CircleCI pricing 2026
./circleci --credits-explained
CircleCI is the only major CI/CD platform that bills compute in credits instead of minutes. The system is more flexible than per-minute pricing because larger machines burn credits faster, but it's also opaque if you've never thought about resource classes. This guide demystifies the credits model and shows what CircleCI actually costs at every team size.
Credit cost by resource class
| Resource class | vCPU / RAM | Credits / min | Cost / min | 10K mins cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small (Linux) | 1 / 2 GB | 5 | $0.003 | $30 |
| Medium (Linux) | 2 / 4 GB | 10 | $0.006 | $60 |
| Large (Linux) | 4 / 8 GB | 20 | $0.012 | $120 |
| X-Large (Linux) | 8 / 16 GB | 40 | $0.024 | $240 |
| Medium (macOS) | 4 / 8 GB | 50 | $0.030 | $300 |
| Large (macOS) | 8 / 16 GB | 100 | $0.060 | $600 |
Plans / 2026
Free
$0
6,000 credits / mo
Unlimited
Personal projects, OSS, evaluation. ~600 mins of medium Linux per month.
Performance
$15 / user
30,000 / user credits / mo
Per-user billing
Most teams. Credits pool across users so heavy CI users absorb light ones.
Scale
$2,000+ /mo
500,000+ credits / mo
Custom contract
Enterprise. SAML SSO, audit logs, custom concurrency. Sales-led.
Worked example / 20 dev team
$ team_size = 20
$ builds_per_day = 120
$ avg_minutes = 8
$ resource_class = medium_linux # 10 credits/min
# total compute
monthly_minutes = 120 * 8 * 21 = 20,160
credits_burned = 20,160 * 10 = 201,600
# Performance plan accounting
seat_cost = 20 * $15 = $300
included_credits = 20 * 30,000 = 600,000
billable_credits = max(0, 201,600 - 600,000) = 0
# total monthly bill
monthly_total = $300
Mid-size teams running medium Linux builds rarely exhaust the included credit pool. The plan's cost is effectively just the per-seat fee. Push to large or x-large machines, or switch resource classes to macOS, and the included credits run out fast.
How to lower CircleCI spend
- > Right-size resource_class in .circleci/config.yml. Defaults to medium; small often works for unit tests.
- > Use parallelism: with split tests to cut wall-clock time without raising machine size.
- > Cache aggressively with restore_cache and save_cache for dependency installs.
- > Self-host runners for macOS workloads or sustained heavy compute.
- > Watch the Insights dashboard for the longest jobs, optimise those first.
Compare with other platforms
Frequently Asked Questions
# click any question to expand
How do CircleCI credits work?>
CircleCI bills compute in credits rather than minutes. Each resource class consumes credits at a different rate per minute: a small Linux runner uses 5 credits per minute, medium uses 10, large uses 20, x-large uses 40. macOS runners burn 50 to 100 credits per minute. One credit costs $0.0006, so a medium Linux build minute costs $0.006. Credits never expire on paid plans.
What's the cheapest CircleCI plan?>
The Free plan includes 6,000 credits per month, enough for around 600 medium Linux build minutes. Beyond that, the Performance plan is $15 per user per month and includes 30,000 credits per user. Most small to mid teams should start on Performance. Scale ($2,000+/month, 500K+ credits, custom contract) is for enterprises with large parallelism or compliance needs.
Why is CircleCI so much more expensive on macOS?>
Apple licensing makes Mac hardware costly. CircleCI's Medium macOS resource class consumes 50 credits per minute (5x Linux Medium), Large macOS consumes 100 credits per minute. A 15-minute iOS build on Medium macOS costs 750 credits, or about $0.45. Doable for small iOS teams, painful for large ones. Self-hosted runners on a Mac mini are usually cheaper for sustained iOS workloads.
Can I use my own runners on CircleCI?>
Yes. CircleCI Self-Hosted Runners let you register your own infrastructure to execute jobs. Self-hosted runner usage doesn't consume credits, so once you cross around 50,000 build minutes per month they pay for themselves quickly. The main constraint is that some CircleCI features (Docker layer caching, machine images) only work on cloud runners.
Are there hidden CircleCI costs?>
Three things to watch. (1) Concurrency: Performance includes 80 concurrent jobs, beyond that you pay $15 per additional concurrent slot. (2) Storage: artifacts and workspace files have a 1 GB free quota; extra storage is billed. (3) GPU machines: NVIDIA T4 instances exist but cost 80-200 credits per minute, easy to burn through Performance plan credits in hours.
How does CircleCI compare to GitHub Actions on price?>
For Linux-only Medium builds at moderate volume, CircleCI Performance ($15/user) and GitHub Actions Team ($4/user) end up similar after credit and minute costs net out. For macOS-heavy workloads, GitHub Actions is cheaper per minute but CircleCI's larger included credit pool can win at scale. Run your actual numbers through the calculator on the homepage before committing.