Apple today announced that developers can purchase subscriptions to Xcode Cloud, a continuous integration and delivery service that's built into the Xcode app. Apple designed Xcode Cloud to provide cloud-based tools to developers for building apps, running automated tests, providing apps to testers, and managing user feedback.
Xcode Cloud has been available to all developers since June after several months of beta testing, but subscriptions were not able to be purchased until now. There are a total of four monthly plans that developers can choose from, which vary based on the total number of compute hours needed.
25 compute hours per month is free at the current time, but will later cost $15 per month. 100 computer hours per month is priced at $50/month, 250 compute hours per month is priced at $100/month, and 1000 compute hours per month is priced at $400/month.
Apple says that developers can get started by configuring a workflow in Xcode and will receive 25 compute hours per month at no cost until the end of 2023. As mentioned above, pricing for this plan will be $15 when the introductory period ends.
A compute hour is an hour of time that is used to execute a task in the cloud, like building an app or running tests. Compute hour usage can be tracked in App Store Connect and the Apple Developer app. Additional information can be found on Apple's Xcode Cloud website.
