Developer Tools
Buildkite SLA credit guide
What Buildkite pays when it misses its uptime commitment — the credit tiers, the filing deadline, how to file, and a calculator to estimate your credit.
What SLA credit does Buildkite pay when it misses?
Buildkite does pay an SLA service credit, but it is GATED: an ordinary single month below its 99.95% monthly uptime commitment pays nothing. The credit only becomes payable once the customer is on Buildkite Premium (Tier 2) or Elite (Tier 3) support — Core (Tier 1), included with and mandatory for every Enterprise subscription, carries no service credit — and then it is worth 2%–10% of the affected service's monthly fee (Service Credits are available only to Premium (Tier 2) and Elite (Tier 3) support customers; Core (Tier 1) support — included with and mandatory for every Enterprise subscription — carries no service credit, so confirm your support tier before relying on any amount.). The claim itself must still reach Buildkite within 5 days of the end of the affected billing month, so the first month has to be filed protectively, before anyone can know whether the trigger will be met.
Uptime commitment
99.95%
Filing window
5 days
counted from the end of the affected billing month
Services with SLA data
1
Buildkite’s credit is gated — one missed month pays nothing
The credit below is real, but it only becomes payable once the customer is on Buildkite Premium (Tier 2) or Elite (Tier 3) support — Core (Tier 1), included with and mandatory for every Enterprise subscription, carries no service credit. A single ordinary month below 99.95% produces no credit at all, so we don’t show a calculator here — it would quote you money you are not owed. Service Credits are available only to Premium (Tier 2) and Elite (Tier 3) support customers; Core (Tier 1) support — included with and mandatory for every Enterprise subscription — carries no service credit, so confirm your support tier before relying on any amount.
File anyway. Service Credit requests must be received by Buildkite within five calendar days following the month, to support@buildkite.com, and must include the account contact, the claimed dates/times of the shortfall, and request logs. A claim that was never lodged cannot be revived once a later month confirms the breach — so the first month must be filed protectively, asking for no amount. Ontracko drafts exactly that.
Credit tiers by service
| Measured uptime | Credit |
|---|---|
| 99% – under 99.95% | 2% of spend |
| 97% – under 99% | 5% of spend |
| 95% – under 97% | 7% of spend |
| below 95% | 10% of spend |
These tiers only apply once the customer is on Buildkite Premium (Tier 2) or Elite (Tier 3) support — Core (Tier 1), included with and mandatory for every Enterprise subscription, carries no service credit — an ordinary single month below 99.95% pays nothing. Service Credits are available only to Premium (Tier 2) and Elite (Tier 3) support customers; Core (Tier 1) support — included with and mandatory for every Enterprise subscription — carries no service credit, so confirm your support tier before relying on any amount.
MODELLED AS creditModel "gated_percent" WITH creditGate.eligibilityUnobservable:true — the credit is real but GATED behind a PAID SUPPORT TIER Ontracko cannot observe, so every shortfall drafts a PROTECTIVE claim that quotes NO amount and the kit states the credit conditioned on the support tier. TWO SEPARATE COMMITMENTS, both guarantees (§3, "the sole remedies available to Customer"), identical across all three support tiers and measured per CALENDAR MONTH: the PLATFORM UPTIME COMMITMENT of 99.95% (the CI Platform and Pipelines product — Web, Agent API, REST API, Job Queue and Notifications on the Status Page) and the HOSTED AGENTS COMMITMENT of 99.5% (the Hosted Agents service). THIS PROFILE MODELS THE PLATFORM commitment only; the Hosted Agents commitment is a different service and is recorded here as a variant rather than modelled as a second profile (the conservative one-commitment-per-profile posture, like Sanity/Atlassian). THREE SUPPORT TIERS, and ONLY TWO ARE ELIGIBLE: Core (Tier 1) — included with and MANDATORY for every Enterprise subscription, i.e. the DEFAULT a paying customer gets — carries NO service credit; Premium (Tier 2) and Elite (Tier 