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GitHub runner benchmark.

GitHub-hosted · Azure jobs ran from Microsoft (US, CA, MX, CL) in Virginia, US; Iowa, US +10 more 5 variants 2–8 vCPU x64, arm64 GitHub pricing

520 of 521 jobs finished across every suite, 1 failed (TypeScript).

  • TypeScript is borderline at 8 GB or less: GitHub's 2 vCPU ran out of memory, on some runs only; Blacksmith and Warpbuild never ran out; Namespace, RunsOn and Ubicloud ran out on some runs; AWS CodeBuild ran out too; 16 GB passes everywhere.
  • Measured swap at 8 GB or less: Blacksmith 2 vCPU has 11 GiB, GitHub 2 vCPU 3 GiB, RunsOn 2 vCPU 7.6 GiB, Ubicloud 2 vCPU 4 GiB and Warpbuild 2 vCPU 4 GiB; AWS CodeBuild 4 vCPU and Namespace 2 vCPU have none.
Arch

Fastest variant per build, any size

Rust build 1m 59s $0.0462 8th of 98 vCPU TypeScript build 1m 01s $0.0293 7th of 88 vCPU Docker build 8m 22s $0.2149 8th of 98 vCPU Burst queue 4s 15 at once 1st of 82 vCPU Cache restore 33s 4 GB 5th of 9 (3+ runs)8 vCPU

Fastest variant per build, any size

Rust build 3m 05s $0.0257 5th of 74 vCPU TypeScript build 1m 25s $0.0131 6th of 64 vCPU Docker build 9m 45s $0.0857 6th of 74 vCPU Burst queue 6s 15 at once 1st of 62 vCPU Cache restore 36s 4 GB 6th of 7 (3+ runs)4 vCPU

Variants

Fastest firstCheapest first; × against GitHub's fastest variant with 3 runs; cost per build, on the whole job's time.

Build
  1. GitHub8 vCPU · 32 GBVM disk · 5 runs1m 59s, cost per build $0.0462; phases: setup 29s, cargo test 58s, clippy 32s, ×1.00
  2. GitHub4 vCPU · 16 GBnetwork disk · 5 runs3m 47s, cost per build $0.0466; phases: setup 27s, cargo test 2m 10s, clippy 1m 12s, ×1.91
  3. GitHub2 vCPU · 8 GBVM disk · 5 runs6m 38s, cost per build $0.0408; phases: setup 25s, cargo test 4m 01s, clippy 2m 09s, ×3.34
  1. GitHub8 vCPU · 32 GBVM disk · 5 runs1m 01s, cost per build $0.0293; phases: toolchain 2s, clone 2s, bun install 21s, typecheck 36s, ×1.00
  2. GitHub4 vCPU · 16 GBnetwork disk · 5 runs1m 56s, cost per build $0.0268; phases: toolchain 1s, clone 2s, bun install 25s, typecheck 1m 30s, ×1.90
  3. GitHub2 vCPU · 8 GBVM disk · 4 runs3m 49s, cost per build $0.0247; phases: toolchain 1s, clone 2s, bun install 33s, typecheck 3m 11s, ×3.75
  1. GitHub8 vCPU · 32 GBVM disk · 5 runs8m 22s, cost per build $0.2149; phases: fetch source 25s, buildx setup 6s, docker build 7m 48s, ×1.00
  2. GitHub4 vCPU · 16 GBnetwork disk · 5 runs12m 44s, cost per build $0.1764; phases: fetch source 26s, buildx setup 6s, docker build 12m 09s, ×1.52
  3. GitHub2 vCPU · 8 GBVM diskn/a · not run: needs more than 8 GB of memory
  1. GitHub4 vCPU · 16 GBnetwork disk · 5 runs3m 05s, cost per build $0.0257; phases: setup 22s, cargo test 1m 47s, clippy 52s, ×1.00
  2. GitHub2 vCPU · 8 GBVM disk · 5 runs5m 17s, cost per build $0.0271; phases: setup 28s, cargo test 3m 11s, clippy 1m 40s, ×1.71
  1. GitHub4 vCPU · 16 GBnetwork disk · 5 runs1m 25s, cost per build $0.0131; phases: toolchain 2s, clone 2s, bun install 25s, typecheck 58s, ×1.00
  2. GitHub2 vCPU · 8 GBVM disk · 5 runs3m 01s, cost per build $0.0170; phases: toolchain 1s, clone 3s, bun install 40s, typecheck 2m 14s, ×2.13
  1. GitHub4 vCPU · 16 GBnetwork disk · 5 runs9m 45s, cost per build $0.0857; phases: fetch source 25s, buildx setup 8s, docker build 9m 12s, ×1.00
  2. GitHub2 vCPU · 8 GBVM diskn/a · not run: needs more than 8 GB of memory

Bar shades, light to dark, in execution order: setup = checkout + packages + toolchaincargo fmtcargo testclippy

Bar shades, light to dark, in execution order: toolchainclonebun installtypecheck

Bar shades, light to dark, in execution order: fetch sourcebuildx setupdocker build

Fixed costs not in cost per build

  • GitHub Free $0/user/month2,000 Actions minutes a month on standard runners
  • GitHub Team $4/user/month3,000 Actions minutes a month on standard runners
  • GitHub Enterprise Cloud $21/user/month50,000 Actions minutes a month on standard runners

Every runner here needs a GitHub plan, so its per-user fee is not a cost of GitHub's own runners.

Standard runners are free in public repositories. Larger runners use no included minutes and are billed in public repositories too. Checked 2026-09-30

Head-to-heads RunsOn m8azn.xlarge · EBS gp3 vs GitHub 4-core

All runners Methodology github.json

Over timeone point per run · since Sep 30

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