What Is the Performance Plan?

The Performance Plan is CircleCI’s flexible, pay-as-you-go option for teams that want to scale their CI/CD pipelines without being restricted by concurrency limits.

Instead of limiting how many jobs can run at once, this plan uses a credit-based model. As long as you have available credits, you can run unlimited concurrent jobs, making it ideal for growing teams and high-throughput workflows.

How the Credit System Works

Credit Usage

Credits are consumed based on the resources and features you use:

Compute time: Each execution environment and resource class has a specific credits-per-minute rate
Add-on features: Optional features have fixed or usage-based credit costs
Network and storage overages: Usage beyond plan limits is charged at 420 credits per GB

Credit Allocation

Credits block: Available for purchase in blocks of 25,000 credits for $15
Free monthly credits: 30,000 credits included each month (same as the Free Plan)
Free credit expiration: Free credits reset monthly and do not roll over
Paid credit rollover: Purchased credits roll over month-to-month and expire 12 months after purchase

Pricing

Base price: $15 per 25,000 credits
Credit value: 1 credit = $0.0006
Auto-refill:
- When credits are depleted, your account automatically refills
- Refill amount is 25% of your monthly credit purchase (minimum 25,000 credits)
- Example: If you purchase 200,000 credits monthly, your auto-refill adds 50,000 credits when you run out

User Seats

Included users: 5 active users at no extra cost
Additional users: 25,000 credits ($15) per user per billing cycle
Billing model: User seat charges are a one-time deduction per billing cycle
View active users: Go to Plan → Usage in the CircleCI dashboard

Key Features

Compute Resources

Execution Environments

Docker
Linux VM
Windows
macOS
Arm

Resource Classes

Access to larger machine sizes across all environments
Higher CPU and memory limits than the Free Plan
Per-job resource_class configuration to balance performance and cost

Advanced Features

IP Ranges

Restrict job traffic to specific IP address ranges
Useful for accessing secured or private environments
Cost: 450 credits per GB of data used

Docker Layer Caching (DLC)

Speeds up builds by reusing Docker image layers
Cost: 200 credits per job run
Example: A workflow with 3 parallel Docker jobs uses 600 credits per run.

Self-Hosted Runners

No per-minute compute charges
Network egress over plan limits: 420 credits per GB

Storage Customization

Customize retention periods for:
- Artifacts
- Workspaces
- Caches
Helps control and optimize monthly storage costs

Private Orbs

Unlimited private orbs
Share reusable configurations across teams securely

Storage and Network Usage

Included with the Plan

Higher network usage allowance than the Free Plan
Standard storage allocation

Additional Charges

Network or storage usage beyond monthly limits:
420 credits per GB ($0.252/GB)
Applies to:
- Caches
- Workspaces
- Artifacts
- Test results

Support

Available Support Channels

Community forums
Support portal
Global ticket-based support
Limited SLAs (specific hours and days)

Optional paid support packages are also available.

Contract

CircleCI’s Performance plan is billed month to month and does not include a separate contract. Contracts are available only with annual plans. By signing up, you agreed to our Software as a Service Agreement, which governs use of our services. You can review it here:
Software as a Service Agreement