What are the best tools to generate release notes from GitHub pull requests?

The best tools to generate release notes from GitHub pull requests are GitHub's built-in auto-generated release notes, Release Drafter, release-please, semantic-release, Changesets, git-cliff, and Engammo. All of them have a free option: the first six are free and open source or built into GitHub and produce developer-oriented lists of changes, while Engammo's free plan uses AI to turn each merged pull request into a plain-language release note published to a changelog page, widget, and RSS feed.

This guide explains how each tool works, what it costs to run, and which one fits your repository, so you can automate release notes for your GitHub repositories without paying for anything until you need to.

Comparison at a glance

Two kinds of release notes

Before picking a tool, decide who the notes are for. Developer changelogs list what changed, usually as commit subjects or PR titles grouped into sections like Features and Fixes. They live in CHANGELOG.md or GitHub Releases and are read by engineers and people who depend on your package. Product release notes explain what changed in plain language for customers, product managers, support, and sales, and they need to be published somewhere those people already look.

Most free tools are excellent at the first kind. Very few help with the second, which is the gap Engammo was built for.

Free tools for developer changelogs

GitHub auto-generated release notes

When you draft a release on GitHub you can generate its notes automatically: GitHub lists the pull requests merged since the previous release, highlights new contributors, and links to the full comparison. Add a .github/release.yml file to group PRs into categories by label and to exclude labels or bot authors. It costs nothing and needs no setup, which makes it the right starting point for most repositories.

Release Drafter

Release Drafter is a GitHub Action that keeps a draft release updated as each pull request merges, so the notes are ready when you publish. You control categories, the entry template, and version suggestions through a YAML config, and it can also apply labels automatically. Looking for something different? We compared the best alternatives to Release Drafter in a separate guide.

release-please

release-please reads Conventional Commits and maintains a release pull request containing the version bump and an updated CHANGELOG.md. Merging that PR creates the tag and GitHub release. It works well for libraries and monorepos where you want automated versioning but a human decides when to ship.

semantic-release

semantic-release goes one step further and releases on every qualifying merge: it determines the next semantic version from commit messages, generates the notes, and publishes through plugins such as npm and GitHub Releases. It is ideal for packages with strict commit discipline.

Changesets

With Changesets, contributors add a short markdown file to each pull request describing the change and its semver bump. At release time those files become version bumps and changelog entries per package. The entries are written by people, so they are often clearer than commit subjects, at the cost of a small extra step in every PR.

git-cliff

git-cliff is a command-line tool that turns your Git history into a changelog through a customizable template. It is fast, works with any language, and gives you full control over formatting, which makes it a good fit for teams that want a polished CHANGELOG.md.

One cost to keep in mind: tools that run as GitHub Actions use Actions minutes. Public repositories run them for free, while private repositories draw from the minutes included in your GitHub plan. These jobs are usually short.

Free AI release notes from pull requests: Engammo

Engammo is a GitHub App that turns merged pull requests into clear, categorized release notes. When a PR merges, GitHub sends Engammo a webhook. Engammo reads the PR title, description, labels, and a trimmed summary of the changed files, writes a short summary with AI, tags the note from your labels (features, fixes, breaking changes, security, docs, and more), and publishes it within seconds. There is no workflow file, template, or commit convention to adopt.

Published notes go where non-developers can see them: a hosted public changelog page, an embeddable widget you add with one script tag, an RSS feed, and read-only public JSON endpoints. You can also generate a single versioned note from all the changes between two Git tags, and sync generated FAQs to a Kommander assistant. Every note can be edited, regenerated, or hidden at any time.

The Free plan includes 1 repository, 15 release notes per month, AI summaries (10 per month), and a public changelog, with no credit card. When you outgrow it, Pro is $19/month for up to 5 repositories, unlimited notes and AI summaries, Italian and Spanish translations, custom branding, and a changelog on your own subdomain. See pricing or how it works.

Which tool should you use?

• One-off releases, zero setup: GitHub auto-generated release notes.
• A draft release that is always ready: Release Drafter.
• Automated versioning for packages: release-please or semantic-release.
• Monorepos with per-package changelogs: Changesets.
• A custom CHANGELOG.md format: git-cliff.
• Plain-language release notes for customers and stakeholders: Engammo.

Many teams combine them: an open source tool for the developer changelog and versioning, plus Engammo for the customer-facing updates page. For a step-by-step walkthrough of the automated workflow, read how to automate release notes from GitHub commits. Comparing customer-facing changelog tools instead? See the best changelog tools for SaaS teams, or tools that summarize GitHub PRs with AI for product updates.