Build Minutes Pricing FAQ
What is a build minute?
Each time a website is deployed to Netlify, a dedicated build process can be set to run automatically on our buildbot infrastructure. This build process can be used to run site generators, compile JavaScript, or perform other required tasks.
When counting build minutes, we start the count when we begin loading your dependencies. In your deploy logs, you can check for Fetching cached dependencies as the first line when counting starts. Counting ends when the build container finishes processing your build and caching the build artifacts. For sites with plugins installed that include an onSuccess or onEnd event, counting stops just before the log line, Build script success. For other sites, counting ends just before the line, Starting post processing. This pattern matches what we’ve found across other, similar services.
How do you incur more or less build minutes?
Your usage of build minutes will vary depending on how much work is being performed during your build process. To consume fewer build minutes, you may look to optimize your build scripts. A well-optimized build process will mean both faster builds with fewer build minutes consumed.
What triggers a new build on a website?
Depending on how you’ve setup your project, a new build process can be triggered automatically as you push code to remote git branches. This is called continuous deployment. Webhooks can also be set to trigger builds via integration with other hosted services such as a headless CMS provider. Finally, builds can be manually triggered via the Netlify dashboard.
How do I tell how many build minutes I’m using?
The Netlify dashboard has a Builds tab where you can track your build activity across all your team projects.
How can I adjust my build minutes usage?
It’s recommended that you inspect and optimize the build scripts that run for each of your projects. An optimized build process will mean faster builds and fewer build minutes consumed. You can also control how many builds are triggered on your account by enabling or disabling webhooks, selecting only specific branches, enabling or disabling deploy previews for pull requests, and reviewing which team members have permissions to trigger website builds.
If you have continuous deployment enabled, it’s important to remember that a build may be triggered each time any git user pushes code to your remote repository. (Git users are different from your Netlify account team members, and are controlled through your git provider.)
How can I make builds faster?
Netlify performs a few smart optimizations to keep your builds fast, such as caching dependencies between builds. However the amount of time required for running builds will largely depend on the work performed in your build scripts. To optimize the performance of your builds, you may look to reduce external API requests, ensure you have the latest versions of the software you are running, and use environment variables to ensure only the necessary processes are running for production or staging builds.
What’s the average number of build minutes you’d need for a project?
Because no two web projects are the same, it’s hard to estimate how much time will be required for each build of your project. Here’s a rough guide: on average, across our platform, builds take about two minutes. Of course how close you are to this average will be determined by the activity you trigger during your build process. You can see detailed data about your build processes in the Builds section of the Netlify dashboard.
What happens if a build fails? Am I still charged for the time?
If there’s an error in your build scripts or build dependencies, the time spent on failed builds may still be applied to your total build minutes. If your build fails due to an error or problem with the Netlify platform, the failed build will not be applied to your total build minutes.
Will I be notified if I’m reaching my limit of build minutes?
Yes. The Netlify platform sends automated emails as you cross 50%, 75%, and 100% of your allotted build minutes. You can also keep a close eye on your build minute usage in the Netlify dashboard.
How do build minutes packs work?
Build minute packs are allotments of additional minutes that your team can use for builds. They will be automatically added to your account if and when you exceed the build minute limit for your plan in a given billing month.
Do build minute packs roll over?
No, build minute packs are for the duration of the billing cycle. Unused minutes do not rollover.
Starter plan: Will my builds stop working if I go over 300 minutes and no credit card is on file?
We never want to cause unnecessary downtime for your sites, so we won’t stop builds just because you’ve hit your limit and haven’t had the chance to add your credit card yet. However, your account will go into arrears until any outstanding charges are closed.
How do I increase my monthly build minute limit?
You can upgrade to a Pro or Business Team account to get a higher allowance of minutes as standard per month or continue to purchase build minute packs as needed.
Can I put a hard cap on my build minute usage?
While you can’t set custom usage caps, Free plan sites automatically pause if they exceed monthly limits, ensuring you never receive unexpected charges. We’ll send email notifications at 50%, 75%, 90%, and 100% of your usage to help you track consumption.