How many GitHub Actions jobs can run at the same time?

What is the GitHub Actions concurrent job limit?

On GitHub-hosted standard runners, an account can run 20 jobs at the same time on GitHub Free, 40 on Pro, 60 on Team and 500 on Enterprise Cloud; larger runners allow up to 1,000 on Team and Enterprise Cloud. Jobs beyond the limit wait in the queue, and a matrix can cap its own fan-out with max-parallel; GitHub Support can raise the limits. On Sengi, every matrix and parallel job gets its own fresh VM on AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D bare metal boosting past 5 GHz, from $0.003 a minute.

Last checked October 23, 2026, against GitHub’s Actions limits reference.

GitHub Actions concurrency limits by plan

A single job may run for up to 6 hours on a GitHub-hosted runner, and a workflow run for up to 35 days.

How do I control how many jobs run at once?

concurrency:
  group: ci-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: sengi-standard-2-ubuntu-2404
    strategy:
      max-parallel: 4
      matrix:
        shard: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx jest --shard=${{ matrix.shard }}/8

A concurrency group allows one run per group at a time and can cancel the older one; max-parallel caps how many matrix jobs run together. Neither is the account limit, which counts every job across every repository. Each parallel job bills its own minutes, so a faster runner shortens all of them: see how to make GitHub Actions faster and the runner comparison.

Frequently asked questions

What happens when I hit the GitHub Actions concurrency limit?

Jobs beyond the limit wait in the queue and start as running jobs finish. Nothing fails; the run just takes longer, and the waiting time is not billed.

How long can a GitHub Actions job run?

Up to 6 hours on a GitHub-hosted runner and up to 5 days on a self-hosted runner; a job that reaches the limit is ended and fails. A whole workflow run can last up to 35 days, including waiting and approvals.

Do the concurrency limits apply to third-party runners?

GitHub's 20 to 500 job limits are for its hosted runners. Jobs on self-hosted and third-party runners are limited by the runners available and by the provider's own account limits.

How do I run more tests at the same time?

Split the suite across a matrix, for example strategy.matrix.shard: [1, 2, 3, 4], and have each job run its shard. Each matrix job gets its own runner; on Sengi, its own fresh VM. Cap the fan-out with max-parallel if it crowds out other workflows.