GitHub Actions is free for public repositories and integrates natively with GitHub, while Travis CI charges for private repositories and requires external configuration. GitHub Actions has become the default choice for most GitHub-hosted projects due to its seamless integration and generous free tier.
GitHub Actions vs Travis CI — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Native GitHub CI/CD platform with free unlimited minutes for public repos
Established CI/CD platform with history of supporting multi-platform deployments
Pricing for Private Repos. Native GitHub Integration. Configuration File Location. Supported Languages (Out-of-Box). Free Tier Concurrent Jobs. Marketplace Integrations. Market Share Among GitHub Projects
Choose GitHub Actions if you host on GitHub and want a free, tightly integrated CI/CD solution with minimal setup—it's the modern standard for most projects. Choose Travis CI only if you have existing infrastructure, need multi-repository orchestration across non-GitHub platforms, or have legacy projects already configured on their system.
GitHub Actions: 3,000 (public repos) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 1 (GitHub only) | Travis CI: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket
GitHub Actions: 256 concurrent | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 5 minutes | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 20,000+ actions | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Standard support available | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Supported with basic controls | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 1-2 weeks | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 15 minutes to first workflow | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 10000+ actions | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2000 minutes (GitHub-hosted runners) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: GitHub only (primary) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Low - Simple YAML syntax | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Cloud-hosted and self-hosted | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Limited by GitHub account quotas | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: $231/user/year (GitHub Enterprise) | Travis CI: N/A
Free Monthly CI/CD Minutes (Private Repos)
GitHub Actions: 2,000 minutes | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 0.5 GB per project | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 11,000+ Actions | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: $200/month (Advanced Security tier) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Enterprise Server tier (paid only, $231+/month) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Issues, basic Boards, limited automation | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Integrated (GitHub-only) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 20 matrix configurations | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 13,000+ actions | Travis CI: N/A
Monthly Infrastructure Cost (10-developer team)
GitHub Actions: $25 (usage-based + GitHub Team) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 (private) / unlimited (public) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 1 week (YAML basics) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 20 (GitHub-hosted runners) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Native (zero additional setup) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: No (GitHub cloud default, Enterprise option) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 5-15 minutes | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000-3,000 | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Not required | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: GitHub (primary), limited others | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 6 years (since 2019) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 18,000+ actions | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Microsoft, GitHub, 60% of public repos | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Self-hosted runners available | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: $0 (free tier available) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 (private repos) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 360 (6 hours) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Native (built-in) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 11,000+ | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 5-10 (YAML config only) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 (unlimited for public repos) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 20 concurrent jobs | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 10,000+ | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 750,000+ | Travis CI: N/A
Configuration File Complexity (1-5 scale)
GitHub Actions: 4 (complex YAML, matrix builds) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: GitHub only | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 3,000 minutes | Travis CI: 0 minutes
GitHub Actions: $0 (free tier available) | Travis CI: $69/month
GitHub Actions: 10,000+ verified actions | Travis CI: 500+ community apps
GitHub Actions: 42% of CI/CD users (2024) | Travis CI: 8% of CI/CD users (2024)
GitHub Actions: $0.008 | Travis CI: $0.012
GitHub Actions: GitHub only | Travis CI: 4 major platforms (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea)
GitHub Actions: 5 minutes (native UI) | Travis CI: 10 minutes (external setup)
GitHub Actions: 3 (Linux, Windows, macOS) | Travis CI: 3 (Linux, Windows, macOS)
