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GitHub Actions CPU performance

GitHub Actions CPU performance

This guide compares CPU performance and queue times across GitHub Actions runners - including official GitHub runners, self-hosted solutions, and third-party providers. Real-world benchmarks show how each option performs to help select the optimal runner.

Providers included in the benchmark

Official:

Self-hosted alternatives:

Third-party alternatives:

Note: Warpbuild and Depot are third-party providers that resell AWS instances, but they forbid benchmarking their platform 🤷.

CPU speed and queuing times

Last updated:

Benchmarks are performed using the Passmark benchmarking tool ↗, using the CPU Single Threaded metric. The table displays the last 90 days of data, before the last updated date.

Key metrics such as the processor model, single-thread CPU speed, queue time, pricing, and the underlying infrastructure provider are compared. The CPU single-threaded rating is a crucial metric as it is the most significant factor (unless your job is massively parallel) in accelerating any of your workflows.

x64 runners

Provider CPU speed
(p50 | p90) 		Queue time (s)
(p50 | p90) 		Processor Infra / ISP Samples
Namespace (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • nscloud-ubuntu-22.04-amd64-2x8
 4013 | 4211 15 | 22 AMD EPYC (x86_64) Namespacelabs (might vary) 50
Blacksmith (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204
 3765 | 3964 20 | 23 AMD EPYC (x86_64) Hetzner Online 50
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204
 3307 | 3429 25 | 27 AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-Core Processor (x86_64) Hetzner Online 40
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=i7ie
 3115 | 3145 31 | 40 Intel Xeon Platinum 8559C (x86_64) Amazon.com 40
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=r7iz
 3079 | 3084 25 | 43 Intel Xeon Gold 6455B (x86_64) Amazon.com 49
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=m7a
  • runs-on,family=c7a
 2877 | 2881 26 | 36 AMD EPYC 9R14 (x86_64) Amazon.com 54
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=m7i
  • runs-on,family=m7i-flex
 2705 | 2903 26 | 41 Intel Xeon Platinum 8488C (x86_64) Amazon.com 48
Cirrus ($150/runner, SaaS)
  • ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:22.04-md
 3107 | 3171 23 | 32 Intel Xeon Gold 5412U (x86_64) Hetzner Online GmbH 48
Ubicloud (10x cheaper, SaaS)
  • ubicloud-standard-2
 2915 | 2956 20 | 48 AMD EPYC 9454P 48-Core Processor (x86_64) Hetzner Online 45
GitHub
  • github-16cpu-x64
 2371 | 2374 8 | 10 AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor (x86_64) (custom) Microsoft Azure 49
GitHub
  • ubuntu-22.04
 2297 | 2304 9 | 11 AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor (x86_64) Microsoft Azure 50
AWS CodeBuild
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-large
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-medium
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-small
 2108 | 2148 30 | 34 Intel Xeon Platinum 8275CL CPU @ 3.00GHz (x86_64) Amazon.com 116
AWS CodeBuild
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-small
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-medium
 1985 | 2013 30 | 32 Intel Xeon Platinum 8124M CPU @ 3.00GHz (x86_64) Amazon.com 30
Warpbuild (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • N/A
 N/A N/A N/A Amazon.com 0
Depot (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • N/A
 N/A N/A N/A Amazon.com 0

arm64 runners

Provider CPU speed
(p50 | p90) 		Queue time (s)
(p50 | p90) 		Processor Infra / ISP Samples
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=r8g
 1933 | 1934 26 | 53 Neoverse-V2 (aarch64) Amazon.com 48
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=m7g
 1542 | 1547 27 | 40 (aarch64) Amazon.com 47
GitHub
  • github-2cpu-arm64
 1869 | 1873 8 | 9 (aarch64) Microsoft Azure 19
Cirrus ($150/runner, SaaS)
  • ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-arm64:22.04-md
 1325 | 1326 21 | 22 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online GmbH 46
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204-arm
 1323 | 1325 35 | 36 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online 49
Blacksmith (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204-arm
 1315 | 1321 22 | 23 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online 49
Ubicloud (10x cheaper, SaaS)
  • ubicloud-standard-2-arm
 1311 | 1316 15 | 16 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online 49
Namespace (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • nscloud-ubuntu-22.04-arm64-2x8
 1267 | 1273 17 | 24 (aarch64) Deft Hosting (might vary) 44
Warpbuild (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • N/A
 N/A N/A N/A Amazon.com 0
Depot (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • N/A
 N/A N/A N/A Amazon.com 0

FAQ

Who has the fastest x64 runners?

Namespace and Blacksmith, followed by Buildjet (though Buildjet’s CPU models can vary).

Who has the fastest arm64 runners?

RunsOn, since it uses latest AWS Graviton3 and Graviton4 processors. Hetzner-based providers use older ARM CPUs.

Who's the cheapest?

RunsOn and Ubicloud offer the best pricing, around 10x cheaper than GitHub.

Observations

Performance:

  • Namespace and Blacksmith lead x64 performance with latest AMD CPUs
  • RunsOn leads arm64 performance with AWS Graviton3 and Graviton4
  • GitHub uses older CPUs, especially for x64. Their arm64 is better but limited availability
  • AWS CodeBuild instances are slower than GitHub and more expensive

Reliability & Scaling:

  • GitHub queue times are good for standard runners, but can be minutes for larger ones
  • AWS provides better scalability than Hetzner-based providers
  • Hetzner providers (Buildjet, Ubicloud etc) require manual requests for higher concurrency, sometimes with extra fees
  • Buildjet’s variable CPU models impact reproducibility

Cost:

  • RunsOn and Ubicloud are ~10x cheaper than GitHub
  • AWS CodeBuild pricing isn’t competitive

Missing from benchmark:

  • Detailed concurrency/scaling tests. Important for high-volume CI/CD (thousands of jobs/day)

Note: this analysis is valid as of January 2025. Things change quickly in this space, so make sure you do your own research as well.