GitHub Actions CPU performance benchmarks

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

Benchmarks cover GitHub, RunsOn, AWS CodeBuild, BuildJet, Namespace, Blacksmith, Cirrus, Warpbuild, Ubicloud, and Shipfox across Linux x64 and arm64.

TL;DR

Best value

RunsOn spot (2 vCPU) is ~$0.0008/min (x64) and ~$0.0007/min (arm64) including default EBS, roughly ~7.3x and ~6.9x cheaper than GitHub. Ubicloud is next at ~$0.0008/min.

Best self-hosted

RunsOn is the cheapest self-hosted option and the fastest in this dataset among self-hosted runners. AWS CodeBuild is slower and more expensive.

Fastest CPU

x64: Namespace (~4630) leads, followed by Shipfox and Blacksmith. arm64: Namespace (~4226) leads, followed by Cirrus.

Lowest queue

GitHub is lowest at ~8s (x64) and ~6s (arm64). Warpbuild and Namespace are close behind on x64.

How to read: CPU p50 is single-thread Passmark (higher is better), queue p50 is time to start (lower is better), and price is normalized $/min.

GitHub Actions runner comparison leaderboard (Linux x64 vs Linux arm64)

Last updated: Feb 2, 2026

Benchmarks use Linux runners only, the Passmark single-thread metric, and the last 30 days of data.

If you’re comparing GitHub Actions runner pricing per minute, use the $/min column below and account for spot vs on‑demand and any GitHub self‑hosted runner fee for private repos.

Linux x64 / amd64

Best valueFastest CPULowest queueCheapestSelf-hosted onlyShow all runners

Cost weight (75)Speed weight (50)Queue weight (25)

Reset weightsRanking uses normalized scores for CPU, queue, and price.

RunsOn#1 best value

CPU p50: 3816

Queue p50: 25.0s

Price: $0.0008/min

Ubicloud#2 best value

CPU p50: 3770

Queue p50: 26.0s

Price: $0.0008/min

Blacksmith#3 best value

CPU p50: 4480

Queue p50: 14.0s

Price: $0.004/min

CPU vs price (queue size)x64 runners

Left is cheaper, higher is faster. Bigger dots mean longer queues.RunsOnGitHubOthersHover dots for provider + runner.

Provider	CPU p50	Queue p50	Price / min	Value score
RunsOnruns-on,family=m8aAWS Self-Hostedspot	3816	25.0s	$0.0008/min	77
Ubicloudubicloud-premium-2-ubuntu-2404Hetzner (Germany) SaaSstandard	3770	26.0s	$0.0008/min	76
Blacksmithblacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404Hetzner SaaS	4480	14.0s	$0.004/min	73
Shipfoxshipfox-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404OVH / GCP SaaS	4501	15.0s	$0.004/min	73
Warpbuildwarp-ubuntu-2404-x64-2xHetzner / AWS / BYOC SaaS	3672	10.0s	$0.004/min	65
Namespacenscloud-ubuntu-24.04-amd64-2x8US/Europe SaaSoverage	4494	10.0s	$0.006/min	63
Buildjetbuildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204Hetzner SaaS	3784	17.0s	$0.004/min	62
GitHububuntu-24.04, github24-2cpu-x64Azure Official	2280	7.0s	$0.006/min	37
Cirrusghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:24.04-mdHetzner SaaSper runner monthly	3958	17.0s	$0.0083/min	36
AWS CodeBuildcodebuild-ubuntu-8.0-small, codebuild-ubuntu-8.0-medium, codebuild-ubuntu-8.0-largeAWS Self-Hosted	1987	27.0s	$0.005/min	25

Note

Pricing is pulled from each provider’s pricing page and normalized to $/min. RunsOn defaults to spot pricing, Namespace defaults to overage pricing, and Cirrus is modeled as a flat monthly price at 25 days × 12 hours utilization.

Linux arm64 / aarch64

Best valueFastest CPULowest queueCheapestSelf-hosted onlyShow all runners

Cost weight (75)Speed weight (50)Queue weight (25)

Reset weightsRanking uses normalized scores for CPU, queue, and price.

Ubicloud#1 best value

CPU p50: 1315

Queue p50: 14.0s

Price: $0.0008/min

Namespace#2 best value

CPU p50: 4159

Queue p50: 13.0s

Price: $0.006/min

RunsOn#3 best value

CPU p50: 1946

Queue p50: 28.0s

Price: $0.0007/min

CPU vs price (queue size)arm64 runners

Left is cheaper, higher is faster. Bigger dots mean longer queues.RunsOnGitHubOthersHover dots for provider + runner.

