Buildkite vs Dagger: Pricing Comparison 2026
Side-by-side pricing comparison of Buildkite and Dagger. See all plans, features, and costs at a glance.
Bottom line: Buildkite starts at $30/mo, making it $20/mo cheaper than Dagger ($50/mo). Buildkite offers a free plan.
Last updated: July 2, 2026
Buildkite vs Dagger: Quick Pricing Facts
| Feature | Buildkite | Dagger |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $30/mo | $50/mo |
| Number of Plans | 3 | 3 |
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing Model | per-seat | open-source |
| Annual Discount | N/A | N/A |
Buildkite is the more affordable option, starting at $30/mo compared to Dagger's $50/mo. Both are Dev Tools with 6 combined pricing plans and 23 features compared.
Both tools offer free plans, making them accessible for teams on a budget. Buildkite uses per-seat pricing while Dagger uses open-source pricing, which may affect your total cost at scale.
Review the detailed tier-by-tier comparison above to see exactly which features are included at each price point and find the best fit for your Dev Tools needs.
| Pricing Plans | Buildkite Try free | Dagger Try free |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Personal $0/monthCheapest Includes
| |
| Tier 2 | ProPopular $30/monthCheapest $30 / year Includes
| Team $50/month $4 / year Includes
|
| Tier 3 | Enterprise Custom pricing Includes
| Enterprise Custom pricing Includes
|
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Which Should You Choose?
Choose Buildkite if:
- •You need a full CI/CD orchestration platform with a managed control plane and hosted dashboard
- •Build agent management at scale across multiple pipelines and teams is the requirement
- •You want Buildkite's enterprise features: RBAC, secrets, and audit logs
Choose Dagger if:
- •You want portable, container-native pipelines that run identically locally and in CI
- •Standardizing how your team defines builds across platforms with Dagger's caching matters
- •You want CI/CD portability that works inside Buildkite, GitHub Actions, or any other runner
Dagger can run inside Buildkite Pipelines - they're complementary. Dagger provides the portable pipeline definition; Buildkite provides the orchestration and agents. Dagger is open source with a cloud tier. Buildkite starts at $350/month. For teams on Buildkite, adding Dagger improves pipeline portability without replacing the platform.
Frequently Asked Questions: Buildkite vs Dagger
Which is cheaper, Buildkite or Dagger?
How many pricing plans does Buildkite have vs Dagger?
Does Buildkite or Dagger offer a free plan?
Can I save money by paying annually for Buildkite or Dagger?
What is the most popular Buildkite plan?
Does Buildkite or Dagger offer custom enterprise pricing?
What pricing models do Buildkite and Dagger use?
Sources
- Buildkite Official Pricing- Vendor pricing page
- Dagger Official Pricing- Vendor pricing page
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