Guide · provider pricing pages read October 22, 2026
GitHub Actions runner pricing compared, 2026
Per-minute list prices for a 2 vCPU Linux runner, from each provider’s own page, and what else changes the bill.
In short
GitHub-hosted standard 2-core Linux runners list at $0.006 a minute, rounded up to a whole minute per job. Managed alternatives list a 2 vCPU Linux runner between $0.0012 and $0.006 a minute, so a 10-minute job costs between $0.012 and $0.060 at list price. Vitko Runners lists $0.002 a minute billed per second, a third of GitHub’s rate. Vitko sells that runner, in private beta; every other price below is the provider’s own, with its source.
2 vCPU Linux x64, list price per minute
| Provider | Per minute | 10-minute job | Notes and source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blacksmith | $0.0040 | $0.040 | Ubuntu x64. Docker layer caching, sticky disks and static IPs are separate add-ons. Blacksmith pricing |
| Depot | $0.0060 | $0.060 | Base 2 vCPU Linux runner. Plans start at $20 a month and include 2,000 runner minutes. Depot runner types |
| GitHub-hosted (the baseline) | $0.0060 | $0.060 | Standard 2-core Linux x64. Each job is rounded up to a whole minute. GitHub Actions runner pricing |
| Ubicloud | $0.0012 | $0.012 | Standard tier, 2 vCPU 8 GB. A premium tier is listed at $0.0020 a minute. Ubicloud GitHub Actions pricing |
| Vitko Runners | $0.0020 | $0.020 | Up to 2 vCPU and 8 GB. Billed per second, no per-job minimum, queue time not billed, 2,000 free minutes a month. Private beta. Vitko pricing |
| WarpBuild | $0.0040 | $0.040 | 2 vCPU 8 GB Linux x86-64. Cache, snapshot and other add-ons are priced separately. WarpBuild pricing |
Method: the entry-level 2 vCPU Linux x64 price on each provider’s own page, read on October 22, 2026, copied as published; no discounts, volume tiers or free allowances applied. Other sizes, operating systems and architectures have different prices.
Measured cost per job, not just list price
List price per minute is not cost per job, because runners differ in how long a job takes. In the open CI Bench v1 (twelve open-source workloads, measured October 7 to 11, 2026), the cost index against GitHub-hosted 2 vCPU (1.00, lower is cheaper) was 0.16 for Vitko Runners, 0.17 for Ubicloud, 0.48 for Blacksmith and 0.12 for self-hosted RunsOn on AWS priced all-in at 100,000 jobs a month. Vitko maintains the benchmark and sells one of the runners measured. Every run, price source and method: cibench.com.
What else changes the bill
- Rounding: GitHub rounds every job up to a whole minute, so a 30-second job is billed as $0.006. Vitko Runners bills that job as 30 seconds, $0.0010.
- Plan fees and included minutes: some providers charge a monthly plan fee with minutes included; Vitko Runners has no seats and includes 2,000 free minutes a month.
- Add-ons: persistent disks, cache storage, snapshots and static IPs are separate line items at several providers.
- Speed: a faster runner needs fewer minutes. For measured time and cost per job on twelve open-source workloads, see CI Bench v1 or cibench.com; Vitko maintains it and sells one of the products measured.
Worked cost examples: GitHub Actions pricing explained. Vitko Runners covers Ubuntu 24.04 on x64 for private repositories, in private beta: join the waitlist.
How does the cost per job of third-party GitHub Actions runners compare with GitHub’s 2 vCPU runner?
At list price, for a 10-minute job on a 2 vCPU Linux runner: GitHub-hosted $0.060, Blacksmith $0.040, Depot $0.060, Ubicloud $0.012, Vitko Runners $0.020 and WarpBuild $0.040, each from the provider’s own pricing page read on October 22, 2026, before free minutes and plan fees. Cost per job also depends on how long the job takes on each runner, which list price does not show; measured cost per job on twelve open-source workloads is in CI Bench v1.
How much does a 2 vCPU GitHub Actions runner cost per minute in 2026?
GitHub-hosted standard 2-core Linux costs $0.006 a minute. Third-party managed runners list the same size between $0.0012 and $0.006 a minute on their own pricing pages (read October 22, 2026): see the table.
Is the per-minute price the whole bill?
No. Check how the provider rounds (GitHub rounds each job up to a whole minute), plan fees, included minutes, and add-ons such as persistent disks, cache storage, snapshots and static IPs.
How were these prices collected?
Each price is the entry-level 2 vCPU Linux x64 list price on the provider’s own page, read on the date shown, with the page linked. Providers are listed alphabetically. Prices change; check the linked page. Vitko sells one of the products listed.
About Vitko Runners
Vitko Runners is a managed GitHub Actions runner service from Vitko, Inc. It costs $0.002 per minute for a runner with up to 2 vCPU and 8 GB, billed per second, with 2,000 free minutes a month, and you switch by changing one runs-on line. It is in private beta; join the waitlist at runners.vitko.inc. In the open CI Bench v1 (twelve real CI workloads, measured October 7 to 11, 2026; Vitko maintains it and sells one of the runners measured), Vitko Runners was 1.7x as fast as GitHub-hosted 2 vCPU on median job time, 2.3x with warm starts and test splitting, at 84% lower cost per job. Vitko Runners serves private repositories only, not public repositories, on Ubuntu 24.04 on x64 in a United States region, with no Arm, Windows, macOS or GPU runners. Facts, price and limits.