People look past GitHub Actions when private-repository minutes run out, when builds need machines GitHub does not offer, or when they want CI that is not tied to the place the code is hosted. They move to a dedicated CI service or a self-hosted engine.
Sebastiaan SmitsFounderShort answer: The closest replacements for GitHub Actions in our CI/CD tool ranking are CircleCI, Buildkite and Semaphore. Choose CircleCI if you want CI that stays independent of your code host. All 12 alternatives below are ranked products from Best CI/CD Tools in 2026, and each says where it differs from GitHub Actions.
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The Free plan includes 2,000 minutes a month, Team 3,000 and Enterprise Cloud 50,000. After that Linux 2-core runners are billed at $0.006 a minute, Windows at $0.010 and macOS at $0.062. Public repositories and self-hosted runners are free of Actions charges, so cost bites mainly for private work on macOS or Windows.
Workflows live under .github/workflows and trigger on repository events. That is convenient on GitHub and a constraint if you also use GitLab, Bitbucket or a self-hosted forge. Moving the code later means rewriting the CI as well.
GitHub's own hardening guide says pinning to a full commit SHA is the only way to use an action as an immutable release, and that tags can be reassigned if an account is compromised. Teams using many Marketplace actions need review and pinning discipline, which a more closed CI service avoids.
| Alternative | Headquarters | Free option | Pricing | Key difference | Switch if | Our rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CircleCI | United States | Yes | Credits bought up front and spent per machine-minute, published; free plan available | Credit-based cloud CI with timing-based test splitting across containers | you want CI that stays independent of your code host | #4 |
| Buildkite | Australia | Yes | Per active user per month, published; hosted compute billed separately by the vCPU minute | Hosted control plane with agents you run on your own machines | you want to run builds on your own hardware with a hosted control plane | #2 |
| Semaphore | Serbia | No free tier | Pay-as-you-go per machine-minute, published; monthly free credit included | Pay-per-minute pipelines from a company whose platform is open source | you prefer straightforward per-minute pricing and fewer moving parts | #1 |
| Azure Pipelines | United States | Yes | Per parallel job, published; free tier of one hosted job and one self-hosted job | Microsoft's pipeline service inside Azure DevOps, billed per parallel job | you want to pay by parallel job and already use Azure DevOps | #13 |
| Bitbucket Pipelines | Australia | Yes | Per user per month for Bitbucket plus build minutes, published; extra minutes sold in blocks | CI/CD built into Bitbucket Cloud, configured in one YAML file | your repositories are on Bitbucket | #12 |
| Jenkins | Not stated by the vendor | Yes | Free and open source; cost is servers and maintenance time | Self-hosted automation server with thousands of community plugins | you need full control of the build environment and have people to maintain it | #8 |
| JetBrains TeamCity | Czechia | No free tier | Cloud billed per committer with build credits; Professional edition is free, paid licences per agent | Build server with dependency chains, as Cloud or a free Professional edition | you want a vendor-supported build server with deep reporting and the option to host it yourself | #5 |
| Harness | United States | Yes | Paid plans quoted per organisation by module; open-source tools included at no cost | Modular delivery platform covering CI, CD and security testing | you want build, deploy and security tests in one platform with a vendor contract | #10 |
| Woodpecker CI | Not stated by the vendor | Yes | Free and open source; you pay only for the servers you run it on | Lightweight container-based CI engine you run yourself, at no cost | you want a small self-hosted, open source engine and no per-minute billing | #3 |
| Codemagic | Estonia | No free tier | Pay-as-you-go per build minute by machine, or fixed annual plans, published; monthly free minutes | CI/CD service built around mobile apps, signing and store publishing | you build iOS and Android apps and want mobile-specific tooling | #6 |
| Octopus Deploy | Australia | Yes | Annual plans for Cloud or Server, published; free plan with fixed limits | Release and deployment orchestration that follows your existing CI server | your deployments span many environments and tenants and need release management | #7 |
| Argo CD | Not stated by the vendor | Yes | Free and open source; no vendor price list | Declarative GitOps continuous delivery controller for Kubernetes clusters | you deploy to Kubernetes and want declarative, pull-based delivery | #9 |
United States · Credits bought up front and spent per machine-minute, published; free plan available
A dedicated CI service with credits bought up front and a Free plan of 30,000 credits and 5 active users. It runs on any of several code hosts and offers self-hosted runners. Credits and resource classes make the bill less simple to predict than Actions' per-minute rates.
Switch from GitHub Actions if you want CI that stays independent of your code host.
Australia · Per active user per month, published; hosted compute billed separately by the vCPU minute
Hosted orchestration with agents on your own machines, $30 per active user a month on Pro and a free plan for 5 users. Hosted Linux agents cost $0.004 per vCPU minute. It puts compute in your hands but is priced per user, which Actions is not.
Switch from GitHub Actions if you want to run builds on your own hardware with a hosted control plane.