GitHub Actions: 2,000 (public repos only) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: $0.008/minute | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Standard caching (1x baseline) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 15,000+ actions | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Not supported | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2-3 minutes (native) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 minutes/month | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: $0.008 per minute | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Requires plugins | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 1-2 hours | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Free (2,000 min/month included) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2,000 (public: unlimited) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 20,000+ | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: Via third-party actions (workaround) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 6 years (2019) | Travis CI: N/A
Monthly Cost (5 Private Repos, 100 builds/month)
GitHub Actions: $14.40 (2,000 free min + 1,800 excess min × $0.008) | Travis CI: N/A
Default Concurrent Jobs (Free/Base Tier)
GitHub Actions: 1 (GitHub only) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 10,000+ public actions | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 5GB (per repository) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 2-3 minutes (GitHub integration native) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: No (fully managed by GitHub) | Travis CI: N/A
GitHub Actions: 20 jobs maximum per repository | Travis CI: N/A
Monthly Cost for Private Repos (Small Team)
GitHub Actions: $0 (includes 2,000 minutes) | Travis CI: $69/month
GitHub Actions: 20 concurrent jobs | Travis CI: 1 concurrent job
GitHub Actions: 2,000 minutes | Travis CI: 0 minutes (paid only)
GitHub Actions: 5,000+ public actions | Travis CI: ~200 community orbs
GitHub Actions: 5-10 minutes | Travis CI: 15-20 minutes
GitHub Actions: 20+ languages | Travis CI: 14+ languages
GitHub Actions: 68% adoption | Travis CI: 8% adoption
GitHub Actions: Built-in, no external setup | Travis CI: Requires OAuth token
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: Unlimited for open-source
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: 5-10 minutes
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: 1 concurrent job
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: $69 per month
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: Limited support
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: Available on Enterprise plan only
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: Limited marketplace (~50 integrations)
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: 0 (deprecated)
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: GitHub primary, limited others
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: Not available
Configuration File Complexity (1-10 scale)
GitHub Actions: N/A | Travis CI: 2 (very simple)
How to choose between GitHub Actions and Travis CI
GitHub Actions vs Travis CI — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for GitHub Actions vs Travis CI. Contains 112 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
GitHub Actions vs Travis CI — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for GitHub Actions vs Travis CI.
Is GitHub Actions truly free for private repositories?
GitHub Actions provides 2,000 free minutes per month for private repositories, which covers most small team workflows. Once you exceed that, you pay $0.24 per additional minute. For comparison, Travis CI charges a flat $69/month minimum with no free tier for private repos. GitHub Actions is significantly cheaper for most projects.
Can I migrate from Travis CI to GitHub Actions easily?
Yes, migration is straightforward since both use YAML configuration. Your .travis.yml commands typically translate 1:1 to .github/workflows YAML syntax. GitHub provides a migration guide, and many teams report completion in 2-4 hours per project. The main time investment is removing Travis-specific environment variables and using GitHub Actions equivalents.
Does GitHub Actions work if my code isn't on GitHub?
No, GitHub Actions only works with GitHub repositories. If your code is on GitLab or Bitbucket, you must use Travis CI, GitLab CI, or Bitbucket Pipelines respectively. Travis CI is one of the few remaining platforms supporting multiple Git hosting providers.
Which is faster for building and testing?
GitHub Actions is typically 10-30% faster due to its 20 concurrent free jobs vs Travis CI's single job on free tier. GitHub also has better data center distribution. However, both complete most builds in under 5 minutes—the difference is negligible unless you have heavy parallelization needs.
What about security and secret management?
Both platforms encrypt secrets in transit and at rest. GitHub Actions' advantage is that secrets stay within the GitHub ecosystem without external API calls. Travis CI requires exporting credentials to their external platform. For security-sensitive projects, GitHub Actions' integrated approach is preferred by 78% of surveyed DevSecOps engineers.
How to Choose Between GitHub Actions and Travis CI
Pricing for Private Repos: GitHub Actions has Free (up to 2,000 minutes/month), while Travis CI has From $69/month or $129/month for higher limits.
Native GitHub Integration: GitHub Actions has Built directly into GitHub, while Travis CI has Requires external OAuth connection.
Configuration File Location: GitHub Actions has .github/workflows/ directory, while Travis CI has .travis.yml in repository root.
Consider: Supported Languages (Out-of-Box)
Supported Languages (Out-of-Box): GitHub Actions has 20+ languages with pre-built runners, while Travis CI has 14+ languages with custom setup required.
Free Tier Concurrent Jobs: GitHub Actions has 20 concurrent jobs, while Travis CI has 1 concurrent job.
Marketplace Integrations: GitHub Actions has 5,000+ public actions available, while Travis CI has Limited ecosystem, requires custom scripts.
Consider: Market Share Among GitHub Projects
Market Share Among GitHub Projects: GitHub Actions has 68% of GitHub projects, while Travis CI has 8% of GitHub projects.