# GitHub Actions runner pricing in 2026, per minute, for every Linux runner

Source: https://flamewill.com/guides/github-actions-runner-pricing/ · updated 2026-10-24T17:47:14Z · prices and specs read on 24 Oct 2026

**A minute on GitHub's standard Linux runner in a private repository costs $0.006 on x64 and $0.005 on arm64 (2 cores, 8 GB); larger runners cost $0.008 to $0.162 a minute, and managed alternatives charge between about $0.0012 and $0.008 for the same 8 to 16 GB of memory.**

## GitHub-hosted runners

GitHub charges per minute, by runner size. Standard runners (2 cores in a private repository) are covered by your plan's included minutes; larger runners never are.

| Runner (Linux) | Memory | x64 per minute | arm64 per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 core (`ubuntu-slim`) | 5 GB | $0.002 | — |
| 2 cores (standard, private repository) | 8 GB | $0.006 | $0.005 |
| 4 cores (larger runner) | 16 GB | $0.012 | $0.008 |
| 8 cores | 32 GB | $0.022 | $0.014 |
| 16 cores | 64 GB | $0.042 | $0.026 |
| 32 cores | 128 GB | $0.082 | $0.050 |
| 64 cores | 256 GB (x64), 208 GB (arm64) | $0.162 | $0.098 |

Two things stand out. GitHub's arm64 runners cost up to 40 % less than its x64 runners of the same size, and memory comes only with cores: 4 GB per vCPU, so a job that needs 16 GB pays for 4 cores.

## Managed alternatives, at the same memory

What decides a CI job's runner is usually memory: a test suite or a build that peaks at 13 GB needs a 16 GB machine however many cores it uses. So this table compares the cheapest runner each vendor offers with at least the same memory.

Price per minute at each memory size:

| Vendor (architecture) | 8 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| FlameWill (arm64) | $0.0012 | $0.0015 | $0.0030 |
| Ubicloud standard (x64) | $0.00125 | $0.0025 | $0.005 |
| Ubicloud premium (x64) | $0.002 | $0.004 | $0.008 |
| Blacksmith (x64) | $0.004 | $0.008 | $0.016 |
| Namespace, prepaid | $0.004 | $0.008 | $0.016 |
| GitHub (arm64) | $0.005 | $0.008 | $0.014 |

GitHub, Blacksmith, Namespace and Ubicloud attach 2, 4 and 8 vCPU to 8, 16 and 32 GB; FlameWill attaches 2, 2 and 4.

Notes on each, from their own pages:

- **Blacksmith**: x64 is $0.004 a minute for 2 vCPU with 4 GB per vCPU; its ARM runners are $0.0025 for 2 vCPU but carry 3 GB per vCPU, so at equal memory its x64 runners are its cheapest. 3,000 free x64 2-vCPU minutes per month per organization.
- **Namespace**: priced in units of 1 vCPU and 2 GB per minute; the prices above are its prepaid rate (overage is $0.006, $0.012 and $0.024). Its Linux arm64 runners are Apple Silicon, in early access, at a much higher rate.
- **Ubicloud**: the cheapest hosted runner in this table at 8 GB after FlameWill; new accounts run on its premium machines by default. $2.50 of free credit a month (1,250 minutes).
- **Depot**: publishes $0.006 a minute for its base 2-vCPU Linux runner and monthly plans with included minutes ($20 for 2,000, $200 for 20,000).
- **RunsOn**: not a hosted service. You run it in your own AWS account and pay AWS spot prices (it publishes about $0.0009 a minute for 2 arm64 CPUs in us-east-1) plus a yearly license from €300.
- **FlameWill**: ARM64 only, in the EU, memory sized independently of cores (up to 8 GB per vCPU), billed in whole minutes rounded up from prepaid credit (from $10), no free tier.

## What a month costs

Take a team that runs 20,000 minutes a month of jobs that peak around 13 GB, so they need 16 GB:

- GitHub larger runner (4-core arm64): 20,000 × $0.008 = **$160**
- Blacksmith (4 vCPU x64): 20,000 × $0.008 = **$160**, less its free minutes
- Ubicloud premium (4 vCPU x64): 20,000 × $0.004 = **$80**
- FlameWill (flamewill-2vcpu-16gb-ubuntu-2404): 20,000 × $0.0015 = **$30**

The minutes themselves can differ too: a faster machine finishes sooner. Compare by running your own most expensive job on each, and read what it was billed.

## Choosing by what your job needs

- **Windows or macOS:** GitHub, Blacksmith or Namespace; FlameWill and Ubicloud are Linux only.
- **x64 only (a binary or image with no arm64 build):** GitHub, Blacksmith, Ubicloud, Namespace or Depot.
- **Memory-heavy jobs on Linux:** a runner that sells memory without the cores is cheapest: FlameWill's 16 GB size has 2 vCPU.
- **Everything in your own cloud account:** RunsOn, or GitHub's own Actions Runner Controller on Kubernetes.

## Questions

### Are GitHub Actions minutes free?

In public repositories, standard GitHub-hosted runners are free. Private repositories get included minutes each month (2,000 on GitHub Free, 3,000 on Pro and Team, 50,000 on Enterprise Cloud), then pay per minute. Larger runners are always charged, even in public repositories.

### How does GitHub round minutes?

GitHub rounds each job's minutes up to the next whole minute, so a 10-second job is billed as one minute. FlameWill rounds the same way. Namespace bills at least one minute and rounds the next 15 seconds down.

### What is the cheapest way to run GitHub Actions?

For public repositories, GitHub's own standard runners are free. For private repositories, the cheapest per minute is a self-hosted runner on spot capacity in your own cloud account (RunsOn publishes about $0.0009 a minute for 2 arm64 CPUs, plus its yearly license), then managed runners such as Ubicloud and FlameWill at about $0.0012 a minute for 8 GB.

### Do self-hosted runners cost anything on GitHub?

GitHub does not bill minutes on self-hosted runners; you pay for the machines yourself. FlameWill registers its machines as self-hosted runners in your organization, so GitHub bills nothing for those jobs: you pay FlameWill's per-minute price only.

## Sources

- [GitHub, Actions runner pricing](https://docs.github.com/en/billing/reference/actions-runner-pricing)
- [GitHub, GitHub Actions billing (included minutes)](https://docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/github-actions)
- [GitHub, larger runners (memory and disk)](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/runners/larger-runners)
- [Blacksmith, pricing](https://www.blacksmith.sh/pricing)
- [Blacksmith, runner instance types](https://docs.blacksmith.sh/blacksmith-runners/overview)
- [Ubicloud, pricing](https://www.ubicloud.com/docs/about/pricing)
- [Namespace, pricing](https://namespace.so/pricing)
- [Depot, pricing](https://depot.dev/pricing)
- [RunsOn, pricing](https://runs-on.com/pricing/)
- [FlameWill, pricing](https://flamewill.com/pricing/)