GitHub Actions free tier includes Free CI/CD for public repos (unlimited minutes)… Catalogue date August 2026.

GitHub Actions Free Tier 2026 stable

Limits, pricing history. Catalogue date August 2026. Last updated 2026-09-16.

GitHub Actions's free tier offers Free CI/CD for public repos (unlimited minutes)… We rate it stable. The one change we have recorded did not narrow the terms.

One of 38 CI/CD services we track. See our full CI/CD Free Tier Comparison →

Tier

Free

Free Tier Details

Free CI/CD for public repos (unlimited minutes). Private repos: 2,000 min/mo GitHub-hosted runners, 500 MB artifact storage, 10 GB cache/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)

We read that on 2026-09-16 from https://docs.github.com/en/billing/managing-billing-for-github-actions/about-billing-for-github-actions, and our check recorded: the page names GitHub Actions as "github actions" and states "$0.002". A source check reads the cited page for the service's name and a price; the limits above are from our own record.

When You'll Outgrow GitHub Actions's Free Tier

When your usage exceeds the free tier limits, you'll need to upgrade.

Pricing Change History (2 recorded)

restructured discovered 2026-09-02 · effective date unknown high impact

Retracted — this record was our error (2026-09-28). The free tier for private repositories includes 2,000 minutes, 500MB artifact storage, and 10GB cache storage. The pricing page details specific per-minute costs for different runner types (Linux, Windows, macOS) and storage costs ($0.25/GB/month for shared storage, $0.07/GB for Actions cache and custom image storage), indicating that usage beyond the free quota is paid. This is not reflected in the current pricing page text. Retracted 2026-09-28: no change. GitHub's Actions billing page read the same on 2026-08-28 and 2026-09-03: GitHub Free includes 2,000 minutes, 500 MB of artifact storage and 10 GB of cache per repository, and the storage price table ($0.25 per GB a month shared storage, $0.07 Actions cache) has been on the page since June 2026. Source ↗

Before: Free CI/CD for public repos (unlimited minutes). Private repos: 2,000 min/mo GitHub-hosted runners, 500 MB artifact storage, 10 GB cache/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)

After: GitHub Actions usage is free for self-hosted runners and public repositories. For private repositories, each account receives a quota of free minutes, artifact storage, and cache storage. Usage beyond the included amounts is billed based on hourly usage of artifacts and caches, and minutes are calculated based on processing time. Different runner types have different per-minute costs.

postponed effective 2026-01-01 low impact

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

View all 476 pricing changes across all vendors →

Recommended Migration Targets

These alternatives were identified from GitHub Actions’s pricing changes as recommended replacements.

CircleCI Free Buildkite Personal GitLab CI Free

Recompute today's order yourself. The order above is a permutation seeded only on the UTC date and the query key — no vendor name, slug, id or offer field is an input. The list above is every one of the 3 entries in that order, not a prefix of it. The algorithm is published, so anyone can reproduce this page's order without asking us.

date: 2026-09-30
query_key: curated-alternatives:GitHub Actions
seed: 9e7a109a14e2188da27786b82c1c5e176b94cf407d8bbd446d6dc7bffaf7e5a6
tie_count: 3

Comparisons

CircleCI vs GitHub Actions GitHub Actions vs GitLab CI GitHub Actions vs GitLab CI CircleCI vs GitHub Actions

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Featured in Monthly Reports

January 2026 Report

Watch GitHub Actions 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

API docs →

Query via MCP

Look up GitHub Actions programmatically with the AgentDeals MCP server:

{
  "tool": "search_deals",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "GitHub Actions",
    "limit": 5
  }
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Is GitHub Actions free?

Yes, GitHub Actions offers a free tier: Free. Free CI/CD for public repos (unlimited minutes). Private repos: 2,000 min/mo GitHub-hosted runners, 500 MB artifact storage, 10 GB cache/repo. Self-hosted runners remain free — planned $0.002/min char...

What is GitHub Actions's free tier?

GitHub Actions's free tier is called "Free". Free CI/CD for public repos (unlimited minutes). Private repos: 2,000 min/mo GitHub-hosted runners, 500 MB artifact storage, 10 GB cache/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)

Is GitHub Actions's free tier reliable?

GitHub Actions's free tier is considered stable. The one change we have recorded did not narrow the terms. See the pricing history below.

Is GitHub Actions's free tier good for production?

GitHub Actions's free tier can be suitable for small production workloads and side projects. We rate it stable and it offers Free CI/CD for public repos (unlimited minutes)…, so it's a reasonable starting point. The one change we have recorded did not narrow the terms. Monitor your usage against the limits and have an upgrade plan ready.

What changed in GitHub Actions's pricing?

GitHub Actions has had 1 recorded pricing change. Most recently: 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: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/182089 (2026-01-01).

When will I outgrow GitHub Actions's free tier?

When your usage exceeds the free tier limits, you'll need to upgrade. When you outgrow the free tier, evaluate paid plans against alternatives — sometimes a competitor's free tier covers what you need.

What category is GitHub Actions in?

GitHub Actions is categorized under CI/CD on AgentDeals.

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