem, creating your own website is probably the best choice. No matter what website you use, you will end up getting some problem, for sure. However, if you create your own website to host your files, you will have more flexibility, and customization options. You can edit your files anytime from being anywhere. You can update your files always. The best thing is you do not have to hand over your hard work to some third-party websites. However, there is one drawback. You need to spend some money for hosting. However, nowadays that has become quite cheap and as low as $5/month (Digital Ocean).

4] Gitlab

If you want to find the best Github alternative, you can head over to GitLab website, which is free and very easy to use. In fact, some of the essential features of Github is also available on Gitlab. Therefore, if you are switching from Github to Gitlab, you would not have any problem. Talking about the features, you will get these:

• Built-in CI/CD
• Issue boards
• Time tracking
• Cycle analytics
• Preview your changes with review apps
• Publish static websites for free with GitLab pages
• Git LFS 2.0 support
• Burndown Charts
• Issue weights
• Multiple project issue boards
• Related issues
• Multiple assignees for issues
• Configurable issue boards
• Issue board focus mode
• Next business day support
• Multiple approvals in code
• Group webhooks
• Push rules
• Block secret file push
• Remote repository pull mirroring
• Lock project membership to group
• Export issues as CSV
• Code quality

And many others. However, not all the mentioned options are available for the FREE account holders. You can get a lot of options if you opt for BRONZE, SILVER or GOLD account. The BRONZE plan costs your around $4/user/month and the GOLD plan costs around $99/user/month.

4] Google Drive

If you have been reading the similar articles on different websites, you might not get this option as a Github alternative. Undoubtedly, Google Drive is one of the best cloud storages out there, which is being used millions of people and being developed by Google, the web giant. You can use Google Drive to host your files and share that with anyone. That way, you do not have to worry about any restriction. You can write down your code and make the file you want. Following that, you can upload the file on Google Drive. Later on, you can share the link of that file with anyone you want. The file won’t be deleted unless you want and that is one advantage of using Google Drive instead of anything else to host your open-source project. For different projects, you can use different folders. Hence, you do not have to worry about file management as well.

That’s all! These four tools are the best to host open source projects. Considering everything, creating your own website is probably the best option. However, you can try Github as well. If you do not like Github, try Google Drive option and later, you can try Gitlab.