Tool profile
Travis CI: cost, fit and limits
Travis CI is a hosted continuous integration service made by Travis CI GmbH that builds and tests code from GitHub, Bitbucket and GitLab repositories on Linux, Windows and FreeBSD virtual machines, billed through monthly build credits, with a server edition for private clouds.
What to know first
Travis CI bills by credits: Usage Based is $15 per month ($13.75 on the annual tab) with 35,000 Linux credits and 80 concurrent jobs, and Unlimited starts at $78. New accounts get a trial pool of 10k credits that is not replenished. Prices are net of VAT. The only AI feature on the pages opened is a support assistant called Ask Travis AI Support.
Travis CI at a glance
| Maker | Travis CI GmbH, Germany |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Free trial only |
| Entry price | $15 per month (Usage Based, billed monthly) |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI CI/CD Software in 2026, rank 13 of 14 |
| Website | travis-ci.com |
Who Travis CI is best for
Open and small private projects
The $15 Usage Based plan includes 35,000 Linux credits a month, so a small repository with modest test runs can stay on the entry plan.
Teams needing Windows or FreeBSD builds
The pricing table lists Linux, Windows and FreeBSD VMs, plus large, 2x-large and GPU premium sizes, in one credit pool.
Organizations with on-premise needs
The Server plan at $34 per month covers on-premise or private cloud installs and CI/CD for Perforce and Subversion, with premium support options through sales.
Teams that want predictable billing
The billing docs count a build minute from the start of the job environment rather than queue time, so waiting does not drain credits.
Travis CI plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Usage Based | $15 per month monthly; $13.75 per month annual | 35,000 Linux build credits a month, 80 concurrent jobs, premium VMs available, and a Linux customized images add-on. |
| Unlimited | $78+ per month monthly; $72+ per month annual | Unlimited build credits, collaborators and repositories, from 1 up to 300 concurrent jobs, and premium VMs available on request. |
| Server | $34 per month | On-premise or private cloud installs, CI/CD for Perforce and Subversion, and premium support options; pricing and setup go through sales. |
| Trial (sign-up plan) | Free trial credits | Unlimited users on a usage-based plan with a pool of 10k credits, about 1k Linux build minutes, not replenished once spent. |
Checked November 2026.
What Travis CI does
- Credit pool billing
- Credits are drawn down per build minute, counted from the start of the job environment. Cancelled plans stay active until the cycle ends, and credits cannot be bought again until the user rejoins a plan.
- Premium VM sizes
- Besides standard Linux, Windows and FreeBSD VMs, the pricing table lists large, 2x-large and GPU premium VMs, which draw more credits per minute than the default size.
- Linux customized images
- An add-on to the Usage Based plan lets a team run builds on Linux images prepared with its own tooling, instead of installing dependencies on every run.
- API V3
- The billing docs name API V3 for triggering builds, which lets scripts and other tools start jobs outside the normal repository push flow and fits chained pipelines.
- Notifications and Git hosts
- Results can go to email, Slack, Opsgenie or any webhook, and builds run for repositories on GitHub, Bitbucket and GitLab, with each host's permissions listed in the docs.
How Travis CI handles your data
The privacy policy says data is deleted once it is no longer necessary for its purpose, though the pages opened gave no fixed retention period. It notes some data goes to third countries through cloud providers, and no hosting region was stated. The homepage says Travis CI is GDPR compliant, but it names no certifications such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001. Whether customer code or logs are used to train models was not stated, so ask the vendor before connecting private repositories with secrets.
Where Travis CI falls short in practice
- Concurrency ceilings. Usage Based allows 80 concurrent jobs and Unlimited allows up to 300. Jobs beyond the cap wait in a queue, which slows big monorepos that fan out into many parallel test shards.
- Trial credits do not renew. The sign-up pool of 10k credits is a one-time amount. Once it is spent, the account must subscribe to keep building, so a trial cannot serve as a free tier.
- Cancellation and credit rules. A cancelled plan runs to the end of its billing cycle, and credits cannot be bought again after cancellation until the user rejoins a plan, which complicates pausing for a few months.
- Quote-only extras. Volume discounts for teams of 20 or more users need a sales conversation, and the Server plan is custom quoted despite the $34 figure on the page.
Works with
Alternatives to Travis CI
Travis CI: common questions
How much does Travis CI cost per month?
Usage Based is $15 per month on the monthly tab and $13.75 on the annual tab, with 35,000 Linux credits. Unlimited starts at $78 monthly, and Server is $34. The billing docs say prices are net of VAT and other local taxes.
Does Travis CI have a free plan?
No standing free plan appears on the pages opened. Sign-up gives a Trial plan with 10k credits, roughly 1k Linux build minutes, and those credits are not replenished once used, so the account must subscribe to continue building after that.
How does Travis CI count build minutes?
The billing docs say a build minute is counted from the start of the job environment, not from queue time, so waiting does not use credits. Premium VMs such as large, 2x-large and GPU sizes are listed separately in the pricing table.
Does Travis CI use AI?
The pricing page names Ask Travis AI Support as a support option, and no other AI capability was named on the pages opened. Buyers wanting AI-assisted pipeline features, such as generated configs or reviews, should check with the vendor directly.
Where is Travis CI based and is it GDPR compliant?
The maker is Travis CI GmbH in Germany, and the homepage says Travis CI is GDPR compliant. The privacy policy notes some data goes to third countries through cloud providers; no hosting region or named certification was stated on the pages opened.