# Buildkite hosted agents

Official pricing: https://buildkite.com/pricing  
Category: macos · Isolation: vm

## Pricing regimes (raw)

- **macOS M4 hosted agents, $0.02 per vCPU-minute** (sizes): M4 Medium (6 vCPU / 28 GB) 6 vCPU/28 GiB $7.2/h; M4 Large (12 vCPU / 56 GB) 12 vCPU/56 GiB $14.4/h
- **Hosted Linux agents (Small..Large)** (sizes): Small LINUX_AMD64_2X4 2 vCPU/4 GiB $0.48/h; Medium LINUX_AMD64_4X16 4 vCPU/16 GiB $0.96/h; Large LINUX_AMD64_8X32 8 vCPU/32 GiB $1.92/h
- **Hosted Linux agents XL..3XL (Enterprise)** (sizes): XL LINUX_AMD64_16X64 16 vCPU/64 GiB $3.84/h; 2XL LINUX_AMD64_32X128 32 vCPU/128 GiB $7.68/h; 3XL LINUX_AMD64_64X256 64 vCPU/256 GiB $15.36/h
- **Windows hosted agents (private preview)** (sizes): Small WINDOWS_AMD64_2X8 2 vCPU/8 GiB $null/h; Medium WINDOWS_AMD64_4X16 4 vCPU/16 GiB $null/h; Large WINDOWS_AMD64_8X32 8 vCPU/32 GiB $null/h; Extra Large WINDOWS_AMD64_16X64 16 vCPU/64 GiB $null/h [beta]

## Features

Yes: snapshots, fork/clone, persistent disk, volumes, idle auto-stop, custom image (Docker or snapshot), start from your own snapshot, your own Docker/OCI image, full VM (own kernel), Docker inside, browser, desktop GUI, SSH, static egress IP, self-hosting, SOC 2, SSO, arm64, Windows, macOS, Python, Node.js, webhooks, MCP server, automatic snapshots, gVisor or VM (no shared kernel), firewall inside (nftables), secret proxy, extra volumes

No: memory snapshots, pause/resume, ≥24 h sessions, nested virtualization, systemd, computer-use API, code interpreter, browser + desktop control, anti-bot stealth, CAPTCHA solving, residential IPs, preinstalled agents, public IPv4, HTTPS preview URLs, custom domains, raw TCP inbound, egress allowlist, private networking, BYOC, open source, HIPAA, GPU, GPU desktop, HTTP method/path egress rules, wake on request, live resize, live fork (no pause), memory fork, EU data residency, snapshots on demand, agent harness API, hosted agent API (their own agent), inbound access rules, secret proxy for any API, shared volumes

Unknown: everything else. Evidence (source + quote) per feature: https://battleships.dev/data/providers/buildkite-hosted.json → feature_evidence

## Caveats

- CI agents only (jobs from Buildkite pipelines).
- Included Linux minutes don't cover macOS.
- Billed per vCPU-minute metered to the second, no minimums (pricing page).
- Pro concurrency cap is per vCPU (256 Linux / 48 macOS); encoded as 32 concurrent machines, which is exact only for 8-vCPU Linux agents.
- ARM64 Linux shapes are Enterprise-only; not encoded separately.
- Linux XL..3XL hourly derived from the published $0.004/vCPU-minute rate.
- Cache volumes (Pro/Enterprise only; not on Free) have no published price; best-effort, retained up to 14 days from last use; default quotas: container cache 50 GB, Git mirror 5 GB, max cache size 128 GB; min volume size 20 GB.
- Linux ARM64 is billed as a separate platform with its own per-vCPU-minute rate (not published; Enterprise, on request).
- Concurrency counts a machine from boot, so short jobs consume capacity beyond run time; jobs over the vCPU cap queue (no overage).

## How this provider charges


Buildkite charges **per active user** for the platform and **per vCPU-minute** for hosted agents:
- macOS M4: $0.02 per vCPU-minute.
- Linux: $0.004 per vCPU-minute.

There are no Windows hosted agents.

## Regime table

| # | Regime | When it applies | How billed | Numbers | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Free plan | ≤5 users | 10 concurrent jobs, up to 2,000 Linux vCPU-minutes/month. No macOS hosted agents | $0 | https://buildkite.com/pricing |
| 2 | Pro plan | Teams | $30 per active user/month. Up to 50 users, 250 concurrent agents (10 included), 4,000 Linux minutes/month included, access to macOS agents | $30/user/month | same |
| 3 | macOS hosted agents | Pro+ | Per vCPU-minute | M4 Medium 6 vCPU/28 GB **$0.12/min**; M4 Large 12 vCPU/56 GB **$0.24/min** | same |
| 4 | Linux hosted agents | All | Per vCPU-minute | Small 2 vCPU $0.008; Medium 4 $0.016; Large 8 $0.032 (RAM not captured) | same |
| 5 | Self-hosted agents | Your machines | Platform fee only | included in the plan | same |
| 6 | Enterprise | Contact | Volume discounts, custom limits | custom | same |

## Gotchas

1. macOS costs 5x Linux per vCPU, and the smallest Mac is 6 vCPU, so you can't rent less than $0.12/min.
2. Included minutes are Linux only.
3. Jobs only (Buildkite pipelines), not interactive sandboxes.

## Worked example

Workload: 4 vCPU / 8 GiB, 50 concurrent × 8 h/day × 22 days (8,800 h), 30% CPU, 50 GiB snapshots, 100 GiB egress. Illustrative.

- macOS M4 Medium (6 vCPU): 8,800 × $7.20 = **$63,360/month**, plus $30/active user.
- Linux Medium 4 vCPU ($0.96/h): 8,800 × $0.96 = $8,448 minus included 4,000 min ($64) ≈ **$8,384**, plus seats.
- Snapshots and egress: not applicable or not published.

Sources: https://buildkite.com/pricing