GitHub Actions vs Buildkite
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of GitHub Actions and Buildkite built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose GitHub Actions if…
Repos already on GitHub — no separate CI product to wire up, and self-hosted runners cost nothing to use beyond the hardware itself.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Buildkite if…
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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- GitHub Actions: Heavy macOS usage — at $0.062/minute it's by far the most expensive runner type here, and a dedicated CI product may price Mac builds differently.
- Buildkite: 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.
Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: GitHub Actions alternatives · Buildkite alternatives
16 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
GitHub Actions 0
Buildkite 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | GitHub Actions | Buildkite |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Free tier |
| What the free plan includes | A per-plan quota of minutes, artifact storage and cache for private repositories, resetting each billing cycle. Minutes on public repositories are free with no quota. | A Free plan, or Pro with a 30-day all-access trial. Buildkite no longer publishes the free plan's user and minute limits on this page. |
| Credit card to start | No — Blocked rather than billed at the quota, so the included minutes run without one. Larger runners always need one. | No |
| Entry paid plan | GitHub Team: $4 USD per user/month (Free $0, Enterprise $21 USD per user/month). | Pro plan: $30 per active user/month. |
| Pricing model | Per-minute billing beyond the included allowance: $0.006/minute (Linux), $0.010/minute (Windows), $0.062/minute (macOS). Artifact storage overage $0.25/GB-month; cache storage overage $0.07/GB-month. | 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. |
| Limits | ||
| Build allowance | 2,000 minutes/month on GitHub Free; 3,000 on Pro and Team; 50,000 on Enterprise Cloud. | Up to 2,000 Linux hosted-agent vCPU minutes a month on Free (Small shape only); 4,000 included on Pro then per-minute rates; volume discounts on Enterprise. vCPU minutes, not job minutes: a job burns its instance shape's vCPU count per minute of runtime. |
| Concurrent builds | Total concurrent jobs on standard GitHub-hosted runners: 20 on Free, 40 Pro, 60 Team, 500 Enterprise; 1,000 on larger runners (Team and Enterprise). GitHub Support can increase these on request. | Free: up to 10 concurrent jobs. Pro: up to 250 concurrent agents, 10 included then $3.50 per agent/month. Enterprise: unlimited, with volume discounts. |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Regions | Azure private networking for GitHub-hosted larger runners is supported in 25 Azure regions on GitHub.com, including EastUs, NorthEurope, UkSouth, AustraliaEast and JapanWest; runners deploy in the same region as your subnet. Region choice applies only to larger runners with Azure private networking, not standard hosted runners. | Buildkite hosted agents run in a purpose-built private cloud, hosted exclusively in US East Coast data centers. Hosted agents platform only; this page names no other region and does not say where the control plane runs. |
| CI/CD | ||
| Max job duration | Up to 6 hours of execution time per job on GitHub-hosted runners. A job that exceeds this is terminated and fails. | 4 hours on the Free plan; unlimited on the Pro and Enterprise plans. This is the maximum time before a running job times out. |
| Self-hosted runners | Free for self-hosted runners — no usage charges beyond the runner's own infrastructure cost. | Self-hosted agents are the default execution model, not an add-on. Free: up to 10 concurrent jobs. Pro: up to 250 agents, 10 included, then $3.50 per agent/month. Enterprise: unlimited. |
| Compliance | ||
| SOC 2 | SOC 1, Type 2 and SOC 2, Type 2 reports are downloadable by enterprise owners from GitHub Enterprise Cloud compliance settings. | SOC 2 Type II report, from an independent audit performed annually. |
| GDPR / data residency | GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency stores enterprise data in a chosen region - EU, Australia, US or Japan; GitHub.com defaults to the USA. | Servers for the Buildkite service are in the USA; Buildkite Hosted Agents servers may be in the USA or Europe. GDPR applies to EU/UK personal data. The hosted agents docs state US East Coast data centers only; the privacy policy also allows Europe. |
