cicd
CircleCI pricing & features
Fast, configurable CI/CD with Docker, ARM, GPU runners and orbs
Mature cloud CI/CD. YAML config with versioned Orbs (reusable packs). Docker Layer Caching, parallel test splitting, ARM/GPU runners. Cloud + self-hosted runners.
Data sourced from vendor documentation · Last updated May 2026
Pricing
| Tier | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | $0. 6,000 build minutes/mo (Linux medium). 30 users. Unlimited projects. |
| Performance | $15/mo | $15/mo (3 users). Credit-based: 80K-240K credits/mo bundles. More concurrency. |
| Scale | $2000/mo | $2,000/mo+ (custom). High concurrency, self-hosted runner support, SSO. |
| CircleCI Server | Custom | Custom. On-prem deployment of CircleCI. Enterprise only. |
Limits
| Tier | Metric | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | billing unit | Credits = function of resource class × time. E.g., Linux medium = 10 credits/min. | Credits |
| — | dlc | Docker Layer Caching — reuse Docker layers across builds (paid) | DLC |
| — | orbs count | 1,700+ Orbs (reusable config packs) | Orbs ecosystem |
| — | resource classes | small → xlarge Linux, ARM, macOS, Windows, GPU (up to T4 NVIDIA) | Resource classes |
| — | ssh debug | Rerun failed job with SSH — interactive debug | SSH debug |
| — | test splitting | circleci tests split --split-by=timings — parallel test distribution | Test splitting |
| — | vs github actions | Historically faster + better config language (2.1). GitHub Actions caught up since 2022 with broader ecosystem. | vs GHA |
| — | workflows | Workflows = DAG of jobs with conditional + fan-out/fan-in | Workflows |
Features
- .circleci/config.yml — Single source of truth (YAML 2.1).
- ARM + GPU Runners — ARM64 + T4 GPU resource classes.
- Contexts — Org-scoped shared env vars.
- Deploy Markers — Track deployments + rollback.
- Docker Layer Caching — Reuse Docker layers.
- Dynamic Config — Generate config based on changed paths.
- Manual Approval — Gate workflows with manual step.
- Matrix Jobs — Parameterized parallel jobs.
- Orbs — Packaged reusable jobs + commands.
- Parallelism — Split a job across N parallel containers.
- Rerun with SSH — SSH into failed job.
- Restricted Contexts — RBAC for secrets.
- Scheduled Pipelines — Cron-triggered runs.
- Self-Hosted Runners — On your infra.
- Test Insights — Flaky test detection + trends.
- Test Splitting — By timings, filenames, classnames.
- Workflows (DAG) — Fan out, fan in, conditional.
Developer interfaces
| Slug | Name | Kind | Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| yaml-config | .circleci/config.yml | other | 2.1 |
| orbs | CircleCI Orbs Registry | other | — |
| rest-api | CircleCI REST API v2 | rest | v2 |
| web-ui | CircleCI Web UI | other | — |
| webhooks | CircleCI Webhooks | other | — |
| runner | Self-Hosted Runner | other | 3.x |
| cli | circleci CLI | cli | 0.x |
Related cicd platforms
cicd
Buildkite
Hybrid CI/CD — your compute, their orchestration. Built for scale.
cicd
GitHub Actions
CI/CD native to GitHub — workflows + marketplace + hosted runners
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