Best Private Maven Repository for Small Teams (2026 Guide)

Small teams need a private Maven repository that works from day one, doesn’t require a dedicated DevOps engineer, and won’t surprise them with a massive bill when their CI/CD pipeline runs overnight. The best options for 5-10 person teams in 2026 are CloudRepo (simplest setup, predictable pricing), self-hosted Nexus (free but complex), and GitHub Packages (convenient if you’re all-in on GitHub). JFrog Artifactory and AWS CodeArtifact work but are often overkill or lock you in.

If you’re a small team shipping Java, Kotlin, or Scala software, you’ve probably hit the moment where sharing artifacts between projects becomes necessary. Maybe you have a shared utility library, internal SDKs, or you’re setting up proper CI/CD. You need somewhere to store your JARs that isn’t “email it to Mike.”

This guide helps you pick the right Maven repository for your team without wasting a weekend on research.

Why Small Teams Need a Private Maven Repository

Before diving into options, let’s be clear about why you need this at all. A private Maven repository gives your team:

Code Sharing Across Projects Internal libraries, shared models, and common utilities become versioned dependencies instead of copy-paste code. Your core-utils library gets a proper version like 1.2.3 that any project can depend on.

Reproducible Builds When builds depend on artifacts with specific versions from a known repository, they work the same way in CI as on a developer’s laptop. No more “works on my machine.”

Speed and Reliability A repository that caches external dependencies means faster builds and no single point of failure. When Maven Central has a bad day, your builds keep running.

Security and Control Proprietary code stays private. You control who can read and write artifacts. Audit logs show who deployed what and when.

What Small Teams Should Look For

Enterprise repository features lists run long: RBAC, LDAP integration, vulnerability scanning, replication, license compliance, and dozens more. Most of these don’t matter when you’re 5-10 people trying to ship software.

Here’s what actually matters:

1. Pricing That Scales Sensibly

Small teams have small budgets. You need pricing that:

• Starts reasonably (under $300/month)
• Doesn’t explode when your CI runs 50 builds a day
• Doesn’t charge per user (your team will grow)
• Includes the support you’ll actually need

The killer is usually egress fees - charges for downloading artifacts. Your CI pipeline might download the same dependencies hundreds of times per day. Metered pricing can turn a $150/month baseline into a $1,500/month surprise.

2. Quick Setup (No DevOps Overhead)

You don’t have a dedicated DevOps engineer. You need:

• Account creation in minutes
• Repository ready without infrastructure work
• Maven configuration that copy-pastes into settings.xml
• Deployment working within an hour, not a week

Self-hosted options mean maintaining servers, managing updates, and debugging infrastructure. For small teams, that’s often a poor trade even when the software is free.

3. Good Enough Features (Not Enterprise Bloat)

You need:

• Maven repository hosting (and maybe Gradle, npm, or PyPI)
• User authentication and basic permissions
• HTTPS (non-negotiable in 2026)
• Decent uptime and reliability

You probably don’t need:

• Global replication across 5 continents
• 47 different authentication providers
• Vulnerability scanning with 15 policy engines
• Enterprise sales calls to enable features

4. Room to Grow

Your team will grow. Your artifact count will grow. Your build frequency will grow. Pick something that:

• Has a clear upgrade path
• Doesn’t require migration to a different product at scale
• Won’t price you out when you hit 20 people

Options Compared

Let’s walk through the realistic options for small teams in 2026.

Self-Hosted Nexus Repository OSS

The pitch: Free and open source. You control everything.

Reality for small teams: You’re trading money for time, and time is usually more scarce.

Setup time: 2-4 hours minimum to get running, plus ongoing maintenance

Cost: $0 for software, but:

• Compute costs (EC2, GCE, etc.): $50-200/month
• Storage: $20-50/month
• Your time maintaining it: Priceless (and not in a good way)

Pros:

• Actually free if you value your time at $0
• Full control over configuration
• No vendor dependency

Cons:

• You’re responsible for uptime
• Security patches require your attention
• Backups are your problem
• SSL certificates are your problem
• Scaling is your problem

JFrog Artifactory Cloud

The pitch: Industry standard, enterprise-grade, all the features.

Reality for small teams: Expensive, complex pricing, and you’ll pay for features you never use.

