When Microsoft paid $7.5 billion for GitHub in 2018, it secured a platform for modern software development. Today, GitHub has grown to 180 million developers. In terms of scale, it is bigger than before. However, in AI-assisted coding, it is losing its hold.
Repeated outages, a leadership void following the departure of former CEO Thomas Dohmke, a security breach that exposed nearly 3,800 internal code libraries, and increasing competition from tools like Cursor and Anthropic’s Cloud Code have eroded GitHub’s early advantage.
For Satya Nadella, the situation reflects Microsoft’s broader struggle to turn its AI leadership into dominance.
Since March, GitHub has suffered more than a dozen outages lasting more than an hour. This tension traces back to its reliance on legacy data center infrastructure rather than fully migrating to Azure.
Under the increasing demand for AI coding, capacity limitations are beginning to appear. GitHub now works on a mix of its own as well as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle cloud systems.
GitHub’s technology chief Vlad Fedorov acknowledged the issue, writing, “We have not met our own availability standards.” The impact has been significant. Cisco flagged the disruptions internally, while Michelle Hashimoto wrote that GitHub “is no longer the place for serious work if it bogs you down for hours every day, every day.”
Zipline co-founder Ryan Oxenhorn said his company is “still cleaning up its mess” after a code change caused by a bug.
Leadership instability has further aggravated the problem. Dohmke has not been replaced, and longtime Microsoft executive Julia Liuson recently announced her retirement. Armin Ronacher summarized this sentiment: “The site has no leadership… It’s a miracle that things are going as they are.”
Additionally, Cursor has overtaken GitHub Copilot in market share, while Anthropic’s Cloud Code and Google’s Gemini Code Assist are gaining popularity. Despite launching Copilot early, GitHub has struggled to maintain momentum.
Now, there is a risk of further adverse reactions from changes in pricing. GitHub is moving Copilot to usage-based billing, which has raised concerns among developers. One user, Jeremy Bray, said, “I canceled my GitHub Pro account… which can’t do much.”
Rivals are taking advantage of this opportunity. Bill Staples wrote: “Tired of pain yet? Come to GitLab and take back control of your destiny.”
