At 100 builds a month, half iOS and half Android, GitHub Actions is the cheapest at about $50, then Bitrise Starter at $89, Codemagic pay-as-you-go at $94, and EAS Starter at $124. That order flips when builds get long: EAS charges a flat $2 per iOS build however long it takes, so an iOS build over 21 minutes is cheaper on EAS than on Codemagic, and one over 32 minutes is cheaper than on GitHub’s macOS runners.
Every price below, EAS build pricing included, comes from the vendor’s own pricing page, checked 2026-10-13. The build times are our assumption, not a measurement, so the calculator lets you put in your own.
Who this is for: a team shipping a React Native, Expo, Flutter, or .NET MAUI app that wants to know what CI builds will cost per month. Who should skip it: if you build on your own Mac and upload by hand, none of these services is needed. EAS says “Local builds with your own CI/CD are always free” (Expo).
Work out your own number
The calculator also has its own page: the mobile app build cost calculator.
EAS (Expo)
$124
a month, Starter plan
$1 per Android build, $2 per iOS build on medium workers, after $45 of included credit. Build length does not change the price. Source, checked 2026-10-13
Codemagic
$93.75
a month, Pay as you go
Android on Linux at $0.045/min, iOS on Mac mini M2 at $0.095/min. Source, checked 2026-10-13
GitHub Actions
$49.50
a month, Hosted runners, pay per minute
Linux at $0.006/min, standard macOS at $0.062/min. Before any free minutes. You script signing and store upload yourself. Source, checked 2026-10-13
Bitrise
$89.00
a month, Starter, billed yearly
Bitrise says Starter is "Recommended up to 100 builds/month". $99 if billed monthly. Source, checked 2026-10-13
A planning number, not an invoice. Medium machines only. It leaves out GitHub's free minutes (2,000 a month on Free, 3,000 on Team, for private repos), extra concurrency, tax, and the store accounts (Apple $99 a year, Google $25 once). Bitrise's Hobby plan is left out because Bitrise does not say how many builds its 300 credits buy.
Cost at 20, 100, and 500 builds a month
These are the calculator’s default numbers: half the builds are iOS, Android takes 10 minutes, iOS takes 15, and more than one person uses the account. Each cell is the cheapest published plan for that vendor at that volume.
| Volume | EAS (Expo) | Codemagic | GitHub Actions | Bitrise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 builds a month | $0.00 Free plan | $18.75 Pay as you go | $9.90 Hosted runners, pay per minute | $89.00 Starter, billed yearly |
| 100 builds a month | $124 Starter plan | $93.75 Pay as you go | $49.50 Hosted runners, pay per minute | $89.00 Starter, billed yearly |
| 500 builds a month | $724 Production plan | $333 Fixed price, billed yearly | $248 Hosted runners, pay per minute | Quote Pro, from $200 |
What the table says in plain words:
- 20 builds a month: EAS is free. Its Free plan includes 15 Android and 15 iOS builds a month, on a low-priority queue with a 45-minute timeout (Expo pricing, checked 2026-10-13). If you work alone, Codemagic’s free plan also covers this, with 500 free Mac mini M2 minutes a month (Codemagic pricing, checked 2026-10-13).
- 100 builds a month: GitHub Actions is cheapest if you can script the signing and store upload yourself. Bitrise Starter is a flat $89 and Bitrise says it’s “Recommended up to 100 builds/month” (Bitrise pricing, checked 2026-10-13).
- 500 builds a month: GitHub Actions is still cheapest at about $248. Codemagic’s fixed plan, $3,990 a year for unlimited M2 minutes and 3 concurrent builds, comes to about $333 a month. EAS reaches $724. Bitrise doesn’t publish a price at this volume.
Why the order flips: flat price vs per minute
EAS and the others charge for different things. EAS says it charges a “Flat rate per build, by platform and worker size” (Expo pricing). Codemagic, Bitrise, and GitHub Actions charge by the minute or by plan. So the question is how long your builds take.
| Comparison | Break-even build length |
|---|---|
| iOS: EAS $2 build vs GitHub Actions macOS | 32.3 minutes |
| iOS: EAS $2 build vs Codemagic Mac mini M2 | 21.1 minutes |
| Android: EAS $1 build vs Codemagic Linux | 22.2 minutes |
| Android: EAS $1 build vs GitHub Actions Linux | 166.7 minutes |
Native iOS builds can be long. Expo reports that in one large app “a full native build averaged about 23 minutes” (Expo blog, vendor-measured). At 23 minutes, a Codemagic M2 build costs about $2.19 and a GitHub macOS build about $1.43, against $2 on EAS. A short Flutter or React Native iOS build of 8 minutes costs about $0.76 on Codemagic and $0.50 on GitHub.
