GitLab Runner Pricing: Managed vs Self-Hosted
Managed GitLab Runner is billed by usage. Self-hosted, this stack measures 2 GiB across 1 service and fits a $13/month flat plan.
#the numbers
Managed prices as of June 2026, each linked to its source. The self-hosted row is not an estimate: the RAM figure is what this stack allocates in its compose file, and the plan is the smallest one that holds it.
| Option | Plan | Monthly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted on Miget ★ | 2 GiB, 1 vCPU | $13 | the whole stack, flat - no per-user or per-request metering, and the plan holds your other apps too |
| GitLab CI/CD | hosted compute | usage-based | 400 min/mo on Free (10,000 on Premium at $29/user/mo); extra minutes $10 per 1,000 |
Jobs on your own runner consume zero compute-minute quota on any GitLab tier.
#on usage-based pricing
GitLab CI/CD bills by usage rather than a fixed monthly price, so a table cannot compare it honestly. The structural difference is the one that matters: a flat plan has a known worst case, and a meter does not.
#what it costs on other platforms
Same stack, published rates elsewhere - estimates from each platform's own pricing page, not quotes.
| Platform | Estimated monthly | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $13 | flat plan, 2 GiB - databases included, no meters |
| Heroku | ~$100 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| DO App Platform | ~$29 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Render | ~$26 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| Railway | ~$21 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$13 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
#sizing, if you outgrow the small plan
The $13 plan is the smallest that fits. For production traffic you generally want the next tier up, and dedicated vCPU if the workload is CPU-bound rather than idle-waiting.
| Use case | Plan | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Fits the stack | 2 GiB, 1 vCPU shared | $13 |
| Comfortable, room for your own apps | 2 GiB, 2 vCPU shared | $19 |
| Dedicated vCPU (production) | 2 GiB, 1 vCPU dedicated | $22 |
The runner process is tiny (~50 MB); jobs are the budget. 2 GiB covers typical builds; raise concurrency only with RAM to match.
Run GitLab Runner yourself
The compose file is open source and runs locally with docker compose up. One step to deploy it to
Miget on the $13/month plan, databases included.