What Is the GitHub Actions Free Tier? Limits & Gotchas
The GitHub Actions free tier is the monthly allowance of included runner minutes and storage that private repositories can use before metered billing begins.
GitHub Actions is free for public repos and includes a monthly allowance for private ones. That free tier covers many small teams entirely, but it has sharp edges - OS multipliers and the lack of any allowance on larger runners are where "free" pipelines quietly start costing money.
What you get free
Public repositories run standard GitHub-hosted runners with no minute charge. Private repositories on the free plan include 2,000 minutes and 500 MB of storage per month; paid plans include progressively more (for example, 3,000 minutes on Team).
The OS multiplier catch
Free minutes are counted in Linux-equivalent terms. A Windows minute consumes about two of your free minutes, and a macOS minute about ten. So 2,000 free minutes is only about 200 minutes of macOS time before you start paying.
Larger runners have no free tier
The allowance applies only to standard runners. The moment you switch a job to a 4-core, 8-core, or GPU larger runner, it bills from the first minute. Teams that upgrade for speed often do not realize they have stepped entirely outside the free tier.
Storage counts too
Artifacts and caches consume the included storage allowance, and overage is billed by the gigabyte-month. Long retention windows and large build artifacts can push you past the free storage even when minutes are fine.
When the free tier runs out
Once you exceed the allowance, you either set a spending limit (which can stop workflows when reached) or pay overage at standard rates. Many teams discover they have outgrown the free tier only when a build is blocked or an invoice arrives.
Stretching or replacing it
Cache to reduce minutes, keep heavy jobs on Linux, and prune artifact retention. When you outgrow the free tier, a cheaper platform resets the math: Latchkey managed runners run the same workflows at roughly 69% less and include free minutes of their own, so growing past GitHub’s allowance does not mean a steep bill.
Key takeaways
- Public repos are free; private repos get 2,000 included minutes/month on the free plan.
- Free minutes are Linux-equivalent: Windows ~2x and macOS ~10x consumption.
- Larger runners get no free tier and bill from minute one.