The 2026 CI/CD platform cost comparison
Seven platforms compared on identical workloads. Methodology: 10 devs, 4,000 build minutes per month, 70% Linux, 10% ARM, 10% Windows, 10% macOS. For custom numbers, use the interactive calculator.
Rate comparison table
| Platform | Free tier | Linux $/min | ARM $/min | Windows $/min | macOS $/min | Concurrency | Self-host | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Actions (Hosted) | 2,000 min/mo | $0.006 | $0.005 | $0.010 | $0.062 | 20 max | Yes (free) | GitHub-native teams |
| CircleCI | 30,000 credits/mo | $0.006 | $0.0078 | $0.024 | $0.120 | Up to 80 | Yes (self-hosted runner) | Complex workflows, parallelism |
| GitLab CI | 400 min/mo | $0.005 | $0.005 | $0.007 | N/A | Plan-based | Yes (self-managed) | Integrated SCM + CI/CD |
| Buildkite | Free: $0 (up to 5 users) | Your infra | Your infra | Your infra | Your infra | Up to 250 agents (Pro) | Required (or hosted agents) | Large teams wanting control |
| Azure DevOps | 1,800 min/mo | $0.0056 | $0.0028 | $0.0070 | N/A | $40/parallel job | Yes (unlimited min) | Microsoft-native orgs, Windows builds |
| AWS CodeBuild | 100 min/mo | $0.005 | $0.004 | $0.007 | N/A | Account limits | No | AWS-native teams (ECR, ECS) |
| Jenkins (self-hosted) | Software free | EC2 cost | EC2 cost | EC2 cost | Mac hardware | Your infra | Required | Maximum control, large scale, legacy |
Mint = best in column. Orange = most expensive or requires investigation. Rates sourced from vendor documentation, August 2026; Buildkite re-read from buildkite.com on 1 October 2026. Azure DevOps is billed per parallel job ($40/month Microsoft-hosted, $15/month self-hosted, unlimited minutes on the paid tier); the $/min shown is an effective rate at our benchmark utilisation, not a published per-minute price.
Staying on GitHub Actions but swapping the runner? External runner providers are compared in the runner shootout, with a pricing guide for each: Depot, Namespace, Blacksmith, Ubicloud and RunsOn. Buildkite's plans and hosted agents are broken down on the Buildkite pricing page.
Per-platform analysis
GitHub Actions (Hosted)
RATES
Since the January 2026 repricing: Linux x86 $0.006/min, Linux ARM $0.005/min, Windows $0.010/min, macOS (3-4 core) $0.062/min. Included minutes drain at OS multipliers: Linux 1x, Windows 2x, macOS 10x.
INCLUDED MINUTES
Free plan: 2,000 min/mo. Pro/Team: 3,000 min/mo. Enterprise: 50,000 min/mo.
STRENGTHS
- +Deep GitHub integration with OIDC, Packages, Secrets, and Environments
- +ARM Linux runners ~17% cheaper than x86
- +Active ecosystem of third-party actions
- +January 2026 price cut lowered hosted rates by up to 39%
WEAKNESSES
- -macOS drains included minutes at 10x and is the priciest hosted runner at $0.062/min
- -Windows drains included minutes at 2x, often cheaper in Azure DevOps for Windows-heavy teams
- -Self-hosted runners are free, but the proposed 2026 platform fee shows GitHub may revisit charging for them
CircleCI
RATES
Performance plan credits at $0.0006/credit. Docker medium (10 credits/min): $0.006/min equivalent. Docker large (20 credits/min): $0.012/min. Arm medium (13 credits/min): ~$0.0078/min. Windows medium (40 credits/min): $0.024/min. macOS M4 Pro medium (200 credits/min): $0.12/min.
INCLUDED MINUTES
Free: 30,000 credits/month (about 6,000 build minutes on the small Docker class). Performance plan starts at $15/month.
STRENGTHS
- +Parallelism with test-splitting built in
- +Docker layer caching built in (no extra config)
- +Rich insights and timing dashboards
WEAKNESSES
- -Credit system is confusing: the dollar cost per minute varies by resource class and is not transparent at a glance
- -The 30,000-credit free tier drains faster than expected on larger resource classes
GitLab CI/CD
RATES
Free: 400 compute minutes/month on shared runners. Premium ($29/user/month, billed annually): 10,000 minutes. Ultimate (custom pricing, contact sales): 50,000 minutes.
INCLUDED MINUTES
Shared runner costs are included in the per-user subscription. Additional compute minutes are $10 per 1,000 ($0.01/min).
STRENGTHS
- +All-in-one: SCM, CI, container registry, security scanning in one platform
- +Self-managed option with no per-minute charge on your infrastructure
- +Strong Kubernetes integration
WEAKNESSES
- -Free tier 400 minutes is limiting for active teams
- -macOS runners only via self-managed instance
- -The all-in-one cost is worth scrutinising against GitHub + dedicated CI
Buildkite
RATES
Platform fee: $30 per active user/month (Pro, up to 50 users). Agents: BYO infrastructure (EC2, GKE, EKS, bare metal). No per-minute charge from Buildkite on your own agents; Pro includes 10 self-hosted agents, then $3.50 per agent/month.