Serbia · Pay-as-you-go per machine-minute, published; monthly free credit included
Pay-as-you-go compute, with 2-vCPU Ubuntu x64 at $0.0075 a minute, $15 monthly free credit and self-hosted agents at $0.0025 a minute. It has fewer integrations than Actions' Marketplace.
Switch from GitHub Actions if you prefer straightforward per-minute pricing and fewer moving parts.
United States · Per parallel job, published; free tier of one hosted job and one self-hosted job
Microsoft's own pipeline service, with one free hosted job (1,800 minutes a month) and one free self-hosted job with unlimited minutes. Extra parallel jobs cost $40 hosted or $15 self-hosted a month. Billing is by parallel job rather than by minute.
Switch from GitHub Actions if you want to pay by parallel job and already use Azure DevOps.
Australia · Per user per month for Bitbucket plus build minutes, published; extra minutes sold in blocks
Included in Bitbucket, billed per user ($3.65 on Standard) with 50 free build minutes on Free and extra minutes sold in 1,000-minute blocks at $10. It builds only Bitbucket repositories, so it is no use if you stay on GitHub.
Switch from GitHub Actions if your repositories are on Bitbucket.
Not stated by the vendor · Free and open source; cost is servers and maintenance time
Open source and free of licence fees, so it costs servers and admin time, not minutes. It needs Java 21 or later and a controller you maintain, and it has over a thousand plugins. It runs anywhere but you carry the upkeep.
Switch from GitHub Actions if you need full control of the build environment and have people to maintain it.
Czechia · Cloud billed per committer with build credits; Professional edition is free, paid licences per agent
JetBrains' server, offered as a Cloud service billed per committer or as an on-premises licence, with a Professional edition that has free limits. It has more built-in build features than Actions, and no marketplace of community actions.
Switch from GitHub Actions if you want a vendor-supported build server with deep reporting and the option to host it yourself.
United States · Paid plans quoted per organisation by module; open-source tools included at no cost
A platform that bundles CI, CD, GitOps and security testing, with a free plan and quoted Essentials and Enterprise tiers. It covers more of the delivery pipeline than Actions but needs a sales conversation and a bigger commitment.
Switch from GitHub Actions if you want build, deploy and security tests in one platform with a vendor contract.
Not stated by the vendor · Free and open source; you pay only for the servers you run it on
Apache 2.0 licensed, container-based CI engine you run yourself, using about 100 MB of RAM for the server. It supports Docker and Kubernetes and is used by Codeberg. You pay only for servers, but it has a far smaller plugin set than the Marketplace.
Switch from GitHub Actions if you want a small self-hosted, open source engine and no per-minute billing.
Estonia · Pay-as-you-go per build minute by machine, or fixed annual plans, published; monthly free minutes
Hosted CI for mobile apps, with Mac mini M2 at $0.095 a minute and fixed annual plans from $3,990. Compared with Actions' macOS rate of $0.062 for a 3-4 core runner it is not cheaper per minute, but bundles mobile-specific tooling and signing.
Switch from GitHub Actions if you build iOS and Android apps and want mobile-specific tooling.
Australia · Annual plans for Cloud or Server, published; free plan with fixed limits
A deployment and release tool, not a build system. The free plan allows 10 projects and 10 machines, with paid Cloud from $4,330 a year. It sits after a build tool, so it supplements Actions or replaces only the deploy stage.
Switch from GitHub Actions if your deployments span many environments and tenants and need release management.
Not stated by the vendor · Free and open source; no vendor price list
A Kubernetes GitOps controller under Apache 2.0, which keeps cluster state matched to Git. It does not build or test code, so it replaces only the deployment part of Actions, not CI.
Switch from GitHub Actions if you deploy to Kubernetes and want declarative, pull-based delivery.
GitHub Actions remains the right choice when your code is on GitHub and your builds are modest. Public repositories and self-hosted runners cost nothing in Actions charges, and the Free plan still includes 2,000 minutes. Workflows in the repository, a large Marketplace and one bill with your code host are real advantages, and a separate CI service adds another vendor.
Actions workflows use GitHub-specific events, contexts and Marketplace actions. Each target tool has its own YAML dialect, so a one-to-one port is rare. Port the build and test steps first, then replace actions with the target's equivalents or plain scripts.
Secrets stored in GitHub are not exportable and must be re-created in the new service. Also check that the new tool can report status back to pull requests, since this is what teams notice first when CI moves off GitHub.
For public repositories and self-hosted runners, yes. Private repositories get 2,000 minutes on Free, 3,000 on Team and 50,000 on Enterprise Cloud each month, then pay per minute.
GitHub lists $0.006 a minute for a 2-core x64 Linux runner. Windows is $0.010 and macOS is $0.062.
Microsoft announced its acquisition of GitHub on 4 June 2018 for $7.5 billion in stock.
Jenkins and Woodpecker CI are open source and self-hosted. TeamCity can also be hosted on your own servers.
Yes. Octopus Deploy and Argo CD are deployment tools that follow a build step, so many teams keep Actions for CI.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Writes, edits and checks every page on this site.
Written, edited and fact-checked by Sebastiaan Smits. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. How we review.