| PCI DSS | GitHub PCI DSS Attestation of Compliance is downloadable by enterprise owners from GitHub Enterprise Cloud compliance settings. | Not PCI DSS compliant: the Terms of Service state Buildkite is not a payment card processor and the Buildkite Solution is neither HIPAA nor PCI DSS compliant. |
| Encryption at rest | Storage disks for GitHub-hosted runners are encrypted at rest; all communications to GitHub are encrypted. Stated in GitHub's own April 2025 CI/CD blog post, not in a compliance report. | AES-256 at rest; TLS 1.2+ in transit. |
| Customer-managed keys | Not supported for Actions blob storage on GitHub Enterprise Server with Google Cloud Storage: the bucket must use Google-managed encryption keys. Scope: Actions blob storage on GitHub Enterprise Server with Google Cloud Storage. | No customer-supplied keys: the Enterprise private job log archiving bucket must use SSE-S3, and SSE-KMS encryption is not supported. Read on the private job log archiving page (Enterprise plan; customer-owned S3 bucket, us-east-1 only). |
| Role-based access control | Predefined and custom organization roles grant permission sets to individuals or teams; custom organization roles require GitHub Enterprise Cloud. | Team-based permissions restricting access to builds, pipelines and organization settings, plus per-job OIDC integration with the customer's own identity provider. |
| Private networking / VPC | GitHub-hosted larger runners (2-64 vCPU Ubuntu and Windows) can run in a customer Azure VNET subnet; standard GitHub-hosted runners are not supported. | Agents connect to the Buildkite platform over regular public internet connections using HTTPS; Buildkite recommends OIDC or IP allowlists rather than VPNs. |
| Dedicated infrastructure | GitHub-hosted runners are shared across all GitHub customers; private networking configures hosted runners to be used exclusively for your private network. | Hosted agent infrastructure is shared across Buildkite customers; dedicated static IP addresses only on request from support. Self-hosting uses your own infra. |
Where they differ.
What the free plan includes
- GitHub Actions
- A per-plan quota of minutes, artifact storage and cache for private repositories, resetting each billing cycle. Minutes on public repositories are free with no quota.
- Buildkite
- A Free plan, or Pro with a 30-day all-access trial. Buildkite no longer publishes the free plan's user and minute limits on this page.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- About billing for GitHub Actions ↗
“Minutes: Your free minutes reset to the full amount at the start of each billing cycle. [...] Public repositories: Minutes remain free.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Buildkite Pricing ↗
“Free or Pro with 30 days of the all-access trial.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Entry paid plan
- GitHub Actions
- GitHub Team: $4 USD per user/month (Free $0, Enterprise $21 USD per user/month).
- Buildkite
- Pro plan: $30 per active user/month.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing · Plans for every developer · GitHub ↗
“$0 USD per user/month $4 USD per user/month $21 USD per user/month”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Buildkite Pricing ↗
“Pro Plan For growing engineering teams $ 30 per active user/month”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
Pricing model
- GitHub Actions
- Per-minute billing beyond the included allowance: $0.006/minute (Linux), $0.010/minute (Windows), $0.062/minute (macOS). Artifact storage overage $0.25/GB-month; cache storage overage $0.07/GB-month.
- Buildkite
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- About billing for GitHub Actions ↗
“Linux: $0.006 USD/minute. Windows: $0.010 USD/minute. macOS: $0.062 USD/minute. Shared storage: $0.25 USD per GB/month. Cache storage: $0.07 USD per GB/month.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official docs · Report a correction
- Buildkite Pricing ↗
“Usage is billed per vCPU minute and metered to the second, with no minimums and no rounding.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing · Report a correction
Build allowance
- GitHub Actions
- 2,000 minutes/month on GitHub Free; 3,000 on Pro and Team; 50,000 on Enterprise Cloud.
