AWS CodeBuild Pricing 2026: Cost Per Build Minute and Real-World Examples
CodeBuild is charged per-second with a minimum of 1 minute. No monthly subscription. Updated April 2026.
How CodeBuild Pricing Works
Pay per build minute, charged per second with a 1-minute minimum. No monthly fee or seat cost. First 100 build minutes per month free (across all instance types).
| Instance type | vCPU | RAM | OS | Cost/min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| general1.small | 3 | 4 GB | Linux | $0.005 |
| general1.medium | 7 | 15 GB | Linux | $0.010 |
| general1.large | 72 | 144 GB | Linux | $0.020 |
| arm1.small | 2 | 3 GB | Linux/Arm | $0.004 |
| arm1.large | 8 | 16 GB | Linux/Arm | $0.013 |
| windows1.medium | 7 | 15 GB | Windows | $0.020 |
CodeBuild vs GitHub Actions: When AWS Wins
CodeBuild general1.small ($0.005/min) is slightly cheaper than GitHub Actions Linux ($0.006/min). But the integration context matters.
- - Builds need VPC access to private AWS resources
- - Deploying to AWS (ECS, Lambda, EKS) - IAM roles are native
- - Pulling from ECR - no network egress charges
- - Large ephemeral compute needed (general1.large with 72 vCPU)
- - Already invested in AWS CodePipeline ecosystem
- - Team is already on GitHub
- - Marketplace integrations needed (20,000+ actions)
- - macOS builds required
- - Simpler billing (no separate service costs)
- - Per-minute rate difference ($0.001/min) doesn't justify AWS complexity
CodeBuild vs CodePipeline: What You Are Actually Paying For
Common confusion: "code pipeline cost"
Many engineers search "code pipeline cost" and find confusing results because CodeBuild (the build engine) and CodePipeline (the workflow orchestrator) are separate services with separate pricing.
| Service | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| AWS CodeBuild | Executes builds. Runs your build commands. | $0.005-0.020/min |
| AWS CodePipeline | Orchestrates workflow stages. Not needed if you use CodeBuild directly. | $1/active pipeline/mo |
| Amazon ECR | Container image storage. Often used as artifact store. | ~$0.10/GB/mo |
| Amazon S3 | Build artifact storage. | ~$0.023/GB/mo |
Total AWS CI Cost Example
A team using CodeBuild + CodePipeline + S3 artifacts + ECR image registry:
| Service | Usage | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| CodeBuild (general1.small) | 20,000 min/mo | $100 |
| CodePipeline | 5 active pipelines | $5 |
| S3 artifact storage | ~200 GB | $5 |
| ECR image storage | ~100 GB | $10 |
| Total | ~$120/mo |
Comparable GitHub Actions setup for 20,000 minutes: (20,000 - 3,000) x $0.006 = $102 + $16 Team plan = $118/month. Similar total cost, simpler billing.