CircleCI vs GitHub Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
Free
- Up to 6,000 build minutes
- Up to 5 active users/month
- Docker, Windows, Linux, Arm, macOS, self hosted runners
- 30x concurrency
Performance
- 30,000 credits included free
- 5 active users
- Larger resources
- 80x concurrency
- Optional 8x5 support add-on
Scale
- Customizable plans
- Enterprise controls
- Largest resource classes
- All environments, even GPU
- Optional 24/7 support add-on
Free
- Unlimited public/private repositories
- Dependabot security and version updates
- 2,000 CI/CD minutes/month
- 500MB of Packages storage
- Issues & Projects
- Community support
Team
- Access to GitHub Codespaces
- Repository rules
- Multiple reviewers in pull requests
- Draft pull requests
- Code owners
- Required reviewers
- Pages and Wikis
- Environment deployment branches and secrets
- 3,000 CI/CD minutes/month
- 2GB of Packages storage
- Web-based support
Enterprise
Popular- Data residency
- Enterprise Managed Users
- User provisioning through SCIM
- Enterprise Account to centrally manage multiple organizations
- Environment protection rules
- Repository rules
- Audit Log API
- SOC1, SOC2, type 2 reports annually
- FedRAMP Tailored Authority to Operate (ATO)
- SAML single sign-on
- Advanced auditing
- GitHub Connect
- 50,000 CI/CD minutes/month
- 50GB of Packages storage
CircleCI vs GitHub FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- GitHub is the cheaper option, starting at $4/mo vs $15/mo for CircleCI.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. CircleCI uses usage-based pricing, while GitHub goes with per-seat. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. CircleCI: CircleCI sits mid-pack against GitHub Actions and GitLab CI — pricier than bundled-in options for teams already living in GitHub, but positioned as the specialist tool for orgs that want dedicated CI/CD performance without going full enterprise DevOps platform. They're chasing teams who've outgrown Jenkins or hit friction with GitHub Actions' concurrency limits but aren't ready for GitLab's whole-lifecycle price tag.
Still deciding? See the best CircleCI alternatives or the best GitHub alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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