Why GitHub Releases Isn’t Enough for Binary Distribution

GitHub Releases is fine for weekend projects. But if you care about your users, you need something better.

If you’re like me, you’ve shipped binaries through GitHub Releases because it is right there in the repo. It looks simple, it’s free, and for many open source projects it’s the default.

The problem is, GitHub Releases was never really designed for proper binary distribution. It works fine for attaching a zip or tarball, but as soon as your project starts relying on binaries, cracks begin to show.

Here are the main pain points I’ve run into:

1. Poor user experience

Users have to click through the release page and manually pick files. Direct URLs exist but are long and brittle. If you want someone to install via a package manager, GitHub Releases gives you nothing.

2. No download insights

You cannot see which versions are popular or how many times a binary has been downloaded. If you’re shipping multiple builds, you are essentially guessing which ones people actually need.

3. Limited automation

GitHub Actions lets you upload artifacts, but that’s it. There’s no API for stats, no built-in APT or YUM repo support, and you end up writing extra scripts to fill gaps that should not exist.

What developers really need

For projects shipping binaries, the essentials are:

• Easy hosting and sharing of binaries

• Real download analytics

• Support for package managers like APT and YUM

• CI/CD integration without friction

• A service built specifically for binaries

That’s why I built ZipZen. It is lightweight release hosting for developers. You get reliable binary hosting, zero-config APT/YUM repositories, and download statistics (more detailed analytics coming soon).

GitHub Releases will always exist as a basic option, but if you care about your users and your workflow, the cracks are impossible to ignore. If you’ve been frustrated with binary distribution, ZipZen might be worth checking out.

I’d love to hear from you: how do you currently handle distributing binaries for your projects?