GitHub Actions Artifact Storage Quota Still Exceeded After Deleting All Artifacts and Waiting 3–4 Days

[prosenjitchandraroy]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

ARC (Actions Runner Controller)

Discussion Details

Title: GitHub Actions Artifact Storage Quota Still Exceeded After Deleting All Artifacts and Waiting 3–4 Days

Description:

Hello GitHub Community,

I am experiencing a persistent GitHub Actions artifact storage quota issue in my private repository.

My Android APK build completes successfully, but the workflow fails at the "Upload Debug APK Artifact" step with this error:

"Failed to CreateArtifact: Artifact storage quota has been hit. Unable to upload any new artifacts. Usage is recalculated every 6–12 hours."

I have deleted the existing workflow artifacts and waited more than 3–4 days beyond the expected recalculation period. However, the same error persists.

Could someone help me identify the cause and suggest the correct steps to resolve this issue?

I would also appreciate guidance on checking whether my account's Actions and Packages storage usage has been recalculated correctly.

I have attached a screenshot of the error for reference.

Thank you for your help.

[github-actions[bot]]

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[Sagargupta16]

The quota that error checks is not this repository's. The artifact storage quota belongs to the account, and it is shared with GitHub Packages, so deleting the APKs in one private repo does nothing if another repository or a package (for example a container image in ghcr.io) holds the bulk. The included amount on GitHub Free is 500 MB for artifacts plus Packages together; cache is separate and does not count (GitHub Actions billing).

Where to look, in order:

1. Open https://github.com/settings/billing and go to the Usage view. Filter to the actions_storage and packages_storage SKUs and use Group to break the total down. The docs say "Current storage decreases immediately" when you delete and usage updates within 6 to 12 hours, so after 3 to 4 days it shows the real state. Whatever still sums above 500 MB is the cause. Same data from the CLI, once your token has the user scope:

   gh auth refresh -s user
   gh api users/YOUR-LOGIN/settings/billing/usage

2. Packages. Open your profile > Packages and delete old versions; package storage is the usual hidden consumer because nothing in the Actions UI shows it.

3. Budgets. With no payment method on file, usage is blocked once the quota is used up until the next cycle. With one on file, an exhausted budget blocks it just the same, because budgets on a personal account always hard-stop (Set up budgets). Check Budgets and alerts on the same billing page.

To stop hitting it again: set retention-days: 1 on actions/upload-artifact for debug APKs, or publish the APK as a release asset instead. Release assets are not metered as Actions or Packages storage; each file must be under 2 GiB and there is no limit on total size (About releases).

[prosenjitchandraroy]

Hello, We have already deleted all the APK files generated through GitHub Actions in our repositories. We have also deleted all the corresponding GitHub Actions runs associated with those APK builds. However, our artifact storage quota still has not been cleared. According to your explanation, storage usage should update within 6–12 hours after deletion, but it has now been more than a week, and we are still experiencing the same issue. We have already completed the cleanup steps on our side, but the problem remains unresolved. Could you please investigate our account and explain exactly what is still consuming the storage quota? We would appreciate your guidance on how to resolve this issue, as we have already deleted all the APK files and related Actions runs. Thank you for your assistance.

…

On Sat, Oct 24, 2026, 7:28 AM Sagar Gupta ***@***.***> wrote: The quota that error checks is not this repository's. The artifact storage quota belongs to the account, and it is shared with GitHub Packages, so deleting the APKs in one private repo does nothing if another repository or a package (for example a container image in ghcr.io) holds the bulk. The included amount on GitHub Free is 500 MB for artifacts plus Packages together; cache is separate and does not count (GitHub Actions billing <https://docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/github-actions> ). Where to look, in order: 1. Open https://github.com/settings/billing and go to the *Usage* view. Filter to the actions_storage and packages_storage SKUs and use *Group* to break the total down. The docs say "Current storage decreases immediately" when you delete and usage updates within 6 to 12 hours, so after 3 to 4 days it shows the real state. Whatever still sums above 500 MB is the cause. Same data from the CLI, once your token has the user scope: gh auth refresh -s user gh api users/YOUR-LOGIN/settings/billing/usage 2. Packages. Open your profile > Packages and delete old versions; package storage is the usual hidden consumer because nothing in the Actions UI shows it. 3. Budgets. With no payment method on file, usage is blocked once the quota is used up until the next cycle. With one on file, an exhausted budget blocks it just the same, because budgets on a personal account always hard-stop (Set up budgets <https://docs.github.com/en/billing/how-tos/set-up-budgets>). Check *Budgets and alerts* on the same billing page. To stop hitting it again: set retention-days: 1 on actions/upload-artifact for debug APKs, or publish the APK as a release asset instead. Release assets are not metered as Actions or Packages storage; each file must be under 2 GiB and there is no limit on total size (About releases <https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/releasing-projects-on-github/about-releases#storage-and-bandwidth-quotas> ). — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#210936?email_source=notifications&email_token=CEN3QST7VX4OSUGVTO6DZIT5VQASBA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCOJRGU3TGOBQUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVRTG633UMVZF6Y3MNFRWW#discussioncomment-19157380>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/CEN3QSUKJTMVUGRD5DJ5NYD5VQASBAVCNFSNUABIKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHMZTAMJVG4ZTGNBUHNCGS43DOVZXG2LPNY5TCMJRGAYDEMZUUF3AE> . Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/CEN3QSUZMZEJ6NVJGL65WXD5VQASBA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCOJRGU3TGOBQUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVJTG633UMVZF62LPOM> and Android <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/CEN3QSRGWGSYZGDTM67G6R35VQASBA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCOJRGU3TGOBQUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVZTG633UMVZF6YLOMRZG62LE>. Download it today! You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[Sagargupta16]

Deleting the APKs and runs was the right step, but I can't see your account, only GitHub can. Two things are still worth checking first:

1. Whose quota it is. If the repo belongs to an organization, the quota is the org's, so artifacts and packages in every repo of that org count, not just this one.
2. Packages. Artifact storage is shared with GitHub Packages. Container images or other packages in ghcr.io count toward the same 500 MB on Free. In Settings > Billing > Usage, filter by actions_storage and packages_storage and group by repository to see what is left.

If that report is under the limit and uploads still fail, the counter is stuck on GitHub's side. Open a ticket at https://support.github.com/contact with the repo name and the exact error; only Support can recalculate or reset it.

[Sagargupta16]

One correction to what I wrote above, because it explains why a week of deleting changed nothing.

The quota is not measured on what is stored now. Actions storage accrues in GB-hours: each hour, the bytes stored that hour are added to a running total for the billing period, and the included 500 MB is converted to the same unit (0.5 GB x 744 h = 372 GB-hours for October). Once the total passes that, uploads are blocked for the rest of the period. The docs: "Deleting artifacts frees up space for current storage, but does not reduce your accrued storage usage, which is used to calculate your storage billing for the current billing cycle" (Actions billing).

So the APKs that sat there earlier in October already spent the allowance. Metered usage runs on calendar months (00:00 UTC on the 1st, billing cycles), so uploads resume on 2026-11-01. To keep November under it, set retention-days: 1 on actions/upload-artifact for the APKs, or lower the default retention in Settings > Actions > General.