GitHub today vs. GitLab vs. AWS-native · 82 seats · 156 repos · built from 18 months of actual org billing data
Only the AWS stack is cheaper than today. GitLab costs more at like-for-like capability — 4× more on Ultimate.
Monthly spend split between seats and CI compute — seats dominate every managed platform except AWS.
Volume is compounding: Mar–Jul 2026 averaged ~45K min/mo, +60% over the same window in 2025.
Even at 2× today's minutes, the cost ranking doesn't change — seats, not compute, decide the order.
Model annual cost per provider as the team and CI volume change. Defaults match today: 82 seats, 1× volume (~39K min/mo at the current Linux/macOS/ARM mix).
List prices at the current runner mix. Seats are what you'd purchase — today's $23.6K bill reflects 87 purchased seats, so 82 here reads slightly lower. GitHub Enterprise overage carries a 1.5× month-to-month variance factor calibrated to our actuals; AWS always includes at least one reserved Mac host ($475/mo); GitLab applies its 6× macOS cost factor.
| Scenario | Seats $/mo | CI $/mo | $/yr | vs. today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Enterprise (current) | $1,827 | $143 | $23,600 | — |
| GitHub Team | $328 | $380 | $8,500 | −64% |
| GitLab Premium | $2,378 | $440 | $33,800 | +43% |
| GitLab Ultimate (list) | $8,118 | $40 | $97,900 | +314% |
| AWS native | $77 | ~$873 | ~$11,400 | −52% |
| Runner | Min/mo | Minutes | Compute cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux x64 | 35,360 | 89.7% | 53.3% |
| macOS | 2,911 | 7.4% | 45.2% |
| Linux ARM64 | 1,140 | 2.9% | 1.5% |
| Month | Linux | macOS | ARM64 | Total |
|---|