Provider	CPU p50	Queue p50	Price / min	Value score
Ubicloudubicloud-standard-2-arm-ubuntu-2404Hetzner (Germany) SaaSstandard	1315	14.0s	$0.0008/min	61
Namespacenscloud-ubuntu-24.04-arm64-2x8,namespace-features:linux-on-apple-silicon=trueUS/Europe SaaSoverage	4159	13.0s	$0.006/min	60
RunsOnruns-on,family=c8g+m8g+r8gAWS Self-Hostedspot	1946	28.0s	$0.0007/min	59
Warpbuildwarp-ubuntu-2404-arm64-2xHetzner / AWS / BYOC SaaS	1944	20.0s	$0.003/min	50
Shipfoxshipfox-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404-armOVH / GCP SaaS	2083	16.0s	$0.004/min	47
GitHubgithub24-2cpu-arm64Azure Official	1874	6.0s	$0.005/min	46
Cirrusghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-arm64:24.04-mdHetzner SaaSper runner monthly	4029	15.0s	$0.0083/min	42
Blacksmithblacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404-armHetzner SaaS	1328	16.0s	n/a	21

Note

Pricing uses provider public rates. Some ARM offers (Apple virtualization, premium tiers) can vary by region and plan.

GitHub Actions runner pricing notes

• GitHub hosted runners are billed per-minute.
• Spot vs on-demand pricing can swing costs by 2–4x depending on region.
• RunsOn pricing here includes EC2 + EBS storage.
• RunsOn spot pricing starts at ~$0.0006/min (x64 1 vCPU) and ~$0.0005/min (arm64 1 vCPU). The 2 vCPU spot rates shown elsewhere are $0.0008/min and $0.0007/min respectively.
• See RunsOn’s pricing calculator to model $/min vs GitHub.

How to choose a GitHub Actions runner

• If you want the lowest price, compare $/min and spot vs on‑demand (RunsOn and Ubicloud standard are usually cheapest).
• If you want speed, look at CPU p50 (single‑thread) because most CI jobs are not fully parallel.
• If you want the lowest queue, GitHub leads in this dataset (~6–8s p50), followed by Warpbuild and Namespace.
• If you want predictability, favor providers with stable hardware (some Hetzner‑based fleets can vary CPUs).
• If you want control, pick self‑hosted (RunsOn, AWS CodeBuild) and keep data in your cloud account. RunsOn keeps runners inside your AWS VPC; see networking options.

Providers included

See full provider list

Official:

• GitHub (Azure)

Self-hosted alternatives:

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

Third-party alternatives:

• Namespace (US/Europe)
• Blacksmith (Hetzner / Secured Servers LLC)
• Cirrus (Hetzner)
• Shipfox (OVH, GCP)
• Warpbuild (Hetzner / AWS / BYOC)
• Ubicloud (Hetzner)
• Buildjet (Hetzner)

Note: I’d love to benchmark Depot (hosted on AWS), but they forbid benchmarking their platform 🤷.

Deep dive (full data)

Open full benchmark table & box plots

Includes per-runner distributions, CPU/queue percentiles, and provider metadata for the last 30 days.

Linux x64 / amd64

Provider

CPU speed
(higher is better)

Queue time
(lower is better)

Processor

Namespace

SaaS $0.006/min ≈ GitHub overage

• nscloud-ubuntu-24.04-amd64-2x8

CPU speed

p50:4494

Queue time

p50:10.0s

AMD EPYC (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: US/Europe (might vary)
• Samples: 27

Shipfox

SaaS $0.004/min 1.5x cheaper

• shipfox-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404

CPU speed

p50:4501

Queue time

p50:15.0s

AMD EPYC 4585PX 16-Core Processor(x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: OVH / GCP
• Samples: 26

---

CPU 4500+

---

Blacksmith

SaaS $0.004/min 1.5x cheaper

• blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404

CPU speed

p50:4480

Queue time

p50:14.0s

AMD EPYC (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner
• Samples: 27

---

CPU 4000+

---

Cirrus

SaaS $0.0083/min 2.6x cheaper per runner monthly

• ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:24.04-md

CPU speed

p50:3958

Queue time

p50:17.0s

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor(x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner
• Pricing model: per runner monthly
• Price basis: $150/month @ 25d * 12h utilization
• Samples: 27

RunsOn

Self-Hosted $0.0008/min 7.3x cheaper spot

• runs-on,family=m8a

CPU speed

p50:3816

Queue time

p50:25.0s

AMD EPYC 9R45 (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: AWS
• Price basis: EC2 + EBS (40GB gp3, 400 MB/s)
• Samples: 27