INCLUDED MINUTES
Unlimited build minutes on your own agents. Optional hosted agents: Linux $0.004 per vCPU-minute (2 vCPU = $0.008/min), Mac M4 $0.02 per vCPU-minute. The Free plan (up to 5 users) includes up to 2,000 Linux vCPU-minutes of hosted agents a month; Pro includes 4,000.
STRENGTHS
- +No per-minute charge on your agents
- +Excellent auto-scaling via Elastic CI Stack for AWS
- +Pipeline visualisation and timing breakdown is best in class
WEAKNESSES
- -The per-user fee at $30/user is expensive for large organisations: Pro tops out at 50 users ($1,500/month before any infrastructure) and larger teams move to custom-priced Enterprise
- -Operational overhead of running your own agents
Azure DevOps
RATES
Billed per parallel job, not per build minute. Microsoft-hosted: $40/parallel job/month (unlimited minutes on the paid tier; effective ~$0.0056/min Linux at our benchmark utilisation). Self-hosted: $15/parallel job/month, unlimited minutes.
INCLUDED MINUTES
Free tier: one Microsoft-hosted parallel job, 1,800 min/month. Self-hosted: 1 parallel job free.
STRENGTHS
- +Best value for Windows-heavy workloads by a wide margin
- +Deep integration with Microsoft services (Azure, Office 365, Active Directory)
- +Self-hosted option at $15/parallel job is cost-effective at high-volume
WEAKNESSES
- -macOS not available on Microsoft-hosted agents
- -Interface can feel dated vs GitHub Actions or CircleCI
AWS CodeBuild
RATES
general1.small: $0.005/min. general1.medium: $0.010/min. general1.large: $0.020/min. arm1.small: $0.004/min. arm1.medium: $0.007/min.
INCLUDED MINUTES
100 build minutes free per month on general1.small.
STRENGTHS
- +Native AWS integration with IAM, ECR, S3, CodePipeline
- +ARM (Graviton) runners at competitive rates
- +No macOS charge (no macOS support)
WEAKNESSES
- -AWS-only: tight coupling to the AWS ecosystem is a strength only if you are all-in on AWS
- -Interface is functional but not developer-friendly compared to GitHub Actions or CircleCI
- -Data transfer out of EC2 adds to costs for large artefact workloads
Jenkins (Self-Hosted)
RATES
Software: free. Infrastructure: c6i.xlarge EC2 spot ~$0.05/hr. Maintenance: 2-8 hours/month at $100-150/hr engineer time.
INCLUDED MINUTES
Jenkins is a self-hosted system. There is no free tier in the cloud sense: you pay for infrastructure from day one.
STRENGTHS
- +Maximum control over the build environment
- +Plugin ecosystem with 1,800+ plugins
- +No per-minute or per-seat charge from the vendor
WEAKNESSES
- -Engineer time is typically 10x more expensive than the CI minutes it saves
- -Security patching is permanently your team's responsibility
- -Cheaper GitHub-hosted rates since January 2026 weaken the cost case for running your own Jenkins fleet
Worked examples
3-person startup
800 min/month, Linux-only
VERDICT
GitHub Actions or GitLab CI on free tiers. No reason to pay at this scale.
20-person team
8,000 min/month, 80% Linux, 20% macOS. Runner minutes at list rates, before included minutes and seats (rates re-read 1 Oct 2026)
VERDICT
GH Actions: 6,400 x $0.006 + 1,600 x $0.062. Blacksmith: 6,400 x $0.004 + 1,600 x $0.08, before its 3,000 free minutes. Depot needs its $200 Startup plan for macOS (20,000 minutes included). macOS dominates every bill here, and no external runner undercuts GitHub's macOS rate, so switching for cost alone does not pay at this size.
100-person org
80,000 min/month: 56,000 Linux, 8,000 ARM, 8,000 Windows, 8,000 macOS on each vendor's smallest runner. List rates plus any plan fee the mix requires, before included or free minutes and seats (rates re-read 1 Oct 2026)
VERDICT
GH Actions: 56,000 x $0.006 + 8,000 x $0.005 + 8,000 x $0.010 + 8,000 x $0.062. Blacksmith: 56,000 x $0.004 + 8,000 x $0.0025 + 8,000 x $0.008 + 8,000 x $0.08. Depot: $200 plan (macOS needs Startup) + 56,000 x $0.006 + 8,000 x $0.006 + 8,000 x $0.008 + 8,000 x $0.08. Namespace: $250 for 250,000 unit minutes; the mix uses 480,000, and the other 230,000 bill at the overage rate of $0.0015 a unit. macOS is a tenth of the minutes but roughly half or more of each bill. Azure DevOps bills per parallel job and self-hosting depends on your instances and engineer time, so neither can be priced from published per-minute rates.
DIGITAL SIGNET · PIPELINE AUDIT
Not sure which platform fits your workload?
Digital Signet runs two-week pipeline cost audits. We map every workflow, compare platforms against your real workload, and deliver a 90-day optimisation roadmap.
Learn about Pipeline AuditsFrequently asked questions
Which CI/CD platform is cheapest?+
Is Jenkins really free?+
Did the GitHub Actions 2026 self-hosted platform fee take effect?+
Should I switch from GitHub Actions?+
Is GitLab CI worth the per-user cost?+
RELATED IN THIS PORTFOLIO