Software development is accelerating.
With AI tools helping developers write code faster, teams are shipping more frequently than ever before. Iteration cycles are shorter. Pipelines run more often. Tests execute continuously.
In this environment, CI/CD isn’t just a tool used occasionally during development: it’s an always-on infrastructure that powers modern software delivery.
To support this shift, we’re introducing an updated pricing model designed to keep Semaphore fast, scalable, and affordable as CI/CD usage grows.
This new structure separates compute infrastructure from support and success services, giving teams more transparency and flexibility in how they use Semaphore.
Why Pricing Needed to Evolve
As development speeds increase, CI/CD workloads increase too.
Teams running modern pipelines today often execute:
- More builds per day
- Larger test suites
- More parallel pipelines
- More frequent deployments
In other words, CI/CD usage is becoming a high-volume infrastructure.
To scale efficiently, pricing needs to reflect how CI/CD systems are actually used: as compute infrastructure that runs continuously.
The new pricing model focuses on three key goals:
- Lower effective cost per build
- High-performance compute by default
- Predictable scaling as CI/CD usage grows
This allows teams to pay directly for infrastructure consumption while choosing the level of support and enablement they need.
What’s Changing
The new pricing model introduces several important updates designed to make CI/CD pricing more transparent, flexible, and aligned with how teams actually use infrastructure.
Lower Machine Pricing
Semaphore’s fastest runners are now available at significantly reduced per-minute pricing.
| Machine | Price per minute |
| f1-standard-2 | $0.0075 |
| f1-standard-4 | $0.015 |
As part of this update, f1 machine pricing is reduced by 50% and will replace the e1 and e2 machines, which will no longer be available under the new plan.
This focuses the platform on high-performance compute optimized for CI/CD workloads.
Semaphore’s runners consistently deliver faster build times than competing platforms, helping teams complete pipelines sooner and reduce total compute consumption.
Self-Hosted Agents Move to Usage-Based Pricing
We are also updating the way self-hosted agents are priced.
Previously, self-hosted agents were billed based on developer seats. With the new model, there will be no seat costs anymore.
Self-hosted usage will be priced at $0.0025 per minute.
This change aligns pricing with actual infrastructure usage, ensuring teams pay proportionally for the compute they run while maintaining the flexibility of running pipelines on their own infrastructure.
Infrastructure and Support Are Now Separate
Previously, support and success services were bundled into machine pricing.
The new model separates them into clear, optional add-ons.
This change provides:
- Greater pricing transparency
- More flexibility for teams
- Better alignment between cost and value
Infrastructure pricing now reflects compute consumption alone, while teams can choose the support level that best fits their needs.
New Support Add-on
Support plans focus on operational reliability and response times.
Teams can choose from several tiers depending on how critical CI/CD is to their workflows.
| Name | Best For | Key Features |
| Basic | Small teams | Email support during business hours |
| Priority Response | Growing teams | Email + Slack, accelerated responses 24/5 coverage |
| SLA Standard | Production workloads | Guaranteed response times, priority queue 24/5 coverage |
| SLA Premium | Enterprise environments | Faster SLAs, 24/5 coverage, optional 24/7 |
For teams running production workloads, SLA-based support ensures predictable response times and operational reliability.
New Success Add-on
While support focuses on resolving issues, success plans help teams optimize performance and adoption.
These plans provide proactive guidance, optimization sessions, and technical enablement.
| Name | Ideal For | Key Benefits |
| Visibility | Small teams | Occasional expert input and updates |
| Performance | Active teams | Build optimization and reliability improvements |
| Scale | Growing organizations | Continuous monitoring and training |
| Alliance | Strategic enterprise customers | Executive alignment and roadmap collaboration |
Success plans are designed to help teams:
- Improve pipeline performance
- Reduce infrastructure spend
- Adopt new capabilities faster
For larger organizations, these plans also enable closer collaboration with Semaphore’s product and engineering teams.
Engineering Support On Demand
Some teams occasionally need deeper technical guidance—for example:
- Migrating large CI/CD environments
- Optimizing pipeline architecture
- Performance troubleshooting
- Deployment automation improvements
For these scenarios, Solutions Engineering hours can be purchased separately, giving teams access to expert assistance when needed.
A Modular Approach to CI/CD
One of the biggest benefits of the new pricing model is flexibility.
Teams can combine components based on their needs:
- Compute infrastructure (machine minutes)
- Support for operational reliability
- Success for proactive optimization
- Engineering assistance for complex technical challenges
Everything is modular, so teams can scale services alongside their CI/CD usage.
What This Means for Existing Customers
If you’re already using Semaphore, nothing changes immediately.
You can continue using your current plan as-is for the foreseeable future.
If you’d like to move to the new structure, you’ll be able to switch directly in the app.
For customers on annual plans, our Success team will reach out to discuss how the new model applies to your account and help ensure a smooth transition.
Built for the Future of CI/CD
As software development evolves, CI/CD systems need to evolve alongside it.
Semaphore’s new pricing model is designed to support a world where:
- CI/CD pipelines run continuously
- Build volumes grow rapidly
- Teams need predictable infrastructure performance
By separating compute infrastructure from support and success services, we can deliver transparent pricing, lower infrastructure costs, and more flexibility for engineering teams.
Learn More
To explore the full details of the new pricing model:
👉 Visit our pricing page
Or contact our team if you’d like help understanding how the new plans apply to your organization.
We’re always happy to help.
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