- Buildkite
- Up to 2,000 Linux hosted-agent vCPU minutes a month on Free (Small shape only); 4,000 included on Pro then per-minute rates; volume discounts on Enterprise. vCPU minutes, not job minutes: a job burns its instance shape's vCPU count per minute of runtime.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- GitHub Actions billing - GitHub Docs ↗
“Plan Artifact storage Minutes (per month) Cache storage (per repository) Custom image storage GitHub Free 500 MB 2,000 10 GB Not applicable GitHub Pro 1 GB 3,000 10 GB Not applicable GitHub Free for organizations 500 MB 2,000 10 GB Not applicable GitHub Team 2 GB 3,000 10 GB 75 GB GitHub Enterprise Cloud 50 GB 50,000 10 GB 150 GB”
Read 2026-09-27 · official docs · Report a correction
- Buildkite Pricing | Buildkite ↗
“Included Linux hosted agent vCPU minutes per month. Up to 2,000 mins/month Small only 4,000 mins/month included Additional at per-minute rates Volume discounts”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Concurrent builds
Total concurrent jobs on standard GitHub-hosted runners: 20 on Free, 40 Pro, 60 Team, 500 Enterprise; 1,000 on larger runners (Team and Enterprise). GitHub Support can increase these on request.
Free: up to 10 concurrent jobs. Pro: up to 250 concurrent agents, 10 included then $3.50 per agent/month. Enterprise: unlimited, with volume discounts.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Actions limits - GitHub Docs ↗
“Standard GitHub-hosted runner Free 20 5 Not applicable Standard GitHub-hosted runner Pro 40 5 Not applicable Standard GitHub-hosted runner Team 60 5 Not applicable Standard GitHub-hosted runner Enterprise 500 50 Not applicable [...] Larger runner Team 1000 5 100 Larger runner Enterprise 1000 50 100”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Buildkite Pricing | Buildkite ↗
“The maximum number of Buildkite agents connected simultaneously. Up to 10 concurrent jobs Up to 250 10 included, then $3.50 agent/month Unlimited Volume discounts”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Regions
- GitHub Actions
- Azure private networking for GitHub-hosted larger runners is supported in 25 Azure regions on GitHub.com, including EastUs, NorthEurope, UkSouth, AustraliaEast and JapanWest; runners deploy in the same region as your subnet. Region choice applies only to larger runners with Azure private networking, not standard hosted runners.
- Buildkite
- Buildkite hosted agents run in a purpose-built private cloud, hosted exclusively in US East Coast data centers. Hosted agents platform only; this page names no other region and does not say where the control plane runs.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- About Azure private networking for GitHub-hosted runners in your organization - GitHub Docs ↗
“The following regions are supported on GitHub.com. AustraliaEast BrazilSouth CanadaCentral CanadaEast CentralUs EastAsia EastUs EastUs2 FranceCentral GermanyWestCentral JapanWest KoreaCentral NorthCentralUs NorthEurope NorwayEast SouthCentralUs SoutheastAsia SouthIndia SwedenCentral SwitzerlandNorth UkSouth UkWest WestUs WestUs2 WestUs3”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Buildkite hosted agents | Buildkite Documentation ↗
“Runs in a private cloud, which is purpose built and optimized for CI/CD workloads. [...] Is exclusively hosted in US East Coast data centers, operated by a trusted infrastructure provider, strategically selected to provide optimal performance, reliability and low-latency connectivity to major cloud regions.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Max job duration
Up to 6 hours of execution time per job on GitHub-hosted runners. A job that exceeds this is terminated and fails.
4 hours on the Free plan; unlimited on the Pro and Enterprise plans. This is the maximum time before a running job times out.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- GitHub Actions limits ↗
“Each job in a workflow can run for up to 6 hours of execution time. If a job reaches this limit, the job is terminated and fails.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official docs · Report a correction
- Limits | Buildkite Documentation ↗
“Job timeout The maximum time before a running job will time out. Default: 4 hours on the Free plan. Unlimited on Pro and Enterprise plans”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Self-hosted runners
- GitHub Actions
- Free for self-hosted runners — no usage charges beyond the runner's own infrastructure cost.
