What is the GitHub Actions free tier in 2026?

Free plan: 2,000 minutes/month for private repos. Team plan ($4/user/month): 3,000 minutes/month. Enterprise: custom allocation. Public repositories have unlimited free minutes on all plans. Storage: 500 MB free on Free plan, 2 GB on Team plan. Minutes do not roll over month to month.

GitHub Actions Pricing 2026: Complete Cost Guide

Q: How much does GitHub Actions cost per minute in 2026?

After the January 2026 price reduction: Linux $0.006/min (down from $0.008), Windows $0.010/min (down from $0.016), macOS $0.048/min (down from $0.080). Free tier: 2,000 minutes/month on Free plan, 3,000 on Team. From March 2026, self-hosted runners on private repos cost an additional $0.002/min platform fee.

Q: How much does macOS CI cost on GitHub Actions?

macOS hosted runners cost $0.048/min after the January 2026 reduction (previously $0.080/min). A 15-minute iOS build costs $0.72. At 200 builds/month (typical for a mobile app team) that is $144/month. At 500 builds/month: $360/month. Teams doing high-volume iOS CI should consider Xcode Cloud or self-hosted Arm Mac mini.

Updated after January and March 2026 pricing changes. Prices verified April 2026.

Two major changes in early 2026

January 2026: Hosted runner prices dropped significantly. March 2026: New $0.002/min platform fee added for self-hosted runners on private repos. Most comparison sites have not yet fully documented both changes.

Current Pricing (January 2026 rates)

Runner OS	Free Tier (Team)	Per minute	Old price	Change
Linux (Ubuntu)	3,000 min/mo	$0.006	$0.008	-25%
Windows	3,000 min/mo	$0.010	$0.016	-37.5%
macOS	3,000 min/mo (shared)	$0.048	$0.080	-40%

Note: Free plan = 2,000 min/mo, Team ($4/user/month) = 3,000 min/mo, Enterprise = custom. All minutes are for private repositories. Public repositories receive unlimited free minutes on all plans.

Self-Hosted Runner Platform Fee (March 2026)

New from March 1, 2026

GitHub now charges $0.002/min for self-hosted runners on private repositories. This applies even though your compute is your own hardware. Public repos and GitHub Enterprise Server (on-prem) are exempt.

What this means in practice:

Monthly self-hosted minutes	Platform fee cost	Annualised
10,000 min	$20/month	$240/year
20,000 min	$40/month	$480/year
50,000 min	$100/month	$1,200/year
100,000 min	$200/month	$2,400/year

This fee materially changes the self-hosting break-even calculation. Teams that self-hosted GitHub Actions runners specifically to avoid per-minute costs now face this platform fee regardless. For the full break-even analysis, see our self-hosted vs cloud CI guide.

GitHub Actions Monthly Cost Calculator

2026 rates. Prices as of January/March 2026.

Total build minutes/month

Plan

Self-hosted runner minutes

Subject to $0.002/min platform fee (private repos)

Linux %

Windows %

macOS %

Free minutes used

3,000

Hosted compute cost

$104.40

Estimated total

$104.40

Estimates only. Does not include plan subscription costs, storage, or egress. Prices as of April 2026.

Worked Cost Examples

Team scenario	Monthly minutes	OS mix	Estimated cost/month
Solo developer	1,000 min	100% Linux	Free (within 2,000 min)
5-person SaaS team	15,000 min	90% Linux, 10% Windows	~$72/mo
10-person app team	30,000 min	70% Linux, 20% Windows, 10% macOS	~$234/mo
50-person engineering org	150,000 min	80% Linux, 15% Windows, 5% macOS	~$1,074/mo

macOS Cost Warning: iOS Teams Pay a Premium

macOS at $0.048/min adds up fast

A 15-minute iOS build costs $0.72. At 200 builds/month: $144. At 500: $360. A mobile app team with daily CI on GitHub-hosted macOS runners can easily spend $200-500/month just on macOS compute.

Compare: that same team on a Linux runner would pay $0.090/build (15 min x $0.006), not $0.720. MacOS costs 8x more per minute vs Linux.

Recommendation for high-volume iOS teams: consider Apple Xcode Cloud (which includes CI as part of the developer program) or a self-hosted Arm Mac mini (amortised cost: $40-80/month, unlimited minutes).

Free Tier Details

Plan	Monthly minutes (private)	Public repos	Storage
Free	2,000 min/mo	Unlimited	500 MB
Team ($4/user/mo)	3,000 min/mo	Unlimited	2 GB
Enterprise	Custom	Unlimited	Custom

Minutes do not roll over. Storage overage: $0.008/GB/day. Concurrency: 20 jobs (Free), scalable on paid plans.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does GitHub Actions cost per minute in 2026?

After January 2026: Linux $0.006/min, Windows $0.010/min, macOS $0.048/min. All reduced from previous rates by 25-40%. Free tier: 2,000 minutes/month (Free plan) or 3,000 (Team). Beyond free tier, billing is per minute rounded up. From March 2026, self-hosted runners on private repos add $0.002/min.

What is the GitHub Actions self-hosted runner platform fee?

From March 1, 2026, GitHub charges $0.002/min for self-hosted runners on private repos. This applies to your own compute (EC2, GCP VM, bare metal) attached to GitHub Actions. Public repos and GitHub Enterprise Server are exempt. At 20,000 minutes/month this adds $40/month in platform fees.

How much does macOS CI cost on GitHub Actions?

macOS runners cost $0.048/min (down from $0.080/min as of January 2026). A 15-minute iOS build costs $0.72. At 200 builds/month: $144/month. High-volume iOS teams should evaluate self-hosted Mac mini (amortised $40-80/month) or Apple Xcode Cloud. For context, an equivalent Linux build costs $0.090 at 15 minutes.

What is included in the GitHub Actions free tier?

Free plan: 2,000 minutes/month for private repos, unlimited for public repos, 500 MB storage. Team plan ($4/user/month): 3,000 minutes/month for private repos, unlimited public, 2 GB storage. Minutes don't roll over. Concurrent jobs: 20 on Free, scalable on Team. Storage overages are $0.008/GB/day.