Setup time: 30-60 minutes

Cost: This is where it gets painful.

• Base price: $150/month (includes only 25GB storage + transfer combined)
• Consumption fees: $0.75-$1.25 per GB for storage AND transfer
• A 5-person team with moderate CI usage can easily hit $500-800/month

Let’s do the math for a typical small team:

• 20 GB stored artifacts
• 100 GB/month CI downloads (5 builds/day x 20 days x 1GB)
• Total: ~120 GB usage
• Cost: $150 base + (95 GB x $1.25) = $269/month minimum

And that’s conservative. Heavy CI usage can triple this.

Pros:

• Feature-complete
• Good documentation
• Industry reputation

Cons:

• Consumption pricing punishes active CI/CD
• Complex pricing calculator required
• Enterprise focus means complexity you don’t need
• Support costs extra

For a deeper dive into JFrog’s pricing model, see our JFrog Artifactory Pricing Guide.

GitHub Packages

The pitch: Already using GitHub? Packages are built in.

Reality for small teams: Convenient but limited, especially for Maven.

Setup time: 15-30 minutes if you’re already on GitHub

Cost:

• Free tier includes 500 MB storage and 1 GB transfer/month
• Paid: $0.25/GB storage, $0.50/GB transfer after free tier

Pros:

• Zero new accounts to create
• Integrated with GitHub Actions
• Familiar UI

Cons:

• Maven support is second-class (npm is the priority)
• No repository browsing UI
• Limited features (no proxying, no virtual repositories)
• Transfer fees add up with CI/CD

GitHub Packages works if you’re building a single Maven project and your needs are simple. It starts to strain when you need multiple repositories, want to browse artifacts, or run builds frequently.

AWS CodeArtifact

The pitch: AWS-native, integrates with your existing AWS infrastructure.

Reality for small teams: Vendor lock-in and complex IAM setup.

Setup time: 1-2 hours (more if IAM gives you trouble)

Cost:

• Storage: $0.05/GB/month
• Requests: $0.05 per 10,000 requests
• Data transfer: Standard AWS egress rates ($0.09/GB)

The request pricing is unusual. A single mvn clean install can generate hundreds of requests. This adds up.

Pros:

• Cheap storage
• Native AWS IAM integration
• Works well if you’re all-in on AWS

Cons:

• IAM complexity for Maven authentication
• AWS lock-in
• Request pricing is hard to predict
• Setting up Maven with AWS auth is painful

CloudRepo

The pitch: Built for teams like yours. Simple setup, predictable pricing, real support.

Reality for small teams: What you need, nothing you don’t.

Setup time: 5-15 minutes

Cost:

• Starter plan: $199/month for 50 GB storage
• Unlimited data transfer (no egress fees)
• Unlimited users (no per-seat pricing)
• Support included (no extra contracts)

Pros:

• Predictable monthly cost
• No egress fees (CI can run freely)
• Setup measured in minutes
• Support from engineers who use the product
• 10 years serving development teams as a founder-led company

Cons:

• Smaller company than JFrog
• Fewer enterprise features (which you don’t need)

Cost Comparison: Real Numbers for a 5-10 Person Team

Let’s model a realistic small team scenario:

Assumptions:

• 10 developers
• 30 GB stored artifacts
• 150 GB/month downloads (CI/CD + developer builds)
• Need: Maven repository with reliable uptime and basic support

The “cheapest” option (AWS CodeArtifact) comes with IAM complexity and AWS dependency. The “free” option (Nexus) costs your team’s time. CloudRepo sits in the sweet spot: predictable pricing that includes everything, with zero operational burden.

Setup Comparison: Time to First Artifact

Here’s how long it takes to go from “we need a Maven repository” to “artifact deployed.”

For small teams, the fastest path to working builds matters. Every hour spent on infrastructure is an hour not spent on your actual product.

