GitLab CI Pricing 2026: Plans, Minutes, and Cost Breakdown
GitLab CI is built directly into GitLab. The Free plan includes 400 CI minutes per month — enough for solo developers but quickly exhausted by active teams. Premium ($29/user/month) includes 10,000 minutes and is the most common choice for teams of 5-50 developers. Additional minutes are $10 per 1,000 on all plans.
GitLab Plans Comparison
- ✓ Basic CI/CD
- ✓ 5 GB container registry
- ✓ Community support
- ✓ Everything in Free
- ✓ 10,000 CI minutes
- ✓ Code owners
- ✓ Merge request approvals
- ✓ Priority support
- ✓ Everything in Premium
- ✓ 50,000 CI minutes
- ✓ Security scanning suite
- ✓ Compliance management
- ✓ Dedicated support
GitLab Runner Types
| Runner Type | Cost | Specs | Isolation | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared (GitLab-hosted) | Uses minute allocation | Linux/Windows/macOS | Shared namespace | General CI, open-source projects |
| Group runners | Free (your infra) | You choose hardware | Group-scoped | Teams sharing custom build environments |
| Project runners | Free (your infra) | You choose hardware | Project-scoped | Specific projects with special requirements |
| Instance runners | Free (your infra) | You choose hardware | All projects | Self-managed GitLab instances |
Monthly Cost by Team Size (Premium Plan)
Assumes 8 min average build, daily builds per developer = 7. Extra minutes at $10/1,000.
| Team Size | CI min/mo | Plan cost | Extra min cost | Monthly Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 devs | 3,000 | $145 | — | $145 |
| 10 devs | 8,000 | $290 | — | $290 |
| 20 devs | 25,000 | $580 | $150 | $730 |
| 50 devs | 60,000 | $1450 | $500 | $1950 |
Running Unlimited Free CI Minutes
GitLab self-hosted runners (gitlab-runner) run unlimited CI jobs at no cost to your minute allocation. They connect to GitLab.com or your self-managed instance and execute jobs on your infrastructure. A single Linux runner on a $35/month cloud VM can run thousands of CI minutes.
Self-hosted runners are the fastest path to zero marginal CI cost. The trade-off is runner management overhead: provisioning, updating the gitlab-runner binary, monitoring job queues, and right-sizing compute for your build load. Most teams of 20+ developers find this trade-off worthwhile once monthly CI spend exceeds $300.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does GitLab CI cost?
GitLab CI is included with all GitLab plans. The Free plan includes 400 CI minutes per month on shared runners. GitLab Premium ($29/user/month) includes 10,000 minutes. GitLab Ultimate ($99/user/month) includes 50,000 minutes. Additional minutes cost $10 per 1,000 on any plan. You can also run unlimited free CI minutes using self-hosted runners.
What is the difference between shared and dedicated runners in GitLab CI?
Shared runners are GitLab-hosted virtual machines available to all GitLab users. They count against your monthly minute allocation. Dedicated (group or project) runners are runners you host yourself — they don't consume minute allocation and run unlimited CI jobs. Self-hosted runners give you control over hardware specs, custom software, and build isolation at the cost of infrastructure management.
Is GitLab CI cheaper than GitHub Actions?
It depends on usage. GitHub Actions free tier (2,000 min) is more generous than GitLab free (400 min). At medium volume on a 20-person team using 20,000 minutes: GitLab Premium costs $580/month (20 × $29, with minutes included). GitHub Team costs ~$80 (seats) + ~$180 overage = $260. GitHub Actions is cheaper at this scale. At 50,000+ minutes per month, GitLab Ultimate may be more predictable for budget planning.
How do GitLab CI minutes roll over?
GitLab CI minutes do not roll over. Unused minutes expire at the end of each billing cycle. Purchased additional minute packs also expire at the end of the billing period. Plan your CI usage around your monthly allocation and purchase additional minutes only when you're sure you'll use them.
Can I use GitLab CI with GitHub repositories?
GitLab CI requires code hosted on GitLab.com or a self-managed GitLab instance. There is no native integration to run GitLab CI pipelines on GitHub-hosted repositories. For GitHub-based workflows, GitHub Actions is the natural choice. If you want to migrate, the GitLab CI syntax (.gitlab-ci.yml) uses YAML similar to GitHub Actions workflows.