GitHub Pages Requires Public Repositories | Generated by AI
Right — if you make your GitHub Pages repository private, you lose the free GitHub Pages hosting.
GitHub Pages only works automatically when the repo is public. If the repo is private, the github.io site won’t be published unless you’re on a GitHub Enterprise plan with Pages for private repos enabled (that’s a paid feature, not included in free or standard personal accounts).
So for your personal blog at username.github.io:
- Public repo → GitHub Pages builds and serves it at
https://username.github.io/. - Private repo (free account) → GitHub Pages is disabled.
- Private repo (Enterprise) → Still works, but only if your organization enables Pages for private repos.
Do you want me to also explain a workaround (like keeping your main repo private but syncing just the _site output to a separate public repo for publishing)?