Our take
Pick Dagger if platform teams who will run the OSS engine at $0 while they write a first function, then start Starter’s Try for free and land on $20/month (1 user, 1-month traces) — or Scale at $200/month when they need unlimited users and 1-year traces. Pick Woodpecker if teams who already run Gitea / Forgejo / GitHub and will stay on the Apache self-host at $0 while they open a first pipeline log, then keep
portable CI desk
open-source CI desk
Best for
Dagger A pipeline you start at $20
Woodpecker Pipelines you start at $0 on your host
Free plan
Dagger No free plan
Woodpecker $0 · apache-2.0. You run the server + one or more agents + a forge. Confirmed by the repo LICENSE (“Apache License / Version 2.0”)
Lowest paid
Dagger Starter $20/mo
Woodpecker Not published by the vendor
Next step up
Dagger Scale $200/mo
Woodpecker
Coding agent
Dagger
Woodpecker Pipelines
Runs where
Dagger Hosted
Woodpecker
Watch out
Dagger $20 is 1 user and 1-month traces
Woodpecker $0 is the license, not the agent VM
Last checked
Dagger 2026-10-22 · dagger.io/pricing
Woodpecker 2026-10-23 · github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/blob
platform teams who will run the OSS engine at $0 while they write a first function, then start Starter’s Try for free and land on $20/month (1 user, 1-month traces) — or Scale at $200/month when they need unlimited users and 1-year traces.
Read the Dagger pageteams who already run Gitea / Forgejo / GitHub and will stay on the Apache self-host at $0 while they open a first pipeline log, then keep self-hosting because Woodpecker does not print a hosted Cloud dollar.
Read the Woodpecker page