3), both paid, are the only tiers eligible for a credit. §4 restates it: "Tier 2 and Tier 3 Customers whose Service was affected are eligible for the following Service Credits." So the default paying customer is owed NOTHING, and quoting them 2–10% would be the cardinal error — which is why this profile carries eligibilityUnobservable and the pipeline quotes no figure. THE PLATFORM CREDIT TABLE (§4), a % of the monthly invoice applied to the next invoice, each row a [min, max) band: less than 99.95% but ≥ 99.0% → 2%; less than 99% but ≥ 97% → 5%; less than 97% but ≥ 95% → 7%; less than 95% → 10%. (Hosted Agents has an identical-shape table against the 99.5% commitment: less than 99.5% but ≥ 99.0% → 2%, then 5/7/10% at the same lower bounds.) WINDOW: FIVE calendar days FOLLOWING THE MONTH (anchored to month-end, DEADLINE_BASIS.buildkite = end_of_billing_month), to support@buildkite.com, and the request must include the account contact, the claimed dates/times of the shortfall, and REQUEST LOGS (an evidence bar). EXCLUSIONS (§5): Scheduled Downtime (reasonable endeavours, 6pm Fri–3am Mon U.S. Pacific), Force Majeure, internet congestion/unavailability, and customer actions. Status page: https://www.buildkitestatus.com/. Read first-hand from https://buildkite.com/about/legal/service-level-agreement/, version footer "April 7, 2025".
How to file a Buildkite SLA credit claim
- Open a billing/support case with the vendor from an account with billing authority.
- Paste the claim text from section 8 and attach the incident evidence from section 3.
- Ask explicitly for an SLA service credit under the availability commitment of your agreement.
Evidence you’ll need
- •The account contact for the affected Buildkite subscription
- •The claimed dates and times of the shortfall
- •Request logs corroborating the unavailability
Common exclusions
- •Scheduled Downtime (the window Buildkite uses reasonable endeavours to run between 6pm Friday and 3am Monday U.S. Pacific time)
- •Force Majeure events beyond Buildkite's reasonable control
- •Internet congestion or the unavailability of the public internet
- •Acts or omissions of the customer
Frequently asked
What is Buildkite's SLA uptime commitment?
Buildkite (CI Platform and Pipelines — Premium/Elite support tiers only) carries a 99.95% monthly uptime commitment.
How much credit can I claim if Buildkite misses its SLA?
Nothing for an ordinary single missed month. Buildkite's credit only becomes payable once the customer is on Buildkite Premium (Tier 2) or Elite (Tier 3) support — Core (Tier 1), included with and mandatory for every Enterprise subscription, carries no service credit is met; once it is, the published tiers run from 2% to 10% of the affected service's monthly fee. Service Credits are available only to Premium (Tier 2) and Elite (Tier 3) support customers; Core (Tier 1) support — included with and mandatory for every Enterprise subscription — carries no service credit, so confirm your support tier before relying on any amount..
Do I still have to file if Buildkite only missed one month?
Yes. The credit needs the customer is on Buildkite Premium (Tier 2) or Elite (Tier 3) support — Core (Tier 1), included with and mandatory for every Enterprise subscription, carries no service credit, which cannot be known until a later month — but the claim itself is due within 5 days of the end of the affected billing month, and a claim that was never lodged cannot be revived once a later month confirms the breach. File it protectively, without claiming an amount.
What is the deadline to file a Buildkite SLA credit claim?
Claims are generally due within 5 days of the end of the affected billing month (verify the exact clause in Buildkite's SLA before filing).
Does Ontracko file Buildkite SLA credit claims for me?
Ontracko monitors Buildkite for free and drafts the claim — including the PROTECTIVE filing for a month that does not pay on its own, so the right survives to the point where the trigger is met. A protective claim asks for no amount. You file it; Ontracko charges 8% only on credits actually recovered.
Let Ontracko file it for you
Connect Buildkite and Ontracko monitors the SLA, catches every breach, and drafts the claim with the evidence attached. Free — 8% only on recovered credits.