CircleCI vs GitLab 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
- Source Code Management & CI/CD
- 5 licensed users
- 400 compute minutes per month
- 10 GiB storage
- GitLab Credits for Duo Agent Platform
- Compute Minutes
- Storage
Premium
Popular- Unlimited licensed users
- 10,000 compute minutes per month
- Advanced CI/CD
- Team Project Management
- SLA Management
- Priority Support
- Includes $12 in GitLab Credits per user per month*
- Additional GitLab Credits
- Compute Minutes
- Storage
Ultimate
- Application Security Testing
- Software Supply Chain Security
- Vulnerability Management
- Strategic Portfolio Management
- Value Stream Management
- Compliance and Governance
- 50,000 compute minutes per month
- Unlimited guest users
- Includes $24 in GitLab Credits per user per month*
- Additional GitLab Credits
- Compute Minutes
- Storage
- Enterprise Agile Planning Seats
CircleCI vs GitLab FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- CircleCI starts lower at $15/mo, compared to $29/mo for GitLab.
- 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 GitLab 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. GitLab: GitLab plays the consolidation card — it's not the cheapest per-seat tool out there, but it's pitching itself as the one platform that replaces your separate CI/CD, security scanning, and project management tools. They're going after teams tired of stitching together GitHub plus five other DevOps point solutions, betting that 'one bill instead of five' beats being the lowest sticker price.
Still deciding? See the best CircleCI alternatives or the best GitLab alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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