CircleCI vs Pulumi 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 Pulumi
Starts at $15/mo $40/mo
Number of plans 3 4
Free plan
Free trial
Pricing model usage-based hybrid

Free

$0/mo
  • Up to 6,000 build minutes
  • Up to 5 active users/month
  • Docker, Windows, Linux, Arm, macOS, self hosted runners
  • 30x concurrency

Performance

$15/mo
  • 30,000 credits included free
  • 5 active users included free
  • Larger resources
  • 80x concurrency
  • Optional 8x5 support add-on

Scale

Custom
  • Customizable plans
  • Enterprise controls
  • Largest resource classes
  • All environments, even GPU
  • Optional 24/7 support add-on

Individual

$0/mo
  • 1 user
  • IaC state management
  • Unlimited projects, stacks, and environments
  • Unlimited updates and history
  • Up to 500 workflow minutes
  • Pulumi Neo with 5M free tokens/month

Team

$40/mo
  • Up to 10 users
  • Secure collaboration and CI/CD
  • Neo code reviews and Slack integration
  • Resource search
  • OIDC and org access tokens
  • Webhooks
  • Automatic secrets rotation
  • Community support

Enterprise

Popular
$400/mo
  • Unlimited users
  • SAML/SSO and RBAC
  • Neo scheduled tasks
  • Internal developer platform (IDP)
  • Audit logs
  • Drift detection and remediation
  • Time-to-live stacks
  • Customer-managed keys
  • Priority feature requests
  • 12x5 Enterprise Support available

Business Critical

Custom
  • Self-hosting available
  • Built-in compliance (NIST, PCI, and more)
  • Automatic group & user sync (SCIM)
  • Audit logs export
  • Volume pricing and invoicing
  • Private Slack and Professional Services
  • 24x7 Enterprise Support available

CircleCI vs Pulumi FAQ

Which one is cheaper?
CircleCI starts lower at $15/mo, compared to $40/mo for Pulumi.
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 Pulumi goes with hybrid. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
Which one is a better deal?
Depends on what you need. CircleCI: They're mid-pack against GitHub Actions and GitLab — not undercutting on sticker price, but not premium either. The real pitch is usage-based flexibility for teams whose build needs fluctuate, competing hardest against Jenkins refugees and teams outgrowing GitHub Actions' simplicity. Pulumi: Pulumi sits mid-to-premium in the IaC space, especially compared to Terraform's open-source-first model — they're betting that usage-based credits plus a real enterprise tier will win teams who've outgrown DIY state management and want a vendor that scales pricing with actual cloud footprint. It's less about being the cheap option and more about capturing teams as their infrastructure complexity grows.

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