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Dosu pricing: what are the limits on Free vs Pro, and when should I upgrade for private repos?
Quick Answer: Dosu’s Free (Explore) plan lets you test core features on public repos with limited usage. Pro unlocks private repositories, higher limits, and custom Templates—upgrade as soon as Dosu needs to read or maintain non-public code or internal docs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main differences between Dosu Free and Pro?
Short Answer: Free (Explore) is for trying Dosu on public repos with limited usage; Pro unlocks private repositories, custom doc Templates, and higher usage so you can run Dosu against your real, day-to-day work.
Expanded Explanation:
On Free, you get the core Dosu experience: self-documenting PRs, auto-synced docs, on-demand doc generation, the MCP Server for agents, and the Dosu web chat. The catch: it’s for public repositories only and with limited monthly usage. That’s intentional—Free is your “does this fit our workflow?” sandbox.
Pro is where Dosu becomes part of your real engineering loop. You can connect private GitHub and GitLab repos, define custom Templates (yes, including the TPS Report one), and run Dosu at much higher volume without worrying about hitting the ceiling in the middle of a release. It’s designed for solo devs and small teams who want Knowledge CI/CD on the code that actually matters to the business.
Key Takeaways:
- Free = core features, public repos only, limited usage.
- Pro = everything in Free + private repos, custom Templates, and higher limits.
How does Dosu’s Free plan actually work in practice?
Short Answer: Free gives you self-documenting PRs, doc sync, and agent context on public repos with capped monthly usage so you can validate the workflow before paying.
Expanded Explanation:
On the Explore (Free) plan, you install the Dosu GitHub or GitLab app on public repositories. Dosu then starts doing what it’s built for: generating and updating docs from PRs, tickets, and code changes, and answering Questions via Dosu Web Chat. You also get the MCP Server so coding agents can pull fresh, repo-specific context without you wiring up a bunch of custom plumbing.
The trade-off is scope and volume. Free is limited to public repositories and has limited monthly usage. That keeps it perfect for OSS projects, side experiments, or internal evaluations, but not for running against your entire private monolith or every internal service.
Steps:
- Connect a public GitHub or GitLab repository to Dosu on the Free plan.
- Enable Dosu on PRs and import any existing docs you want it to maintain.
- Watch Dosu generate and update documentation + answers until you hit usage limits, then decide if you need Pro for more volume or private code.
Do I need Pro specifically for private repositories?
Short Answer: Yes. If you want Dosu to work on private GitHub or GitLab repositories, you’ll need to upgrade to Pro (or higher).
Expanded Explanation:
Free is intentionally scoped to public repos. That’s great for OSS maintainers, community projects, and evaluation. But the moment you want Dosu to document internal services, closed-source libraries, or proprietary product code, you’re in Pro territory.
On Pro, you can connect private repositories with the same security posture Dosu uses for bigger customers: SOC 2 Type II, zero trust, never trains on private data, and you retain full ownership of your code. You get the same features—self-documenting PRs, Templates, Reports, Answers—but now pointed at the code that doesn’t live on GitHub’s public timeline.
Comparison Snapshot:
- Free (Explore): Public repos only, limited monthly usage, core features.
- Pro: Public + private repos, higher usage, custom Templates, more “always on” coverage.
- Best for: Upgrade to Pro as soon as your real bottleneck is stale knowledge inside private repos, not just in public OSS.
When should I upgrade from Free to Pro for private repos?
Short Answer: Upgrade when (a) you need Dosu on private code, or (b) you’re hitting Free usage limits while your team is still asking the same questions in Slack and PRs.
Expanded Explanation:
The trigger is almost never “you hit a paywall.” The trigger is “knowledge became the bottleneck on real, private work.” If your internal PR reviews drag because context lives in five stale docs, if onboarding involves reading a graveyard of Notion pages, or if your AI agents hallucinate because they don’t see the latest changes—that’s when Pro pays for itself.
Practically, that moment usually shows up as:
- You’ve proven the flow on a public repo and want the same self-documenting behavior on your core services.
- Your team is asking Dosu questions it can’t fully answer without access to private code or support docs.
- You’re bumping into Free’s usage ceiling during active development cycles.
What You Need:
- At least one private repo where stale docs or repeated questions are slowing work.
- A clear sense of the workflows you want Dosu in (PRs, issues, tickets, agent context) so Pro can immediately hit those bottlenecks.
How should I think strategically about Free vs Pro for my team?
Short Answer: Use Free to prove that Knowledge CI/CD fits your workflow; move to Pro to turn Dosu into a permanent automation layer for private code, agents, and internal audiences.
Expanded Explanation:
Free is your lab environment. You wire Dosu into a public repo, watch it generate and maintain docs, and see if “documentation behaves like software” resonates with your team. No risk, no private data, no security approvals required.
Pro is the production rollout. This is where Dosu plugs into your private repos, keeps your internal docs fresh, feeds accurate context to AI agents via the MCP Server, and publishes back into GitHub, Confluence, and Notion so everyone sees the same thing. Strategically, the move from Free to Pro is the move from “this is a cool bot” to “this is how we prevent stale docs and conflicting knowledge across the org.”
Why It Matters:
- Impact on engineers & agents: Less time explaining the same decisions in PRs and threads; agents ship better changes because they see the real context.
- Impact on the business: Faster onboarding, fewer support escalations driven by bad docs, and a clean audit trail of “when did this knowledge change and why?”
Quick Recap
Dosu’s Free (Explore) plan gives you core features—self-documenting PRs, doc sync, on-demand generation, MCP Server, and web chat—for public repositories with limited usage. Pro unlocks private repositories, higher usage limits, and custom Templates so Dosu can live where your real work and IP live. Upgrade when you’re ready to automate documentation and answers on private code, not just experiment on public projects.