gha-budget

Estimate the dollar cost of a GitHub Actions workflow before you commit it. Per-runner pricing, matrix expansion, monthly projection. CLI and JSON output.

Try it without installing: paste a workflow into the in-browser budget. Same matrix expansion and pricing model, runs entirely client-side.

$ npx gha-budget --runs-per-day=30 --minutes=8

gha-budget  2026-04-27T05:55:00Z

Assumed: 8 min/job, 30 runs/day.

.github/workflows/ci.yml
  job                   runs-on               matrix  min/run  rate/min   per-run
  build                 ubuntu-latest         1       8        $0.008     $0.064
  test                  ubuntu-latest         6       48       $0.008     $0.384
  -> workflow per-run: $0.45

.github/workflows/release.yml
  job                   runs-on               matrix  min/run  rate/min   per-run
  build                 macos-latest          1       8        $0.080     $0.640
  -> workflow per-run: $0.64

All workflows per-run total: $1.09
Daily   (30 runs/day): $32.70
Monthly (30 days):     $981.00

Why

You write a new GitHub Actions workflow. You merge it. Two weeks later the CI bill triples. Why? You added a macOS matrix slot. macOS-latest is 10x the per-minute rate of ubuntu-latest.

Most teams discover this in the bill. gha-budget shows it before you commit.

Install

npm install -g gha-budget
# or run on demand
npx gha-budget

Usage

gha-budget                         # audit .github/workflows of cwd
gha-budget path/to/repo            # audit a specific repo
gha-budget --file ci.yml           # one workflow file
gha-budget --runs-per-day=30       # default 20
gha-budget --minutes=8             # mean per-job runtime, default 5
gha-budget --json                  # machine-readable for CI
gha-budget --markdown              # PR-comment friendly

Pricing model

Source: GitHub Actions billing docs. Per-minute, USD, for GitHub-hosted standard runners (paid use beyond free monthly minutes).

| Runner family | per-minute | | - | - | | ubuntu-* (2-core) | $0.008 | | ubuntu-* 4-core | $0.016 | | ubuntu-* 8-core | $0.032 | | windows-* (2-core) | $0.016 | | macos-* (3-core) | $0.080 | | macos-* xlarge | $0.160 | | self-hosted | $0.000 |

Matrix expansion is counted: a job with os: [ubuntu, windows, macos] and node: [18, 20] becomes 6 matrix slots. Each slot pays the runner rate for the assumed minutes.

Caveats

This is a budget estimate, not a guarantee.

• The big unknown is real per-job runtime. Default of 5 min is the community median for small workflows. Override with --minutes=N or use the per-job timing from your billing dashboard for sharper numbers.
• if: conditions, continue-on-error, and dynamic matrix (fromJSON()) cannot be statically evaluated. They count as if they always run.
• Free-tier minutes are credited monthly. The dollar number you see here is the post-free-tier rate. If you stay under the free quota, out-of-pocket is zero; the budget here still tells you when you're about to exit the free tier.

Companion tools

• ci-doctor - audit GHA workflows for waste, cost, security gaps. Use both: ci-doctor finds the issues, gha-budget tells you what each one costs.
• depmedic - surgical npm vulnerability triage.
• cursor-rules-init
  • opinionated .cursorrules starters.

Cut the bill

If gha-budget shows a number that surprises you, the deeper pattern set for cutting it lives in the GHA cost cookbook ($19, free updates within v1.x).

License

MIT.

Sponsor / support depmedic

If this saved you 10 minutes of CI debugging, consider one of these. All of them keep the free CLIs free:

• Tip what you want — pay-what-you-want, $0 minimum: https://buy.polar.sh/polar_cl_tipjar?utm_source=npm&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=gha-budget
• depmedic Pro $5/mo — one license, unlocks Pro tier in every depmedic CLI + the VS Code / Cursor extension, free access to every paid playbook for as long as you stay subscribed: https://buy.polar.sh/polar_cl_SUzmX5RCQCV8MJV3dDEBFMu3MGWu2WQhzZ1s02ZhK09?utm_source=npm&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=gha-budget
• Everything Bundle $59 once — every paid playbook (current and future): https://buy.polar.sh/polar_cl_everything_bundle?utm_source=npm&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=gha-budget
• Sponsor on GitHub — https://github.com/sponsors/depmedicdev-byte

More from depmedic

| | | | --- | --- | | ci-doctor | audit GitHub Actions for cost + security (16 rules) | | gitlab-ci-doctor | same engine for .gitlab-ci.yml (14 rules) | | bitbucket-ci-doctor | for bitbucket-pipelines.yml (8 rules) | | azure-pipelines-ci-doctor | for azure-pipelines.yml (8 rules) | | circleci-ci-doctor | for .circleci/config.yml (8 rules) | | gha-budget | $-denominated cost estimate of any GHA workflow | | pin-actions | one-shot SHA pinner for uses: blocks | | cursor-rules-init | scaffold .cursor/rules/ for your stack | | depmedic | all-in-one cli, finds outdated/risky deps | | depmedic/ci-doctor-action | composite GitHub Action: PR comment + SARIF |

In-browser scanners (no install): GitHub · GitLab · Bitbucket · Azure · CircleCI.

Newsletter (weekly, low-volume): https://depmedicdev-byte.github.io/newsletter.html?utm_source=npm&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=gha-budget.