Every price we used
All checked 2026-10-13 on the official pages. We measured none of these. They’re the vendors’ own published prices.
| Vendor | Plan | Monthly fee | What you pay per build or minute | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EAS | Free | $0 | 15 Android + 15 iOS builds included, 1 concurrent build | Expo |
| EAS | Starter | $19, includes $45 credit | Android $1, iOS $2 (medium); $2 and $4 (large) | Expo |
| EAS | Production | $199, includes $225 credit | Same per-build prices, 2 concurrent builds | Expo |
| Codemagic | Free (one user) | $0 | First 500 M2 minutes free, then $0.095/min; Linux $0.045/min | Codemagic |
| Codemagic | Pay as you go | $0 | Linux $0.045/min, Mac mini M2 $0.095/min, M4 $0.114/min | Codemagic |
| Codemagic | Fixed | $3,990 a year | Unlimited M2 minutes, 3 concurrent builds | Codemagic |
| Bitrise | Starter | $89 billed yearly, $99 monthly | ”Unlimited usage, with up to 4 concurrent builds”, recommended up to 100 builds | Bitrise |
| Bitrise | Pro | From $200 billed yearly, $218 monthly | ”Starts from 250 builds/month”, 10 concurrent builds | Bitrise |
| GitHub Actions | Hosted runners | $0 base | Linux $0.006/min, macOS $0.062/min, macOS M2 Pro $0.102/min | GitHub Docs |
Notes on the fine print:
- GitHub free minutes. Private repositories get 2,000 minutes a month on GitHub Free and 3,000 on Team, and public repositories on standard runners are free (GitHub Docs). GitHub’s page doesn’t say how macOS minutes count against that quota, so the calculator leaves free minutes out. “Included minutes cannot be used for larger runners.”
- GitHub’s self-hosted fee. GitHub announced a $0.002 a minute charge for self-hosted runners in December 2025, then postponed it. Its billing page on 2026-10-13 says usage “is free for self-hosted runners” (GitHub Docs).
- Bitrise’s page has gaps. The Hobby plan gives “300 credits per month” but doesn’t say how many builds that buys. Pro overage is charged “at a premium PAYG rate” with no rate shown. We left both out rather than guess.
- EAS other usage. Non-build CI jobs on EAS cost $0.075 to $0.150 a minute on macOS. Over-the-air updates are billed by monthly active users above each plan’s quota (Expo pricing).
The same build is not the same length everywhere
A per-minute price only means something next to the speed of the machine. Codemagic timed one open-source Flutter app’s iOS release build on each service in April 2026 (Codemagic benchmark, vendor-measured, so weigh it):
| Service and machine | iOS build time | Cost at list price |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Actions, standard runner (M1, 3-core) | 12 min 18 s | about $0.76 |
| GitHub Actions, larger runner (M2 Pro) | 6 min 31 s | about $0.66 |
| Bitrise, M2 Pro Large | 8 min 13 s | included in plan |
| Codemagic, Mac mini M2 | 7 min 20 s | about $0.70 |
| Codemagic, Mac mini M4 | 6 min 58 s | about $0.79 |
GitHub’s standard Mac was the slowest, but it was still the cheapest per build on this app. Your app will differ. Run one build on each and read the logs before you commit.
What the price doesn’t include
The bill is the small part. Setup and upkeep often cost more.
| EAS | Codemagic | Bitrise | GitHub Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Code signing handled for you | Yes, managed credentials | Yes, automatic iOS signing | Yes, with signing steps | No, you script it, often with fastlane |
| Store upload built in | Yes, EAS Submit | Yes | Yes | You script it |
| Best fit | Expo and React Native | Flutter, also React Native and native | Mixed native and cross-platform teams | Teams that want everything in GitHub |
Expo, which sells EAS and says so (“we have a dog in this fight”), writes that a GitHub Actions pipeline for both platforms “tends to run to well over a hundred lines of YAML” (Expo blog). A common split is to keep lint and tests on GitHub Actions and send the mobile builds to EAS or Codemagic.
On top of CI, every app pays the store accounts: Apple’s Developer Program at $99 a year and Google Play’s one-time $25 registration. Our App Store and Google Play fee calculator covers what the stores take from sales.
How to choose
- Expo app, under about 30 builds a month: start on the EAS Free plan.
- Expo app with long native builds: EAS, because the flat price caps your cost per build.
- Short builds, a team that likes YAML, and cost first: GitHub Actions.
- Flutter app, or React Native without Expo: Codemagic pay-as-you-go, then its fixed plan once you pass about 355 builds a month at our default build times.
- A large native and cross-platform team that wants a visual editor: Bitrise, after you get a quote above 250 builds.
If you’re still choosing the app framework itself, read Expo or bare React Native, React Native or .NET MAUI, and whether to build your app in C# instead of Flutter or React Native. If you’re hiring someone to set all of this up, our scored list of React Native agencies shows what to check.
FAQ
How much does an EAS build cost?
On the Starter or Production plan, $1 per Android build and $2 per iOS build on a medium worker, and $2 and $4 on a large worker, after the plan’s included credit ($45 on Starter, $225 on Production). The Free plan covers 15 Android and 15 iOS builds a month. Checked 2026-10-13.
Is Codemagic cheaper than EAS Build?
For builds shorter than about 21 minutes on iOS and 22 minutes on Android, yes. For longer builds EAS is cheaper, because its price per build doesn’t change with build time.
Can I build iOS apps on GitHub Actions for free?
On a public repository, yes, on standard runners. On a private repository you get 2,000 free minutes a month on GitHub Free, then pay $0.062 a minute for macOS. You set up signing and App Store upload yourself.
What does Bitrise cost for 500 builds a month?
Bitrise doesn’t publish it. Pro starts at $200 a month billed yearly for 250 builds, and higher tiers need a quote.
Do I need a CI service at all?
Not at first. A single developer can build on a Mac and upload by hand. CI earns its cost once more than one person ships, or you release often enough that manual builds eat a day a month.
Dawloom builds iOS and Android apps from one codebase and sets up the release pipeline as part of the job. See mobile app development.