Where AppVeyor's free tier stops
AppVeyor AppVeyor's free Open-source plan is perpetual and does not require a credit card, but it is only for public projects. It includes unlimited public projects, 1 concurrent job, and 5 self-hosted jobs, plus community support. The practical stop points are the public-project restriction and the single concurrent job limit. If your work is private, or if you need more build parallelism than one hosted job at a time, the free tier ends there and you need another option.
Switch table
| AppVeyor | Buildkite | Azure DevOps | DeployHQ | Run My Job | Bitrise | CircleCI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| public projects | Unlimited public projects | Not stated | Unlimited private Git repositories, public project limit not stated | 1 project | 1 integration with your GitLab or GitHub organization | Unlimited public apps | Not stated |
| concurrent jobs | 1 concurrent job | 3 concurrent jobs | 1 Microsoft-hosted + 1 self-hosted CI/CD parallel job | 1 concurrent deployment | 10 concurrent jobs | 5 concurrent builds | Up to 30 concurrent job runs for Docker, Linux VM, Arm VM, and Windows VM |
| self-hosted jobs | 5 self-hosted jobs | Not stated | 1 self-hosted CI/CD parallel job | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | 5 concurrent self-hosted runner tasks |
| build minutes or credits | Not stated | 500 Linux minutes per month plus 50k test executions per month | 1,800 Microsoft-hosted minutes per month | 30 build minutes | 400 vCPU-minutes and 800 GB-minutes per month | 300 credits per month | 30,000 credits per month |
| active users or team size | Not stated | 1 active user | First 5 users free | 1 user | Not stated | Team of one | Up to 5 active users |
| storage | Not stated | 1GB package storage and bandwidth | 2 GiB Azure Artifacts storage per organization | Not stated | Not stated | 2 GB dependency cache storage on paid Starter, free storage not stated | 2 GB storage |
| Card required | - | No | No | No | No | Unknown | No |
| First paid tier | - | Pro, $30 USD per active user/mo | Basic, $6 per user per month | Solo, $9 /mo billed once yearly | Business, €50/m | Starter, From $89 per month when billed annually or $99 per month when billed monthly | Performance, Starting at $15 / month |
The alternatives
Buildkite
FTV 60 / 100Buildkite's free Personal plan is perpetual, requires no credit card, and includes 3 concurrent jobs across hosted and self-hosted agents, 1 active user, 90-day build retention, community support, 50k test executions per month, 1 Test Engine workflow, 1GB of package storage and bandwidth, 500 Linux hosted minutes per month, custom agent images, team permissions, and GitHub authentication. It is a better fit when you want a free plan with more concurrency plus some built-in test and package allowances. It falls short of AppVeyor on self-hosted jobs, since AppVeyor includes 5 while Buildkite's free tier is described in broader agent terms rather than a specific self-hosted job allowance. Switch if you want more workflow headroom on a free plan and can adapt to Buildkite's agent model.
- Beats AppVeyor: More free concurrency and richer free allowances for tests and package storage
- Falls short: AppVeyor's explicit 5 self-hosted jobs on the free tier
- Who should switch: Switch to Buildkite if you want more parallel free builds and are fine using Buildkite agents instead of AppVeyor's job model.
Azure DevOps
FTV 48 / 100Azure DevOps' free tier includes the first 5 users free for Azure DevOps Basic access, 1 Microsoft-hosted CI/CD parallel job with 1,800 minutes per month, 1 self-hosted CI/CD parallel job with unlimited minutes per month, 2 GiB free Azure Artifacts storage per organization, Azure Boards, Azure Pipelines, Azure Repos with unlimited private Git repositories, and Stakeholder access to dashboards, wikis, and charts. It is a stronger fit if you need a broader DevOps stack rather than only CI/CD. It falls short of AppVeyor on credit-card friction because this plan does not state no-card access in the supplied data. Switch if you want free private repos plus pipelines in one place and can accept the card requirement uncertainty.
- Beats AppVeyor: Private repositories and a wider DevOps surface area on the free tier
- Falls short: AppVeyor clearly states no credit card is required
- Who should switch: Switch to Azure DevOps if you need free private repos, boards, artifacts, and pipelines together.
DeployHQ
FTV 54 / 100DeployHQ's free plan includes 3 deployments per day, 1 project, 5 servers, 1 concurrent deployment, 30 build minutes, 1 user, auto-deploy on push, support, zero downtime deployments, API access, AI deployment overviews, turbo deployments, custom domains, download deployment files, deploy behind firewalls, team management, priority deploys, and SSO. It gives you a surprisingly broad deployment feature set at no cost, especially if your use case is deployment automation rather than general CI. It falls short of AppVeyor on project breadth, because AppVeyor allows unlimited public projects while DeployHQ limits you to one project. Switch if your main need is shipping one app or service with deployment features, not running many public projects.
