GitHub Actions self-hosted runners now cost $0.002/min for private repos. Compare free CI/CD alternatives: GitLab CI, CircleCI, Buildkite, Harness, Drone CI, Google Cloud Build, and more. Verified limits.

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GitHub Actions Alternatives

GitHub Actions introduced self-hosted runner charges ($0.002/min) for private repos on March 1, 2026. While the GitHub-hosted runner free tier (2,000 min/mo for private repos, unlimited for public) remains unchanged, teams running self-hosted runners for private repository builds now face per-minute costs.

For public repositories, GitHub Actions remains the best free CI/CD option — unlimited minutes with no restrictions. But if you’re running private repo pipelines on self-hosted infrastructure, these alternatives offer generous free tiers without per-minute runner fees.

Below are the best free CI/CD alternatives, compared by exact free tier limits — build minutes, concurrent jobs, storage, and platform support. For the full picture, see our definitive CI/CD pricing comparison covering 17+ tools across general, cloud-native, mobile, and self-hosted categories.

Pricing Postponed

Self-hosted runner per-minute fee ($0.002/min) announced for March 2026 was postponed indefinitely after community backlash. Self-hosted runners remain free. Separately, hosted runner prices were reduced up to 39% (Jan 2026) Source ↗

Before: Self-hosted runners free. Previous per-minute pricing for hosted runners
After: Self-hosted runners remain free — no orchestration fees. Hosted runners 39% cheaper. GitHub re-evaluating self-hosted pricing approach

Top Alternatives

GitLab CI Free stable

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

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CircleCI Free stable

30K credits/month (up to 6,000 build minutes on small Docker), 5 users, 30x concurrency, no credit card required

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Buildkite Personal stable

500 hosted agent minutes/month, 3 concurrent jobs, 90-day build retention, 50K test executions. Free for open-source projects

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Bitbucket Pipelines Free stable

CI/CD built into Bitbucket — 50 build minutes/month, 1 GB Git LFS, 5 users on free plan

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Woodpecker CI Free OSS

Free OSS (Apache 2.0). Community fork of Drone CI. Container-native CI/CD with YAML pipelines, multi-platform support, Gitea/Forgejo/GitHub/GitLab integration

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Semaphore CI Community (Self-hosted) stable

CI/CD platform — free cloud plan: $15 credits/month (~2,000 Ubuntu build minutes), 20 concurrent jobs, YAML pipelines, secrets management. Self-hosted available at $0.0025/min. Cloud starts at $0.0075/min for Ubuntu

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Drone CI Community (Self-hosted)

Container-native CI/CD (now part of Harness) — free open-source edition (self-hosted): unlimited users and concurrency, YAML pipelines, Docker-based builds. Cloud available free for open-source projects

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Codefresh Free

CI/CD and GitOps platform — free plan: 120 builds/month, 1 concurrent pipeline. Docker-native build engine with built-in Docker registry

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Harness CI Free caution discovered 2026-08-28 reduced

Superseded: As of 2026-08-28, harness.io/pricing reads: Free Plan is available for individual developers and small teams. It includes up to 60 concurrent pipeline executions, 250GB storage, up to 1 organization, up to 500 maximum users, up to 5 custom dashboards, unlimited templates, up to 5 custom roles, and policy as code. We are not publishing our stored Harness CI terms beside it — our own pricing change record, discovered 2026-08-28, names them as the previous ones. Read what we recorded ↓

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Google Cloud Build Always Free stable

Always Free: 2,500 build-minutes/month (e2-standard-2). Serverless CI/CD platform with support for Docker, Maven, Gradle, and custom builders

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Free Tier Comparison

How each CI/CD platform’s free tier compares. GitHub Actions’ 2,000 min/mo for private repos remains strong for GitHub-hosted runners — the new cost only applies to self-hosted runners.

Platform Free Build Time Concurrency Users Self-Hosted GitOps License
GitHub Actions 2,000 min/mo (private)20 concurrentUnlimited $0.002/min (private)✅ Proprietary
GitLab CI 400 min/moIncluded5 ✅ Free✅ MIT (core)
CircleCI 30K credits/mo (~6K min)30x5 ✅ Free✅ Proprietary
Buildkite 500 hosted min/mo3 concurrentUnlimited ✅ Free✅ Proprietary
Harness CI 2,000 credits/moIncludedIncluded ✅ Free✅ Proprietary
Google Cloud Build 2,500 min/moIncludedIncluded —✅ Proprietary
Drone CI Unlimited (self-hosted)UnlimitedUnlimited ✅ Self-hosted only✅ Apache-2.0
Woodpecker CI Unlimited (self-hosted)UnlimitedUnlimited ✅ Self-hosted only✅ Apache-2.0
Codefresh 120 builds/mo1 concurrentIncluded —✅ (Argo) Proprietary
Semaphore CI Unlimited (self-hosted)UnlimitedUnlimited ✅ Self-hosted only✅ Proprietary

Drone CI, Woodpecker CI, and Semaphore Community Edition are self-hosted only — limits depend on your infrastructure. GitLab CI’s 400 min/mo applies to shared runners on gitlab.com; self-hosted GitLab runners are free. Bitbucket Pipelines (50 min/mo) not shown due to limited free tier.

Quick Comparison

Tool Free Tier Details Stability
GitLab CI Free 400 compute minutes/month, 10 GiB storage, 5 users. New accounts limited to 3 top-level groups stable
CircleCI Free 30K credits/month (up to 6,000 build minutes on small Docker), 5 users, 30x concurrency, no credit card required stable
Buildkite Personal 500 hosted agent minutes/month, 3 concurrent jobs, 90-day build retention, 50K test executions. Free for open-source pro... stable
Bitbucket Pipelines Free CI/CD built into Bitbucket — 50 build minutes/month, 1 GB Git LFS, 5 users on free plan stable
Woodpecker CI Free OSS Free OSS (Apache 2.0). Community fork of Drone CI. Container-native CI/CD with YAML pipelines, multi-platform support, G... —
Semaphore CI Community (Self-hosted) CI/CD platform — free cloud plan: $15 credits/month (~2,000 Ubuntu build minutes), 20 concurrent jobs, YAML pipelines, s... stable
Drone CI Community (Self-hosted) Container-native CI/CD (now part of Harness) — free open-source edition (self-hosted): unlimited users and concurrency, ... —
Codefresh Free CI/CD and GitOps platform — free plan: 120 builds/month, 1 concurrent pipeline. Docker-native build engine with built-in... —
Harness CI Free As of 2026-08-28, harness.io/pricing reads: Free Plan is available for individual developers and small teams… Our stored Harness CI terms are superseded and withheld. caution
discovered 2026-08-28 reduced
Google Cloud Build Always Free Always Free: 2,500 build-minutes/month (e2-standard-2). Serverless CI/CD platform with support for Docker, Maven, Gradle... stable

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