AI cost · GitLab
GitLab Duo cost: what you actually pay
Duo Core is 'free' only after you're already paying for Premium or Ultimate, and GitLab has stopped publishing exact prices for the legacy Duo Pro/Enterprise seat add-ons in favor of a new $1-per-credit 'GitLab Credits' meter layered on top.
Public pricing
| Plan | Price | Billing | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium (prerequisite base plan) | $29 / user/moBilled annually; required base tier to unlock Duo Core | annual | Unlocks Duo Core; includes $12/user/mo in GitLab Credits (stated as limited-time) |
| Ultimate (prerequisite base plan) | CustomContact sales; required base tier to unlock Duo Enterprise | custom | Unlocks Duo Core; includes $24/user/mo in GitLab Credits (stated as limited-time) |
| Duo Core | Free | monthly | Code Suggestions, Duo Agentic Chat - auto-bundled into Premium/Ultimate (GitLab 18.0+); some usage still draws on GitLab Credits |
| Duo Pro | $19 / user/mo2024 announced rate; GitLab's current pricing page no longer states an exact figure - confirm via Customers Portal/sales | custom | Seat-based add-on: code generation, test generation, refactoring |
| Duo Enterprise | $39 / user/mo2024 announced rate (Ultimate only); current published pricing not confirmed - confirm via sales | custom | Seat-based add-on: root cause analysis, vulnerability resolution |
| Duo Agent Platform (credits) | $1 / credit | usage | Agentic Chat, AI Catalog, specialized agents/flows, pooled org-wide; Claude Sonnet 4 = 2 requests/credit, GPT-5-mini or Claude 3 Haiku = 20 requests/credit |
GitLab Duo requires a paid Premium or Ultimate base subscription - there is no Duo access on the Free tier. In 2024 GitLab published fixed seat-based pricing for Duo Pro ($19/user/mo) and Duo Enterprise ($39/user/mo); the current (2026) official pricing page no longer restates those figures and GitLab's own docs describe current Duo Pro/Enterprise pricing as not publicly disclosed, instead emphasizing the new 'GitLab Duo Agent Platform' billed via pooled 'GitLab Credits' at $1/credit, with Premium and Ultimate customers getting $12 and $24/user/month in credits respectively as a stated limited-time inclusion. Credit consumption per request varies sharply by model choice.
Approximate — verify before relying on it. Last updated: 2026-07-22. Sourced from GitLab Pricing ↗, GitLab Duo add-ons (docs) ↗.
Where the real GitLab Duo cost hides
The sticker is the smallest part of the story. For GitLab Duo, these are the line items that quietly inflate the bill:
- Duo is gated behind Premium ($29/user/mo) or custom-priced Ultimate - the 'free' Duo Core feature set is really bundled inside a required base-tier upgrade.
- GitLab Credits are explicitly a 'limited time' inclusion for Premium/Ultimate - the $12-$24/user/month allowance can be reduced or withdrawn, turning a bundled perk into a new metered cost.
- Credit consumption per request varies about 10x by model (2 requests/credit on Claude Sonnet 4 vs. 20 requests/credit on GPT-5-mini/Claude 3 Haiku), so a default model change burns the pool much faster.
- Legacy Duo Pro/Enterprise seat add-ons (historically $19 and $39/user/month) still exist per GitLab's own docs, but current pricing isn't publicly listed, so renewals can lock in stale, unverified per-seat rates.
What an audit finds on GitLab Duo
Auditors frequently find Duo Pro/Enterprise seats purchased for an entire engineering org when GitLab Credit usage data shows only a fraction of those seats ever triggered an agentic request, on top of Premium/Ultimate upgrades bought specifically 'to get Duo' that under-use both the base tier and the credit allowance.
Worked example: GitLab Duo at 100 people
Take 100 people on GitLab Duo Duo Enterprise at the published $39 per person per month. The seat count is a round number we picked; the price is the one in the table above.
- Monthly
- $3,900
- Annual
- $46,800
- Typically recoverable
- $4,680–$7,020
That last figure is 10 to 15% of seat and subscription spend — the band an audit typically surfaces across public benchmarks and our own sample data, before any metered overage on top. On GitLab Duo it usually arrives as seats nobody has opened in 60 days, which is the cheapest dollar in the stack to get back: nobody loses a capability they were using.
Arithmetic on the published prices above. Your mix will differ — run your own numbers.
GitLab Duo pricing FAQ
How much does GitLab Duo cost?
Duo Core is bundled free into Premium ($29/user/month) or Ultimate (custom); Duo Pro/Enterprise seat add-ons were historically $19 and $39/user/month; agentic features also now draw on GitLab Credits at $1 each.
Does GitLab Duo bill idle seats?
The Premium/Ultimate base subscription and any Duo Pro/Enterprise add-on are flat per-seat charges regardless of usage - only the Agent Platform credits are consumption-based.
What does GitLab Duo cost for a team of 100?
At the published $39 per person per month on Duo Enterprise, 100 people is $3,900 a month, or $46,800 a year. An audit typically finds 10 to 15% of that recoverable — $4,680 to $7,020 a year — mostly as seats nobody has opened in 60 days.
Are these GitLab Duo prices current?
They were last checked against GitLab Pricing and GitLab Duo add-ons (docs) on 2026-07-22. Every price on this page carries that date and a link to its source, and a scheduled check fails our build when any figure goes more than 30 days unverified. Vendors do change pricing between checks — the source link is there so you can confirm before you sign.
What is GitLab Duo really costing you?
Spendassay connects your GitLab Duo spend to actual usage and engineering output — a proof-level AI cost report with the wasted dollars named. Neutral across every AI vendor.
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