Your build allowance
Builds are metered. This page covers how many you get, what uses one, and what to do when the meter is empty.
How many you get
Section titled “How many you get”| Plan | Builds per month |
|---|---|
| Free | 3 |
| Pro | 30 |
| Unlimited | 100, fair use |
The allowance is per account, not per app. A Pro account with five apps shares thirty builds between them.
Unlimited is sold as unlimited builds and metered at one hundred. That ceiling is a fair-use guard rather than a plan limit: builds run one at a time on shared hardware, and a hundred is more than three release builds a day.
A build pack adds to any plan’s figure:
| Plan | With +25 ($19/month) | With +100 ($59/month) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 28 | 103 |
| Pro | 55 | 130 |
| Unlimited | 125 | 200 |
What uses one
Section titled “What uses one”The unit is the Build press, not the file it produces. A press counts from the moment it starts, once it is queued, running or finished successfully.
One press can produce two builds — an Android one and an iPhone one — and the pair still counts as one. Building for both platforms does not cost twice.
A press where everything failed does not count. The build it used is given back, so a broken build costs you nothing but the time. A press where one half succeeded still counts once, so an Android build that worked beside an iOS build that failed uses one.
When the allowance resets
Section titled “When the allowance resets”On the 1st of every calendar month, at 00:00 UTC — not thirty days after you started. Unused builds do not roll over.
The meter shows the exact reset date, so you do not have to work out the timezone.
Checking what is left
Section titled “Checking what is left”The badge in the builder header shows your remaining builds. It counts down across every app in the account.
Running out
Section titled “Running out”The build is refused with a message naming the date your allowance resets. Editing, previewing and testing in the builder carry on as normal — none of them uses a build.
To build again before the reset:
- Add a build pack on the Build packs tab of Billing. It takes effect as soon as PayPal confirms it.
- Or move up a plan on the Plans tab.
Spending fewer
Section titled “Spending fewer”Most wasted builds come from checking something the preview would have shown.
Use the preview for anything visible. Navigation, ordering, icons, titles, colours, typography, spacing, which features appear for which role — all of it renders live against your real site, and none of it costs a build.
Build to check device behaviour. Push notifications, the camera roll, share sheets, real splash timing, and performance on an actual phone. These are the things the preview cannot tell you.
Clear iOS setup before you press Build. If an iOS requirement is not met, the Android half still builds and still spends the press, while the iPhone half produces nothing. Fixing the iOS setup window first means the same build gets you both.
Check the obvious before building. The app has a name and an icon, the preview shows your content rather than sample data, and every placed feature has a title.
When it does not work
Section titled “When it does not work”| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Build limit reached | The month’s allowance is used | Wait for the reset date shown, add a build pack, or upgrade |
| The badge shows fewer than expected | Another app in the account used some | The meter is account-wide |
| A running build counts before it finishes | Builds count from the moment they start | Expected; a failure gives it back |
| The allowance dropped mid-month | A downgrade or a cancelled pack | Builds already used stay used; the new figure applies now |
| Build pack bought, badge unchanged | PayPal has not confirmed the subscription yet | Reload after a minute |