Decision Framework

Use this framework to pick the right option for your team:

Choose Self-Hosted Nexus if:

• You have dedicated DevOps capacity
• You have strict data residency requirements
• You genuinely enjoy infrastructure work
• Your time has zero opportunity cost

Choose JFrog Artifactory if:

• You’re a larger team (20+) with enterprise requirements
• You need advanced features like replication and scanning
• Budget isn’t a constraint
• You want industry-standard tooling

Choose GitHub Packages if:

• You’re already all-in on GitHub
• Your needs are simple (one or two repositories)
• You don’t need repository browsing or advanced features
• Low build frequency keeps transfer costs down

Choose AWS CodeArtifact if:

• You’re heavily invested in AWS infrastructure
• Your team is comfortable with IAM
• You want to consolidate on AWS billing
• Vendor lock-in doesn’t concern you

Choose CloudRepo if:

• You want to ship software, not manage infrastructure
• Predictable pricing matters to your budget
• You value setup time measured in minutes
• You want support from people who actually use the product

Getting Started with CloudRepo

If CloudRepo sounds like the right fit, here’s how to get from zero to deployed in about 5 minutes.

1. Create Your Account

Head to cloudrepo.io/signup and create an account. No credit card required for the trial.

2. Create a Maven Repository

In the dashboard, create a new repository. You’ll get a URL like:

https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/maven-releases

3. Configure Maven

Add your credentials to ~/.m2/settings.xml:

<settings>
  <servers>
    <server>
      <id>cloudrepo</id>
      <username>your-username</username>
      <password>your-password</password>
    </server>
  </servers>
</settings>

4. Configure Your Project

Add the repository to your pom.xml:

<distributionManagement>
  <repository>
    <id>cloudrepo</id>
    <url>https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/maven-releases</url>
  </repository>
  <snapshotRepository>
    <id>cloudrepo</id>
    <url>https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/maven-snapshots</url>
  </snapshotRepository>
</distributionManagement>

5. Deploy

mvn clean deploy

That’s it. Your artifact is now in your private repository, accessible to your team and CI/CD pipeline.

CI/CD Integration

Your private Maven repository is only as useful as its integration with your build pipeline. Here’s a quick GitHub Actions example:

name: Build and Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up JDK 21
        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
        with:
          java-version: '21'
          distribution: 'temurin'
          cache: maven

      - name: Configure Maven
        run: |
          mkdir -p ~/.m2
          echo '<settings>
            <servers>
              <server>
                <id>cloudrepo</id>
                <username>${{ secrets.MAVEN_USERNAME }}</username>
                <password>${{ secrets.MAVEN_PASSWORD }}</password>
              </server>
            </servers>
          </settings>' > ~/.m2/settings.xml

      - name: Build and Deploy
        run: mvn -B clean deploy

With CloudRepo’s unmetered data transfer, this workflow can run as often as you need without affecting your bill.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much storage do small teams typically need?

Most 5-10 person teams use 10-30 GB for the first year. The Starter plan’s 50 GB gives you room to grow. If you’re generating lots of large artifacts (like Docker images or ML models), you might need more.

Can I migrate from another repository manager?

Yes. Maven artifacts follow a standard format. You can use mvn deploy:deploy-file to upload existing artifacts, or CloudRepo support can help with bulk migration.

What about Python packages?

CloudRepo supports Python (PyPI), npm, and other formats. Small teams often start with Maven and add other repositories as their stack diversifies.

Do I need separate repositories for releases and snapshots?

Yes, this is Maven best practice. Snapshots are mutable (you can redeploy the same version), while releases are immutable. CloudRepo makes it easy to create both.

What happens if I exceed my storage limit?

You’ll get a notification before you hit the limit. Upgrading is instant with no migration required. We don’t cut off access or charge overage fees.

The Bottom Line

For most small teams in 2026, the choice comes down to:

1. CloudRepo - Best balance of simplicity, pricing, and features
2. GitHub Packages - Convenient if you’re GitHub-native and have simple needs
3. Self-hosted Nexus - Only if you have DevOps capacity and enjoy infrastructure

JFrog Artifactory is excellent software, but its pricing model and complexity target enterprises, not startups. AWS CodeArtifact works if you’re already deep in AWS, but the setup friction and lock-in are real costs.

CloudRepo exists specifically for teams like yours: developers who want to ship software, not manage repository infrastructure. Fixed pricing means no surprises. Five-minute setup means you’re deploying today. Real support means when something’s confusing, you talk to an engineer, not a chatbot.

Ready to set up your private Maven repository? Start your 14-day free trial and deploy your first artifact in under 10 minutes. Have questions about your specific situation? Talk to our founder - we actually respond to emails.