BuildJet alternatives after its shutdown: where to move buildjet runs-on labels

Updated 24 Oct 2026 · prices and specs read on 24 Oct 2026

BuildJet for GitHub Actions stopped running jobs on 31 March 2026 (announced 6 February 2026); replace each buildjet-* runs-on label with GitHub's own runners (ubuntu-latest or ubuntu-24.04-arm), a larger runner, or a managed runner such as WarpBuild, Ubicloud, Blacksmith or FlameWill, and buildjet/cache with actions/cache.

We make FlameWill, so read this with that in mind. Every fact about another vendor is from its own page on the date above.

What BuildJet said to do

BuildJet’s announcement gave three routes:

• GitHub-hosted runners: change runs-on to ubuntu-latest, or to ubuntu-24.04-arm for ARM workflows. GitHub has since upgraded its hardware and added native ARM runners, which is why BuildJet said the gap it filled “has largely closed”.
• Larger runners or self-hosted runners for jobs that need more than GitHub’s standard runner.
• Caching: replace buildjet/cache@v4 with actions/cache@v4, which it describes as interoperable.

Replacing a buildjet label

jobs:
  test:
    # before: runs-on: buildjet-4vcpu-ubuntu-2204
    runs-on: flamewill-2vcpu-16gb-ubuntu-2404   # FlameWill, 16 GB on 2 vCPU
    # or GitHub-hosted ARM: runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-arm (2 vCPU, 8 GB in a private repository)

Choose the new runner by the memory your job peaks at, not by its old vCPU count: a job that ran on 4 vCPU may need its 16 GB but not its 4 cores. GitHub Actions out of memory shows how to measure the peak.

Prices per minute at the same memory

GitHub’s 8 GB runner is its standard one, covered by your plan’s included minutes in private repositories and free in public ones; its 16 and 32 GB runners are larger runners, always charged. For your own mix of minutes, use the cost calculator; for every vendor’s details, GitHub Actions runner pricing.

Before you switch

• ARM64 or x64: FlameWill is ARM64 only; GitHub, WarpBuild, Ubicloud and Blacksmith offer both. A job that ran on BuildJet’s x64 runners needs its dependencies built for arm64 before it moves to FlameWill.
• Images: a job that downloads an x64 binary by name needs the arm64 one on an ARM runner (uname -m prints aarch64).
• Caches: keys that leave out the architecture can restore x64 native modules on ARM; put runner.arch in the key.