Our take
Pick Buf if aPI teams who will stay on Community Free (unlimited public repos) while they open a first Studio request, then buy Teams at $0.50 / type / month when private modules appear — or Pro at $5 / type / month ($3,000 minimum) for a private BSR instance. Pick Infracost if platform teams who will stay on CI/CD Free (1,000 runs / month) while they open a first Dashboard, then buy Starter at $250 / month when
Best for
Buf Schemas and RPCs you start at $0
Infracost IaC cost and governance you start at $0
Free plan
Buf No free plan
Infracost No free plan
Lowest paid
Buf Teams $0.50
Infracost Starter $250
Coding agent
Buf Repositories
Infracost
Runs where
Buf Hosted
Infracost Hosted
Watch out
Buf Community Free is public repos
Infracost Free is 1,000 runs / month
Last checked
Buf 2026-10-23 · buf.build/pricing
Infracost 2026-10-23 · infracost.io/pricing
aPI teams who will stay on Community Free (unlimited public repos) while they open a first Studio request, then buy Teams at $0.50 / type / month when private modules appear — or Pro at $5 / type / month ($3,000 minimum) for a private BSR instance.
Read the Buf pageplatform teams who will stay on CI/CD Free (1,000 runs / month) while they open a first Dashboard, then buy Starter at $250 / month when they need 10,000 runs — or Cloud at $1,000 / month when FinOps policies and Issue Explorer matter.
Read the Infracost page
