Fast CI/CD optimized for developer speed
Visit WebsiteThe Bottom Line
Entry price
Free plan available, paid tiers above
Biggest pro
Good CI/CD platform
Biggest con
Less popular than GHA
TL;DR - Semaphore
- Semaphore is a CI/CD platform for fast and reliable software delivery
- It provides parallelized builds with a focus on speed and developer experience
- Offers a free tier for open source, with paid plans available
What is Semaphore?
Available on: Web, Linux
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Good CI/CD platform
- Fast builds
- Fair pricing
- Good documentation
- Active development
Cons
- Less popular than GHA
- Learning curve
- Per-minute pricing
- Feature gaps
- Support varies
Ratings Across the Web
Semaphore holds an aggregate rating of 4.8 out of 5 from 206 reviews across G2 and Capterra, last checked March 18, 2026.
Ratings aggregated from independent review platforms. Learn more
Key Features
Pricing Plans
Free TrialPricing checked Aug 20, 2026
Community
Free
Self-hosted
- YAML pipelines
- Unlimited users
- Unlimited concurrency
- Community support
Cloud
Free
Pay-as-you-go
- $0.0075/min
- Fully managed
- Unlimited concurrency
- REST API & CLI
Hybrid
$9/per user/month
Self-hosted runners
- Cloud UI
- Own compute
- Unlimited runners
- Cloud bursting
Enterprise
null
Large orgs
- Advanced RBAC
- Audit logs
- Premium support
- 1TB artifacts
Is Semaphore worth the price?
Semaphore's pricing is quite generous, especially with its free Community tier for self-hosted users and the Cloud tier's pay-as-you-go model starting at $0.0075/min.
This makes it very accessible for small teams and startups to get started without upfront costs. The Hybrid tier at $9 per user/month for self-hosted runners offers good value for growing teams needing more control.
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
Cloud tier usage can scale quickly with high concurrency.
Hybrid tier costs increase with more users.
Enterprise features require custom negotiation.
Potential for increased infrastructure costs with self-hosting.
How Semaphore Compares to Competitors
Compared to CircleCI, which offers a free tier with limited build minutes and then jumps to a per-user or usage-based model, Semaphore's $0.0075/min Cloud tier is competitive and transparent. GitLab CI/CD also offers a free tier, but its paid tiers can quickly become more expensive for larger teams, making Semaphore's Hybrid and Cloud options potentially more cost-effective for specific use cases.
How Semaphore's pricing compares
At $9/mo, Semaphore is the most affordable of its 3 direct competitors.
Entry paid plan, monthly. Pricing checked Aug 20, 2026.
Reviews
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Across 206 verified user reviews on G2, Capterra
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Still deciding?
Most buyers shortlist 2 or 3 tools before committing. Pull a side-by-side comparison or browse the full alternatives shortlist below.
Explore More
Semaphore FAQ
How does Semaphore optimize continuous integration for speed?
Which teams benefit most from using Semaphore?
How does Semaphore compare to GitHub Actions regarding popularity?
What kind of trade-offs should users consider when adopting Semaphore?
Does Semaphore include a free tier?
Can Semaphore help with hosting and deployment tasks?
Source: semaphoreci.com