Pricing

Builtiful offers simple, transparent pricing based on actual compute time used. No hidden fees, no minimum commitments, no idle infrastructure costs.

How Pricing Works

💳 Pay-As-You-Go

• Billed per minute of compute time
• Only charged while your jobs are running
• No charges for queued or idle time
• Automatic billing through Stripe

🎁 Free Trial

• $15 in credits for new accounts
• No credit card required to start
• Full access to all runner sizes
• Credits expire after 30 days

📊 Transparent Usage

• Real-time usage tracking in dashboard
• Detailed job-level cost breakdown
• Monthly invoices with full details
• Usage alerts and spending limits

Runner Pricing

Pricing is $0.002 per CPU core per minute. Memory scales at 4GB per CPU core.

Formula: Price per minute = CPU cores × $0.002

Billing Details

Minimum Billing Increment

• 1 minute minimum per job
• Rounded up to the nearest minute
• Example: 2m 15s job = 3 minutes billed

When You're Charged

• Jobs are metered in real-time
• Monthly billing cycle
• Automatic payment via saved card
• Invoices sent on the 1st of each month

Supported Payment Methods

• All major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex)
• Corporate purchasing cards
• ACH/Wire transfer for enterprise (contact sales@builtiful.io)

Cost Comparison

See how Builtiful compares to other solutions:

vs. GitHub-Hosted Runners

Plus with Builtiful:

• No monthly minute limits
• Dedicated isolated VMs
• Customizable configurations
• Better performance consistency

vs. Self-Hosted Infrastructure

Running your own infrastructure involves:

• EC2/VM costs: ~$100-500/month per runner
• DevOps time: ~10 hours/month maintenance
• Security updates and patching
• Scaling complexity
• Idle time waste

Builtiful eliminates all overhead - just pay for compute time used.

Cost Optimization Tips

1. Right-Size Your Runners

Don't overprovision - use our metrics to find the optimal size:

• Start with the default 2CPU runner for most workloads
• Scale up only for compute-intensive tasks
• Use 1CPU runner for simple jobs such as bots and labeler

2. Optimize Your Workflows

Reduce build times to save money:

• Cache dependencies properly
• Parallelize test suites
• Use incremental builds
• Skip unnecessary steps on certain branches

3. Use Matrix Builds Wisely

Matrix builds multiply costs:

# This runs 6 jobs (2 OS × 3 Node versions)
strategy:
  matrix:
    os: [linux, macos]  
    node: [18, 20, 22]

Consider if you need all combinations.

Enterprise Pricing

📞 Contact Sales

Email sales@builtiful.io for:

• Volume pricing quotes
• Annual contract discounts
• Custom requirements
• Proof of concept and onboarding assistance

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a free tier?

We offer $15 in trial credits for new accounts. After that, it's pay-as-you-go with no free tier, ensuring sustainable service quality for all users.

What about cancelled jobs?

You're only charged for actual runtime. If a job is cancelled, you only pay for the minutes it ran.

Do prices include taxes?

Prices shown are exclusive of taxes. Applicable taxes (VAT, GST, etc.) will be added based on your location.

Can I get an invoice?

Yes, monthly invoices are automatically generated and available in your dashboard. We can also send them via email.

What if I exceed my trial credits?

You'll need to add a payment method to continue using Builtiful. We'll notify you when credits are running low.

Are there any other fees?

No hidden fees! You only pay for compute time. Network egress, storage, and runner provisioning are all included.

Start Your Free Trial

Ready to experience managed GitHub Actions runners with transparent pricing?