# Buildkite

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/ci-cd/buildkite/

CI/CD built around self-hosted agents by default, with hosted agents available billed per vCPU-minute.

## Who it suits

Teams that already run their own compute and want a CI product built around that from the start, rather than one that treats self-hosting as an escape hatch from a hosted-minutes model.

Consider something else if There's no existing infrastructure to run agents on — the per-user Pro price is separate from and additional to whatever compute the agents themselves need.

## What the documentation says

### Pricing

- Free tier: Yes ([source](https://buildkite.com/pricing), read 2026-09-11)
- Entry paid plan: Pro plan: $30 per active user/month. ([source](https://buildkite.com/pricing), read 2026-09-11)
- Pricing model: Hybrid: per-user subscription plus consumption-based pricing for hosted agents, billed per vCPU-minute metered to the second, with no minimums and no rounding. ([source](https://buildkite.com/pricing), read 2026-09-11)

### CI/CD

- Self-hosted runners: Self-hosted agents are the default model, not an add-on. Free plan includes up to 10 concurrent jobs; Pro plan includes 10 self-hosted agents. ([source](https://buildkite.com/pricing), read 2026-09-11)
- Price per extra concurrent job: Additional self-hosted agents beyond the 10 included on Pro: $3.50/agent/month. Hosted Linux agents: $0.004/vCPU-minute; hosted Mac agents: $0.02/vCPU-minute. ([source](https://buildkite.com/pricing), read 2026-09-11)

## Compared with

- [Buildkite vs GitHub Actions](https://inetgeek.com/compare/github-actions-vs-buildkite/)
- [Buildkite vs CircleCI](https://inetgeek.com/compare/circleci-vs-buildkite/)