- Beats AppVeyor: Deployment features and controls, including API access and SSO
- Falls short: AppVeyor's unlimited public projects
- Who should switch: Switch to DeployHQ if you mainly need a free deployment tool for a single project.
Run My Job
FTV 60 / 100Run My Job's free tier includes 1 integration with your GitLab or GitHub organization, 10 concurrent jobs, 12 vCPU and 32 GB of memory per job, 400 vCPU-minutes included monthly, 800 GB-minutes included monthly, and GitHub runner support limited to organization accounts only. It is the strongest choice when parallel CI capacity matters more than project count. It falls short of AppVeyor on compatibility and access scope, because it is tied to GitHub or GitLab organization integrations and GitHub organization accounts only, while AppVeyor supports public projects on a hosted CI/CD service. Switch if your build workload is heavier and your code already lives in an org-based GitHub or GitLab setup.
- Beats AppVeyor: Much higher free concurrency and per-job resource limits
- Falls short: AppVeyor's simple public-project hosted plan with broader repository-source flexibility
- Who should switch: Switch to Run My Job if you need more free runner capacity for an organization-based pipeline.
Bitrise
FTV 55 / 100Bitrise's free Hobby plan includes access to one private app, access for a team of one, community support via Slack or Discuss forum, Linux Medium and macOS Medium build machines, unlimited public apps, build timeout up to 90 minutes, and 300 credits per month. It is the better fit when you are building mobile apps and need at least one private app on a free plan. It falls short of AppVeyor on team and project breadth, since AppVeyor gives unlimited public projects and 5 self-hosted jobs, while Bitrise limits you to a team of one and one private app. Switch if your work is mobile-focused and you need free macOS or Linux build machines.
- Beats AppVeyor: Mobile-focused free builds with one private app and macOS support
- Falls short: AppVeyor's unlimited public projects and 5 self-hosted jobs
- Who should switch: Switch to Bitrise if you are building iOS or Android apps and want a free mobile CI flow.
CircleCI
FTV 62 / 100CircleCI's free plan includes up to 30,000 free credits per month, up to 5 active users, 1 GB network transfer for self-hosted runners, 2 GB storage, access to Docker, Windows, Linux, Arm, and macOS environments, up to 30 concurrent job runs for Docker, Linux VM, Arm VM, and Windows VM, 1 concurrent macOS job run, up to 5 flaky tests detected in Insights, up to 5 concurrent self-hosted runner tasks, Docker layer caching, private orbs, deploys, and community support. It is the strongest option when you want broad environment coverage and much higher concurrency than AppVeyor's single concurrent job. It falls short on card friction because AppVeyor explicitly says no credit card is required while CircleCI's free-t tier data here also states that, so the real tradeoff is more about complexity and quotas than payment setup. Switch if you need broad OS coverage and many concurrent jobs on a free plan.
- Beats AppVeyor: Far higher free concurrency and broader environment support
- Falls short: AppVeyor's simpler open-source-only positioning with explicit self-hosted jobs included
- Who should switch: Switch to CircleCI if you need many concurrent builds across multiple environments on a free plan.
Two quick picks
DeployHQ
DeployHQ is the closest fit if you are already using AppVeyor mainly to push code and automate deployments. The free plan still gives you a project, API access, team management, and SSO, so the switch in behavior is smaller than moving to a broader CI platform.
CircleCI
CircleCI gives the largest free concurrency headroom in this set, with up to 30 concurrent job runs across several environments, plus 5 active users and 2 GB storage. For teams hitting AppVeyor's single-job limit, it leaves the most room before a paid upgrade.
Frequently asked questions
Which alternative is closest if I just need more free concurrent builds?
CircleCI is the clearest fit for free concurrency headroom, followed by Run My Job if your setup is organization-based and runner-centric.
Which alternative is best if I need private projects for free?
Azure DevOps is the strongest match here because its free tier includes unlimited private Git repositories, while AppVeyor's free tier stays public-only.
Which alternative keeps the switch simplest for deployment-focused workflows?
DeployHQ is the closest deployment-oriented replacement, especially if your main use is shipping one project with push-based deploys and API access.
Which alternative is best for mobile app CI?
Bitrise is the most relevant choice if your builds are for iOS or Android, since its free plan includes macOS and Linux build machines and one private app.
Bottom line
For the most common AppVeyor free-tier pain point, the best alternative is CircleCI. It gives the most free concurrency headroom, broad environment support, and enough storage and users for small teams without a card requirement. If you are mainly blocked by AppVeyor's single concurrent job, CircleCI is the first place to go. If your real issue is private repos rather than raw capacity, Azure DevOps is the better fit instead.
Read the full listing for AppVeyor. Scores use the FTV methodology at /ftv. Browse more alternatives on /alternatives, or head-to-head comparisons on /compare.