Buildjet

SaaS $0.004/min 1.5x cheaper

• buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204

CPU speed

p50:3784

Queue time

p50:17.0s

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor(x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner
• Samples: 5

Ubicloud

SaaS $0.0008/min 7.5x cheaper standard

• ubicloud-premium-2-ubuntu-2404

CPU speed

p50:3770

Queue time

p50:26.0s

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor(x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner (Germany)
• Samples: 27

Warpbuild

SaaS $0.004/min 1.5x cheaper

• warp-ubuntu-2404-x64-2x

CPU speed

p50:3672

Queue time

p50:10.0s

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor(x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner / AWS / BYOC
• Samples: 14

---

CPU 3500+

---

Buildjet

SaaS $0.004/min 1.5x cheaper

• buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204

CPU speed

p50:3256

Queue time

p50:20.0s

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-Core Processor(x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner
• Samples: 22

RunsOn

Self-Hosted $0.0006/min 9.6x cheaper spot

• runs-on,family=m8i+r8i

CPU speed

p50:3199

Queue time

p50:28.0s

Intel(R) Xeon(R) 6975P-C (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: AWS
• Price basis: EC2 + EBS (40GB gp3, 400 MB/s)
• Samples: 26

RunsOn

Self-Hosted $0.0006/min 9.6x cheaper spot

• runs-on,family=r7iz

CPU speed

p50:3071

Queue time

p50:27.0s

Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6455B (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: AWS
• Price basis: EC2 + EBS (40GB gp3, 400 MB/s)
• Samples: 26

---

CPU 3000+

---

Ubicloud

SaaS $0.0008/min 7.5x cheaper standard

• ubicloud-standard-2-ubuntu-2404

CPU speed

p50:2917

Queue time

p50:15.0s

AMD EPYC 9454P 48-Core Processor(x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner (Germany)
• Samples: 27

RunsOn

Self-Hosted $0.0006/min 9.6x cheaper spot

• runs-on,family=i7ie

CPU speed

p50:2898

Queue time

p50:31.0s

Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8559C (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: AWS
• Price basis: EC2 + EBS (40GB gp3, 400 MB/s)
• Samples: 26

RunsOn

Self-Hosted $0.0008/min 7.3x cheaper spot

• runs-on,family=c7a+m7a+r7a

CPU speed

p50:2877

Queue time

p50:27.0s

AMD EPYC 9R14 (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: AWS
• Price basis: EC2 + EBS (40GB gp3, 400 MB/s)
• Samples: 26

RunsOn

Self-Hosted $0.0006/min 9.6x cheaper spot

• runs-on,family=c7i+m7i+r7i

CPU speed

p50:2887

Queue time

p50:28.0s

Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8488C (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: AWS
• Price basis: EC2 + EBS (40GB gp3, 400 MB/s)
• Samples: 26

---

CPU 2500+

---

GitHub

Official $0.006/min ≈ GitHub

• github24-2cpu-x64
• ubuntu-24.04

CPU speed

p50:2318

Queue time

p50:10.0s

Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8370C CPU @ 2.80GHz (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: Azure
• Samples: 4

GitHub

Official $0.006/min ≈ GitHub

• ubuntu-24.04
• github24-2cpu-x64

CPU speed

p50:2280

Queue time

p50:7.0s

AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor(x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: Azure
• Samples: 50

---

CPU 2000+

---

AWS CodeBuild

Self-Hosted $0.005/min 1.2x cheaper

• codebuild-ubuntu-8.0-small
• codebuild-ubuntu-8.0-medium
• codebuild-ubuntu-8.0-large

CPU speed

p50:1987

Queue time

p50:27.0s

Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8275CL CPU @ 3.00GHz (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: AWS
• Samples: 55

AWS CodeBuild

Self-Hosted $0.005/min 1.2x cheaper

• codebuild-ubuntu-8.0-medium
• codebuild-ubuntu-8.0-large
• codebuild-ubuntu-8.0-small

CPU speed

p50:1909

Queue time

p50:28.0s

Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8124M CPU @ 3.00GHz (x86_64)

• Infra / ISP: AWS
• Samples: 26

Linux arm64 / aarch64

Provider

CPU speed
(higher is better)

Queue time
(lower is better)

Processor

Namespace

SaaS $0.006/min 1.2x pricier overage

• nscloud-ubuntu-24.04-arm64-2x8,namespace-features:linux-on-apple-silicon=true

CPU speed

p50:4159

Queue time

p50:13.0s

Apple M4 + Virtualization

• Infra / ISP: US/Europe (might vary)
• Samples: 28

Cirrus

SaaS $0.0083/min ≈ GitHub per runner monthly

• ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-arm64:24.04-md

CPU speed

p50:4029

Queue time

p50:15.0s

Apple M4 + Virtualization

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner
• Pricing model: per runner monthly
• Price basis: $150/month @ 25d * 12h utilization
• Samples: 28

