CircleCI vs Trigger.dev: Pricing Comparison 2026
Side-by-side pricing comparison of CircleCI and Trigger.dev. See all plans, features, and costs at a glance.
Bottom line: Trigger.dev starts at $0.000025/mo, making it $15/mo cheaper than CircleCI ($15/mo). CircleCI offers a free plan.
Last updated: August 24, 2026
CircleCI vs Trigger.dev: Quick Pricing Facts
| Feature | CircleCI | Trigger.dev |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $15/mo | $0.000025/mo |
| Number of Plans | 3 | 5 |
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing Model | usage-based | usage-based |
| Annual Discount | N/A | N/A |
Trigger.dev is the more affordable option, starting at $0.000025/mo compared to CircleCI's $15/mo. Both are Dev Tools with 8 combined pricing plans and 0 features compared.
Both tools offer free plans, making them accessible for teams on a budget.
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 |  CircleCI Try free |  Trigger.dev Try free |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Free $0/monthCheapest | FreePopular $0/monthCheapest |
| Tier 2 | Performance $15/monthCheapest | Compute pricing Custom pricing |
| Tier 3 | Scale Custom pricing | Run pricing $0/monthCheapest |
| Tier 4 | - | Frequently asked questionsPopular Custom pricing |
| Tier 5 | - | Ready to start building? Custom pricing |
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Trigger.dev
Background jobs and workflow engine for serverless applications
View all Trigger.dev plansWhich Should You Choose?
Choose CircleCI if:
- •You need CI/CD pipelines for production builds, tests, and deployments
- •Automated release workflows orchestrated around Git are the primary need
- •Your team requires build infrastructure beyond application job scheduling
Choose Trigger.dev if:
- •You need open-source background job and workflow tooling for your application
- •Trigger.dev's durable execution, event-driven jobs, and TypeScript-native API simplify background work
- •You want self-hostable job infrastructure with a developer-friendly DX
Trigger.dev is an open-source background job and workflow platform for applications. CircleCI is a CI/CD platform for deploying applications. They serve different concerns. Trigger.dev starts free with a cloud plan at $20/month; self-hosted is free. CircleCI starts free; paid from $15/month. A team using Trigger.dev for background jobs still needs CircleCI to deploy the application code.
Frequently Asked Questions: CircleCI vs Trigger.dev
Which is cheaper, CircleCI or Trigger.dev?
How many pricing plans does CircleCI have vs Trigger.dev?
Does CircleCI or Trigger.dev offer a free plan?
What is the most popular Trigger.dev plan?
Does CircleCI or Trigger.dev offer custom enterprise pricing?
How do CircleCI and Trigger.dev compare for Dev Tools?
Sources
- CircleCI Official Pricing- Vendor pricing page
- Trigger.dev Official Pricing- Vendor pricing page
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