- Buildkite
- Self-hosted agents are the default execution model, not an add-on. Free: up to 10 concurrent jobs. Pro: up to 250 agents, 10 included, then $3.50 per agent/month. Enterprise: unlimited.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- About billing for GitHub Actions ↗
“GitHub Actions usage is free for self-hosted runners and for public repositories that use standard GitHub-hosted runners.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction
- Buildkite Pricing ↗
“Self-hosted agents The maximum number of Buildkite agents connected simultaneously. Up to 10 concurrent jobs Up to 250 10 included, then $3.50 agent/month Unlimited Volume discounts”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
SOC 2
- GitHub Actions
- SOC 1, Type 2 and SOC 2, Type 2 reports are downloadable by enterprise owners from GitHub Enterprise Cloud compliance settings.
- Buildkite
- SOC 2 Type II report, from an independent audit performed annually.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Accessing compliance reports for your enterprise - GitHub Enterprise Cloud Docs ↗
“Enterprise owners can access compliance reports for the enterprise. [...] SOC 1, Type 2 SOC 2, Type 2 Cloud Security Alliance CAIQ self-assessment (CSA CAIQ - Level 1)”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Security — Buildkite ↗
“Buildkite maintains a SOC 2 Type II report - an independent audit performed annually that verifies the design and operating effectiveness of our security practices including access controls, system monitoring, threat detection, and incident response.”
Read 2026-09-12 · official site · Report a correction
GDPR / data residency
- GitHub Actions
- GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency stores enterprise data in a chosen region - EU, Australia, US or Japan; GitHub.com defaults to the USA.
- Buildkite
- Servers for the Buildkite service are in the USA; Buildkite Hosted Agents servers may be in the USA or Europe. GDPR applies to EU/UK personal data. The hosted agents docs state US East Coast data centers only; the privacy policy also allows Europe.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- About GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency - GitHub Enterprise Cloud Docs ↗
“By default, GitHub stores data for GitHub.com in the USA. [...] The available regions are: EU (includes Azure regions in EFTA countries, currently Norway and Switzerland) Australia US Japan”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Buildkite Privacy Policy | Information collection and storage | Buildkite ↗
“Servers for Buildkite’s service are located in the United States of America. If you purchase a Buildkite Hosted Agents, servers may be located in the United States of America or Europe.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
PCI DSS
- GitHub Actions
- GitHub PCI DSS Attestation of Compliance is downloadable by enterprise owners from GitHub Enterprise Cloud compliance settings.
- Buildkite
- Not PCI DSS compliant: the Terms of Service state Buildkite is not a payment card processor and the Buildkite Solution is neither HIPAA nor PCI DSS compliant.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Accessing compliance reports for your enterprise - GitHub Enterprise Cloud Docs ↗
“GitHub.com Services Continuity and Incident Management Plan GitHub PCI DSS Attestation of Compliance”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Buildkite Terms of Service | Legal overview | Buildkite ↗
“Customer acknowledges that Buildkite is not a Business Associate or subcontractor (as those terms are defined in HIPAA) or a payment card processor and that the Buildkite Solution is neither HIPAA nor PCI DSS compliant.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
Encryption at rest
- GitHub Actions
- Storage disks for GitHub-hosted runners are encrypted at rest; all communications to GitHub are encrypted. Stated in GitHub's own April 2025 CI/CD blog post, not in a compliance report.
- Buildkite
- AES-256 at rest; TLS 1.2+ in transit.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- When to choose GitHub-Hosted runners or self-hosted runners with GitHub Actions - The GitHub Blog ↗
“Storage disks for hosted runners are encrypted at rest, ensuring the code is protected on the disk. All communications are encrypted to GitHub”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Security — Buildkite ↗
“All data in transit is protected using TLS 1.2+ with strong cipher suites. Data at rest is encrypted using AES-256.”