---

CPU 4000+

---

Shipfox

SaaS $0.004/min 1.3x cheaper

• shipfox-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404-arm

CPU speed

p50:2083

Queue time

p50:16.0s

Neoverse-V2 (aarch64)

• Infra / ISP: OVH / GCP
• Samples: 28

---

CPU 2000+

---

Warpbuild

SaaS $0.003/min 1.7x cheaper

• warp-ubuntu-2404-arm64-2x

CPU speed

p50:1944

Queue time

p50:20.0s

Neoverse-V2 (aarch64)

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner / AWS / BYOC
• Samples: 14

RunsOn

Self-Hosted $0.0007/min 6.9x cheaper spot

• runs-on,family=c8g+m8g+r8g

CPU speed

p50:1946

Queue time

p50:28.0s

Neoverse-V2 (aarch64)

• Infra / ISP: AWS
• Price basis: EC2 + EBS (40GB gp3, 400 MB/s)
• Samples: 54

GitHub

Official $0.005/min ≈ GitHub

• github24-2cpu-arm64

CPU speed

p50:1874

Queue time

p50:6.0s

Neoverse-N2 (aarch64)

• Infra / ISP: Azure
• Samples: 27

RunsOn

Self-Hosted $0.0007/min 6.9x cheaper spot

• runs-on,family=c7g+m7g+r7g

CPU speed

p50:1558

Queue time

p50:29.0s

Neoverse-V1 (aarch64)

• Infra / ISP: AWS
• Price basis: EC2 + EBS (40GB gp3, 400 MB/s)
• Samples: 27

---

CPU 1500+

---

Blacksmith

SaaS n/a

• blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404-arm

CPU speed

p50:1328

Queue time

p50:16.0s

Neoverse-N1 (aarch64)

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner
• Samples: 27

Ubicloud

SaaS $0.0008/min 6.3x cheaper standard

• ubicloud-standard-2-arm-ubuntu-2404

CPU speed

p50:1315

Queue time

p50:14.0s

Neoverse-N1 (aarch64)

• Infra / ISP: Hetzner (Germany)
• Samples: 28

Namespace

SaaS $0.006/min 1.2x pricier overage

• nscloud-ubuntu-24.04-arm64-2x8

CPU speed

p50:1251

Queue time

p50:15.0s

Ampere-1a (aarch64)

• Infra / ISP: US/Europe (might vary)
• Samples: 18

Methodology & data sources

• CPU p50 is Passmark single-thread; queue p50 is time-to-start (seconds).
• Data window is the last 30 days before the last updated date.
• Pricing is normalized to $/min.
• Providers can vary hardware over time (especially Hetzner-based fleets).

Observations

Cost & performance takeaways

• Namespace leads x64 single‑thread; Shipfox and Blacksmith follow, with Cirrus close behind. AWS‑backed x64 runners lag due to slower CPU refresh cycles.
• Namespace and Cirrus (Apple virtualization) lead arm64; RunsOn and Warpbuild follow with Graviton4. GitHub’s newer Cobalt CPUs are closer but not consistently available.
• GitHub uses older CPUs overall, especially on x64.
• RunsOn is the cheapest by a wide margin (roughly ~7.3x vs GitHub at 2 vCPU spot including EBS, with larger savings at smaller sizes); Ubicloud is typically next. AWS CodeBuild remains slow and not price‑competitive.

Reliability & Scaling

• GitHub queue times are very good for standard runners. Used to be minutes for larger ones, but GitHub has improved their queue system.
• 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 and Ubicloud’s variable CPU models impact reproducibility.

Security & infra notes

• GitHub Actions runners are managed by GitHub and run on Azure. Access to private resources often requires secrets or OIDC.
• RunsOn is fully self-hosted in your AWS account with a dedicated GitHub App; IAM policies and networking are fully under your control.
• AWS CodeBuild is managed by AWS, runs in your account, and uses a shared GitHub App for registration.
• Namespace, Blacksmith, Cirrus, Warpbuild, Ubicloud, Depot, Shipfox are SaaS providers; some offer BYOC, but the control plane and runner registration are not fully under your control.

Gaps

• Detailed concurrency/scaling tests are still missing; they matter for high-volume CI/CD (thousands of jobs/day).

Note: this analysis is valid as of January 2026. Things change quickly in this space, so make sure you do your own research as well.