Which is cheaper, GitHub Actions or GitLab CI?

Both offer free tiers. GitHub Actions provides "Free" and GitLab CI offers "Free". Compare the specific limits above to determine which fits your usage.

Is GitHub Actions or GitLab CI more stable?

GitHub Actions has 2 recorded changes and is rated stable. GitLab CI has 0 recorded changes and is rated stable.

Can I use GitHub Actions and GitLab CI together?

While both are in the CI/CD category, some teams use both for different workloads. Check each vendor's free tier limits to see if they complement your stack.

Compare GitHub Actions and GitLab CI free tiers side by side. Pricing, limits, change history, and risk assessment for developers.

GitHub Actions vs GitLab CI

Side-by-side free tier comparison. Catalogue dates here run to 2026-11-05.

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Verdict

Both GitHub Actions and GitLab CI offer free tiers. GitHub Actions provides "Free" while GitLab CI offers "Free".

A verdict here is not a fixed property of the vendor. A one-off pricing event demotes a vendor while its recorded date falls in the last 180 days and then lapses on its own, with nothing about the vendor having changed; a standing condition — a free tier withdrawn and not restored, a product retired — does not lapse with time. A badge carrying a date states the record it rests on; a badge with no date rests on no record in force.

GitHub Actions profile → GitLab CI profile →

GitHub Actions

Riskstable

CategoryCI/CD

TierFree

Verified2026-08-14

Last read2026-11-09

Changes2 recorded

Free CI/CD for public repos (standard runners, unlimited minutes). Private repos on GitHub Free: $12 USD of included compute a month, which is 2,000 minutes on a standard Linux runner ($0.006/min), 1,200 on Windows ($0.010/min) or about 193 on macOS ($0.062/min). GitHub's billing docs gave the allowance as 2,000 minutes before a revision published on October 28, 2026. 500 MB artifact storage, 10 GB cache per repo. Self-hosted runners remain free — planned $0.002/min charge was postponed indefinitely after community backlash (March 2026). Hosted runner prices reduced 39% (Jan 2026)

On every plan, standard GitHub-hosted runners in private repos and cloud sandbox compute and memory draw from the same included compute usage. (From docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/github-actions, read 2026-11-07.)
Without a valid payment method on file, GitHub blocks usage once the month's included compute usage is used up. (From docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/github-actions, read 2026-11-07.)
Copilot code review runner costs draw from the included compute usage on private repositories, and are free on public repositories. (From docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/github-actions, read 2026-11-07.)

GitLab CI

Riskstable

CategoryCI/CD

TierFree

Verified2026-11-05

Last read2026-11-05

Changes0 recorded

400 compute minutes/month, 10 GiB storage, 5 users. New accounts limited to 3 top-level groups

Pricing Change History

GitHub Actions

deprecated effective 2026-12-08 low impact

GitHub Actions keeps running. GitHub-hosted runners end support for ARM32 (32-bit ARM) jobs on Linux and Windows by December 8, 2026, including native AArch32 user-space execution, because Node 24 does not support ARM32. Self-hosted runners on ARM32 have not been supported since Node 20 was removed in September 2026. Source ↗

postponed effective 2025-12-17 low impact

On 2025-12-17 GitHub postponed the $0.002-a-minute charge for self-hosted Actions runners that it had announced the day before for 2026-03-01, to re-evaluate its approach. Self-hosted runners remain free. The price cut of up to 39% for GitHub-hosted runners went ahead on 2026-01-01 as announced. Source ↗

GitLab CI

No recorded pricing changes for GitLab CI.

Watch Both Vendors for Pricing Changes

We do not push notifications. Every change we record is readable the moment it lands, and the JSON answer carries an ETag — send it back as If-None-Match and an unchanged answer costs one 304.

curl https://agentdeals.dev/api/changes?vendor=GitHub%20Actions
curl https://agentdeals.dev/pricing-changes/feed.xml?vendor=GitHub%20Actions
curl https://agentdeals.dev/api/changes?vendor=GitLab%20CI
curl https://agentdeals.dev/pricing-changes/feed.xml?vendor=GitLab%20CI

API docs →

GitHub Actions vs GitLab CI

Verdict

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

Pricing Change History

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

Watch Both Vendors for Pricing Changes

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