diff --git a/applicationset/services/pull_request/github.go b/applicationset/services/pull_request/github.go
index 2340ed3f444a4..dd63a68105552 100644
--- a/applicationset/services/pull_request/github.go
+++ b/applicationset/services/pull_request/github.go
@@ -26,7 +26,11 @@ func NewGithubService(token, url, owner, repo string, labels []string) (PullRequ
 	httpClient := &http.Client{}
 	var client *github.Client
 	if url == "" {
-		client = github.NewClient(httpClient).WithAuthToken(token)
+		if token == "" {
+			client = github.NewClient(httpClient)
+		} else {
+			client = github.NewClient(httpClient).WithAuthToken(token)
+		}
 	} else {
 		var err error
 		client, err = github.NewClient(httpClient).WithEnterpriseURLs(url, url)
diff --git a/applicationset/services/scm_provider/github.go b/applicationset/services/scm_provider/github.go
index ac1c49010f384..41680b0145269 100644
--- a/applicationset/services/scm_provider/github.go
+++ b/applicationset/services/scm_provider/github.go
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ func NewGithubProvider(organization string, token string, url string, allBranche
 	httpClient := &http.Client{}
 	var client *github.Client
 	if url == "" {
-		client = github.NewClient(httpClient).WithAuthToken(token)
+		if token == "" {
+			client = github.NewClient(httpClient)
+		} else {
+			client = github.NewClient(httpClient).WithAuthToken(token)
+		}
 	} else {
 		var err error
 		client, err = github.NewClient(httpClient).WithEnterpriseURLs(url, url)