Guide · GitHub plans · facts checked 2026-10-20

Can you use GitHub’s merge queue on the Team plan?

Short answer: not for private repositories. GitHub’s docs say merge queues are available for organization-owned public repositories, and for private repositories only when the organization is on GitHub Enterprise Cloud (on GitHub Enterprise Server, for any organization-owned repository). On GitHub Team, the “Require merge queue” option is not available for a private repo. Source: GitHub Docs, merge queue availability, read 2026-10-20; the same scope was announced at general availability in July 2023.

If your repos are public, you can use the native queue on any organization plan. If they are private and you are on Team, below are the options we know of, with what each costs.

What a merge queue prevents

Two pull requests can each pass CI against an older main, then break main once both are merged. Neither PR was ever tested with the other. A merge queue tests each PR on top of the latest base branch plus the PRs ahead of it, and only merges it if that combination passes. GitHub describes the feature as a way to merge into a busy branch while ensuring the branch is never broken by incompatible changes, without making authors update their branches and wait for checks themselves (Managing a merge queue).

How often this bites depends on how many PRs you merge a day and how long CI takes. With a few developers and a short CI run, it may be rare. With more people and a slow suite, a red main blocks everyone until someone finds and reverts the pair.

Options for private repos on GitHub Team

1. Upgrade to GitHub Enterprise Cloud

This gets you the native queue: no extra app, set up in branch protection or rulesets. GitHub’s pricing page on 2026-10-20 lists Team at “$4 USD per user/month” and Enterprise at “Starting at $21 USD per user/month”, both marked “for the first 12 months*”; we could not find the footnote’s text on the page, so check the price that applies after year one with GitHub. Enterprise is a whole-organization upgrade with many other features. If the queue is the only reason, the difference is about $17 per user per month at those listed prices (our arithmetic). GitHub offers a 30-day Enterprise trial on the same page.

Your GitHub Actions workflows also need the merge_group event so required checks run on the queue’s branches (docs).

2. A hosted merge queue (GitHub App)

Several companies sell merge queues that work on private repos on any GitHub plan. Prices from their own pricing pages, read 2026-10-20; per-seat totals are list price × seats, our arithmetic:

Tool	Free tier	Paid price with a merge queue	10 devs	Source
Mergify	Up to 5 active contributors	$21 per seat per month (15% off yearly)	$210	pricing
Aviator	Free plan lists no MergeQueue	Team: $20 per developer per month, up to 10 repos	$200	pricing
Graphite	No merge queue on Hobby or Starter	Team: $40 per user per month, billed annually	$400	pricing
Trunk	Merge queue for up to 5 committers	Per committer; we could not read a confirmed price on the page	–	pricing

These products do more than queue (batching, parallel lanes, stacked PRs, flaky-test handling, depending on the tool). Check their pages for current terms; prices change.

3. A free open-source GitHub Action

igorjs/gh-actions-merge-queue (MIT) is a first-in, first-out queue built as a composite Action. Its README says it works on private repos with the default GITHUB_TOKEN. It costs nothing but your CI minutes. On 2026-10-20 the repo was new and small (a handful of commits), needs manual branch-protection setup, and starts in a “shadow” mode. You run and maintain it yourself.

4. “Require branches to be up to date before merging”

Available on Team for private repos via branch protection. With strict status checks, a PR can only merge when its branch contains the latest base branch (About protected branches). That gives you the same guarantee as a queue: what merges was tested against current main.

The cost is people and CI. Every time someone else merges, every other open PR is out of date: its author clicks “Update branch”, waits for CI again, and races the next merge. GitHub’s docs note this setting may need more builds. If you also dismiss stale approvals, an update can dismiss an approval and need a re-review. It is free and works fine at low merge volume; it gets slow when several PRs are ready at once.

5. Queue to Main (our product, not open yet)

Disclosure: I built this; it’s the product this site is for. Queue to Main is a GitHub App for private repos on GitHub Team: label a PR queue, it creates a test branch with the latest base plus the PR, waits for your required checks, and merges if they pass. One PR at a time: no batching, no parallel lanes, no uptime guarantee, and if it is down your normal merge flow still works. The planned price is $49 per month per GitHub organization for up to 25 active contributors, with a 14-day trial. Each queued PR runs your CI once more, on your CI bill. It is not open for installs yet; see the overview and setup doc for how it will work.

How to decide

Few merges a day, short CI: “Require branches to be up to date” is free and may be enough.
You also want other Enterprise Cloud features (listed on GitHub’s pricing page): upgrade, and the native queue comes with it.
Up to 5 contributors: Mergify’s and Trunk’s free tiers include a queue.
Need batching, parallel queues or monorepo features: a hosted per-seat queue (Mergify, Aviator, Graphite, Trunk).
Willing to maintain it yourself: the open-source Action.
6–25 developers who only need a single-lane queue and want one flat bill: that is the gap Queue to Main is built for, once it opens.

Sources (all read 2026-10-20)

This page describes GitHub plans and third-party tools as we found them on the date above. Plans and prices change; check the linked pages before you decide.