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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 | p95) 		Queue time (s)
(p50 | p95) 		Processor Infra / ISP Samples
Namespace (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • nscloud-ubuntu-22.04-amd64-2x8
 4023 | 4246 15 | 24 AMD EPYC (x86_64) Namespacelabs (might vary) 40
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204
 3751 | 3942 22 | 25 AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor (x86_64) Hetzner Online 9
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204
 3348 | 3529 24 | 29 AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-Core Processor (x86_64) Hetzner Online 31
Blacksmith (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204
 3735 | 3988 20 | 23 AMD EPYC (x86_64) Hetzner Online 40
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=i7ie
 3139 | 3147 30 | 65 Intel Xeon Platinum 8559C (x86_64) Amazon.com 27
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=r7iz
 3077 | 3085 25 | 62 Intel Xeon Gold 6455B (x86_64) Amazon.com 38
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=c7a
 2877 | 2885 25 | 36 AMD EPYC 9R14 (x86_64) Amazon.com 38
Cirrus ($150/runner, SaaS)
  • ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:22.04-md
 3141 | 3171 23 | 32 Intel Xeon Gold 5412U (x86_64) Hetzner Online GmbH 40
Ubicloud (10x cheaper, SaaS)
  • ubicloud-standard-2
 2934 | 2972 17 | 54 AMD EPYC 9454P 48-Core Processor (x86_64) Hetzner Online 37
GitHub
  • github-16cpu-x64
 2372 | 2395 8 | 80 AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor (x86_64) (custom) Microsoft Azure 39
GitHub
  • ubuntu-22.04
 2296 | 2304 9 | 12 AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor (x86_64) Microsoft Azure 40
AWS CodeBuild
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-small
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-medium
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-large
 2108 | 2151 30 | 33 Intel Xeon Platinum 8275CL CPU @ 3.00GHz (x86_64) Amazon.com 90
AWS CodeBuild
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-medium
  • codebuild-ubuntu-7.0-small
 1985 | 2018 30 | 32 Intel Xeon Platinum 8124M CPU @ 3.00GHz (x86_64) Amazon.com 27
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 | p95) 		Queue time (s)
(p50 | p95) 		Processor Infra / ISP Samples
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=r8g
 1933 | 1934 25 | 54 Neoverse-V2 (aarch64) Amazon.com 38
RunsOn (10x cheaper - self-hosted)
  • runs-on,family=m7g
 1542 | 1547 26 | 61 (aarch64) Amazon.com 37
GitHub
  • github-2cpu-arm64
 1867 | 1873 8 | 9 (aarch64) Microsoft Azure 8
Cirrus ($150/runner, SaaS)
  • ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-arm64:22.04-md
 1325 | 1327 20 | 24 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online GmbH 40
Buildjet (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • buildjet-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204-arm
 1324 | 1325 35 | 36 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online 40
Blacksmith (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2204-arm
 1316 | 1322 21 | 25 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online 40
Ubicloud (10x cheaper, SaaS)
  • ubicloud-standard-2-arm
 1311 | 1318 14 | 16 Neoverse-N1 (aarch64) Hetzner Online 40
Namespace (2x cheaper, SaaS)
  • nscloud-ubuntu-22.04-arm64-2x8
 1264 | 1274 17 | 25 (aarch64) Deft Hosting (might vary) 31
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.