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:

• GitHub (Azure)

Self-hosted alternatives:

• 👋 RunsOn (AWS)
• AWS CodeBuild (AWS)

Third-party alternatives:

• Buildjet (Hetzner)
• Blacksmith (Hetzner / Secured Servers LLC)
• Namespace (Own infrastructure, US/Europe)
• Ubicloud (Hetzner)
• Cirrus (Hetzner)

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: May 13, 2025

Benchmarks are performed using the Passmark benchmarking tool ↗, using the CPU Single Threaded metric. The table displays the last 30 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 | max)	Processor	Infra / ISP	Samples
Namespace (2x cheaper, SaaS) nscloud-ubuntu-22.04-amd64-2x8	3967 | 4096	15 | 18	AMD EPYC (x86_64)	Namespacelabs (might vary)	35
Ubicloud (10x cheaper, SaaS) ubicloud-standard-2	3843 | 3969	28 | 49	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor (x86_64)	Hetzner Online	16
Blacksmith (2x cheaper, SaaS) blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204	3809 | 3985	21 | 24	AMD EPYC (x86_64)	Hetzner Online	35
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS) buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204	3685 | 4086	21 | 24	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor (x86_64)	Hetzner Online	8
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS) buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204	3307 | 3424	24 | 27	AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-Core Processor (x86_64)	Hetzner Online	27
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted) runs-on,family=r7iz	3077 | 3083	27 | 45	Intel Xeon Gold 6455B (x86_64)	Amazon.com	36
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted) runs-on,family=i7ie	3055 | 3144	31 | 46	Intel Xeon Platinum 8559C (x86_64)	Amazon.com	36
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted) runs-on,family=m7a runs-on,family=c7a	2877 | 2880	25 | 52	AMD EPYC 9R14 (x86_64)	Amazon.com	63
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted) runs-on,family=m7i	2804 | 2945	27 | 38	Intel Xeon Platinum 8488C (x86_64)	Amazon.com	35
Cirrus ($150/runner, SaaS) ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:22.04-md	3040 | 3172	23 | 31	Intel Xeon Gold 5412U (x86_64)	Hetzner Online GmbH	35
GitHub github-16cpu-x64	2371 | 2374	8 | 10	AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor (x86_64) (custom)	Microsoft Azure	34
GitHub ubuntu-22.04	2299 | 2305	9 | 12	AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor (x86_64)	Microsoft Azure	35
AWS CodeBuild codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-small codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-medium codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-large	2108 | 2144	30 | 35	Intel Xeon Platinum 8275CL CPU @ 3.00GHz (x86_64)	Amazon.com	84
AWS CodeBuild codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-medium codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-small	1982 | 2001	29 | 33	Intel Xeon Platinum 8124M CPU @ 3.00GHz (x86_64)	Amazon.com	19
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 | max)	Processor	Infra / ISP	Samples
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted) runs-on,family=r8g runs-on,family=m8g	1932 | 1934	26 | 55	Neoverse-V2 (aarch64)	Amazon.com	59
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted) runs-on,family=m7g	1542 | 1547	27 | 46	(aarch64)	Amazon.com	34
GitHub github-2cpu-arm64	1869 | 1872	8 | 10	(aarch64)	Microsoft Azure	25
GitHub github-2cpu-arm64	1316 | 1319	7 | 9	Neoverse-N1 (aarch64)	Microsoft Azure	10
Cirrus ($150/runner, SaaS) ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-arm64:22.04-md	1325 | 1326	21 | 54	Neoverse-N1 (aarch64)	Hetzner Online GmbH	30
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS) buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204-arm	1323 | 1325	35 | 37	Neoverse-N1 (aarch64)	Hetzner Online	35
Blacksmith (2x cheaper, SaaS) blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204-arm	1313 | 1320	21 | 23	Neoverse-N1 (aarch64)	Hetzner Online	35
Ubicloud (10x cheaper, SaaS) ubicloud-standard-2-arm	1309 | 1314	19 | 39	Neoverse-N1 (aarch64)	Hetzner Online	35
Namespace (2x cheaper, SaaS) nscloud-ubuntu-22.04-arm64-2x8	1268 | 1274	17 | 19	(aarch64)	Deft Hosting (might vary)	35
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.