Read 2026-09-12 · official site · Report a correction
Customer-managed keys
- GitHub Actions
- Not supported for Actions blob storage on GitHub Enterprise Server with Google Cloud Storage: the bucket must use Google-managed encryption keys. Scope: Actions blob storage on GitHub Enterprise Server with Google Cloud Storage.
- Buildkite
- No customer-supplied keys: the Enterprise private job log archiving bucket must use SSE-S3, and SSE-KMS encryption is not supported. Read on the private job log archiving page (Enterprise plan; customer-owned S3 bucket, us-east-1 only).
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Enabling GitHub Actions with Google Cloud Storage - GitHub Enterprise Server 3.22 Docs ↗
“The GCS bucket used for GitHub Actions blob storage must use Google-managed encryption keys. Customer-Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK) are not currently supported”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Job log archiving | Buildkite Documentation ↗
“With private job log archiving, you can configure your own, private Amazon S3 bucket to store job logs [...] Use SSE-S3 for server-side encryption. SSE-KMS encryption is not supported.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Role-based access control
- GitHub Actions
- Predefined and custom organization roles grant permission sets to individuals or teams; custom organization roles require GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
- Buildkite
- Team-based permissions restricting access to builds, pipelines and organization settings, plus per-job OIDC integration with the customer's own identity provider.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Roles in an organization - GitHub Docs ↗
“Organization owners can assign roles to individuals and teams giving them different sets of permissions in the organization. [...] This feature is only available to organizations on GitHub Enterprise Cloud.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Security — Buildkite ↗
“Team-based permissions allow you to restrict access to builds, pipelines, and organization settings. Buildkite can integrate with your cloud identity solution at a per job level via OIDC.”
Read 2026-09-12 · official site · Report a correction
Private networking / VPC
- GitHub Actions
- GitHub-hosted larger runners (2-64 vCPU Ubuntu and Windows) can run in a customer Azure VNET subnet; standard GitHub-hosted runners are not supported.
- Buildkite
- Agents connect to the Buildkite platform over regular public internet connections using HTTPS; Buildkite recommends OIDC or IP allowlists rather than VPNs.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- About Azure private networking for GitHub-hosted runners in your organization - GitHub Docs ↗
“Azure VNET private networking is only available for larger runners (2-64 vCPU Ubuntu and Windows). Standard GitHub-hosted runners are not supported.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Network security | Buildkite Documentation ↗
“connect to the Buildkite platform over regular public internet connections using HTTPS [...] Companies with VPN requirements typically use IP allowlists to control network access”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Dedicated infrastructure
- GitHub Actions
- GitHub-hosted runners are shared across all GitHub customers; private networking configures hosted runners to be used exclusively for your private network.
- Buildkite
- Hosted agent infrastructure is shared across Buildkite customers; dedicated static IP addresses only on request from support. Self-hosting uses your own infra.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Private networking with GitHub-hosted runners - GitHub Docs ↗
“GitHub-hosted runners are shared across all GitHub customers. However with private networking, you can configure hosted runners to be exclusively used to connect to your private network and resources while they are running your workflows.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Network security | Buildkite Documentation ↗
“Since the infrastructure of Buildkite hosted agents is shared across Buildkite customers, the IP address ranges for Buildkite hosted agents originate from a common source [...] If you do require dedicated static IP addresses for your hosted agents’ IP addresses, contact Support at”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: GitHub Actions or Buildkite?
GitHub Actions: GitHub Team: $4 USD per user/month (Free $0, Enterprise $21 USD per user/month).
Buildkite: Pro plan: $30 per active user/month.
Should I choose GitHub Actions or Buildkite?
Pick GitHub Actions if Repos already on GitHub — no separate CI product to wire up, and self-hosted runners cost nothing to use beyond the hardware itself.
Pick Buildkite if 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.
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