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.
| CircleCI | GitHub | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $15/mo | $4/mo |
| Number of plans | 3 | 3 |
| Free plan | ||
| Free trial | — | |
| Pricing model | usage-based | per-seat |
Price is one row. To weigh the features too, use our feature comparison template →
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 included free
- 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: Sitting in the middle of the CI/CD pack, undercutting some enterprise-first competitors on entry price while still using usage-based mechanics that can get expensive at scale. They're clearly fishing for teams that started on GitHub Actions or Jenkins and now need something more purpose-built without jumping straight to enterprise pricing. GitHub: GitHub sits in the middle on paper but wins on default distribution — most devs are already there, so competitors like GitLab or Bitbucket have to compete on price or self-hosting flexibility to pull people away. The $21 Enterprise price is aggressive for a first-12-months hook, clearly designed to undercut GitLab Ultimate and get procurement teams to sign before the renewal sticker shock.
Still deciding? See the best CircleCI alternatives or the best GitHub alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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