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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 60 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
 3993 | 4168 15 | 22 AMD EPYC (x86_64) Namespacelabs (might vary) 57
Ubicloud (10x cheaper, SaaS)
  • ubicloud-standard-2
 3897 | 3969 26 | 33 AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor (x86_64) Hetzner Online 11
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204
 3707 | 3942 21 | 24 AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor (x86_64) Hetzner Online 12
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204
 3327 | 3450 24 | 27 AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-Core Processor (x86_64) Hetzner Online 45
Blacksmith (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204
 3771 | 3951 20 | 23 AMD EPYC (x86_64) Hetzner Online 57
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=i7ie
 3120 | 3144 30 | 43 Intel Xeon Platinum 8559C (x86_64) Amazon.com 53
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=r7iz
 3078 | 3084 25 | 43 Intel Xeon Gold 6455B (x86_64) Amazon.com 58
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=m7a
  • runs-on,family=c7a
 2877 | 2881 25 | 41 AMD EPYC 9R14 (x86_64) Amazon.com 76
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=m7i
  • runs-on,family=m7i-flex
 2773 | 2927 27 | 38 Intel Xeon Platinum 8488C (x86_64) Amazon.com 57
Cirrus ($150/runner, SaaS)
  • ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:22.04-md
 3088 | 3171 23 | 32 Intel Xeon Gold 5412U (x86_64) Hetzner Online GmbH 55
GitHub
  • github-16cpu-x64
 2371 | 2375 8 | 10 AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor (x86_64) (custom) Microsoft Azure 56
GitHub
  • ubuntu-22.04
 2297 | 2304 10 | 12 AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor (x86_64) Microsoft Azure 57
AWS CodeBuild
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-large
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-small
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-medium
 2108 | 2147 30 | 34 Intel Xeon Platinum 8275CL CPU @ 3.00GHz (x86_64) Amazon.com 133
AWS CodeBuild
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-small
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-medium
 1983 | 2013 30 | 32 Intel Xeon Platinum 8124M CPU @ 3.00GHz (x86_64) Amazon.com 34
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
 1933 | 1934 26 | 54 Neoverse-V2 (aarch64) Amazon.com 72
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=m7g
 1542 | 1547 26 | 46 (aarch64) Amazon.com 55
GitHub
  • github-2cpu-arm64
 1868 | 1872 8 | 9 (aarch64) Microsoft Azure 24
GitHub
  • github-2cpu-arm64
 1317 | 1319 7 | 9 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Microsoft Azure 32
Cirrus ($150/runner, SaaS)
  • ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-arm64:22.04-md
 1325 | 1326 21 | 23 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online GmbH 51
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204-arm
 1323 | 1325 35 | 36 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online 56
Blacksmith (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204-arm
 1315 | 1320 21 | 23 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online 56
Ubicloud (10x cheaper, SaaS)
  • ubicloud-standard-2-arm
 1310 | 1316 15 | 33 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online 56
Namespace (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • nscloud-ubuntu-22.04-arm64-2x8
 1267 | 1273 17 | 21 (aarch64) Deft Hosting (might vary) 55
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.