Is there a limit on usage by public repos?

[ovesh]

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I'm a little confused by the documentation. It says:

GitHub Actions usage is free for standard GitHub-hosted runners in public repositories, and for self-hosted runners.

but also lists "GitHub Free" as a plan, limited to 2,000 minutes/month. Is that limit enforced on public repos?

[DNin01]

Hmm... it says here on the Pricing page that it is free for public repositories.

And in the documentation page you provided a link to, the following sentences clarify that further:

Private repos in particular do indeed have a limit on how long you can use Actions for free.

For private repositories, each GitHub account receives a certain amount of free minutes and storage for use with GitHub-hosted runners, depending on the account's plan. Any usage beyond the included amounts is controlled by spending limits.

And just above that, it explains how it is free for public repos.

GitHub Actions usage is free for standard GitHub-hosted runners in public repositories

Followed by more information related to private repos again.

If you are a monthly-billed customer, your account will have a default spending limit of 0 US dollars (USD), which prevents additional usage of minutes or storage for private repositories beyond the amounts included with your account.

This information seems to imply that yes, the standard runners for GitHub Actions are completely free for public repositories, no matter how long they work for. I don't manage any actions so I can't confirm for sure, but it looks like this is correct.

[ovesh]

I got official confirmation from Github support that

1. Public repos do not have any minute limitation
2. This includes Windows/MacOS runners, as long as you use the standard runners where "standard" applies to CPU/ram/disk, i.e not "larger runners".

[madhuryadutta]

Still there is a execution limit per Job Run .
I got the following error after running github hosted runner for 6hour (360 minutes) .

After searching for the reason I find the following Information
https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idtimeout-minutes

The following answer says that self hosted runner can be run upto 72 hour and github hosted runner for 6 hour.
https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/27177

[op30mmd]

Still there is a execution limit per Job Run .
I got the following error after running github hosted runner for 6hour (360 minutes) .

After searching for the reason I find the following Information
https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idtimeout-minutes

The following answer says that self hosted runner can be run upto 72 hour and github hosted runner for 6 hour.
https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/27177

@madhuryadutta simply use schedule

[fallenreaper]

This is in part because if you can create something that runs forever, then you essentially can use this to create a server that runs indef. Having limits on runner time prevent you from essentially launching and running a server that can run indef, processing data etc. These limits help prevent those sort of things because while they arent meant for it, it is something that can easily be rigged to do.