Alternatives to Actions Runner Controller
At 5,000 minutes a month, the cheapest macOS option is one machine you already have on Buildhound Team at $24 and the cheapest Linux option is Ubicloud at $6.25. Actions Runner Controller is free and open source; what you pay for is the Kubernetes cluster it runs on. Every price is the vendor's own list price.
- Prices checked 15 and 17 October 2026
- No referral agreement
A month of macOS CI
List prices, cheapest first at 5,000 minutes
At 5,000 minutes of macOS CI a month, one machine you already have on Buildhound Team costs least, $24.
| Option | 2,000 minutes | 5,000 minutes | 10,000 minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buildhound Personalone machine you already have, on a personal account | $10 | $10 | $10 |
| Buildhound Teamone machine you already have, in an organisation | $24 | $24 | $24 |
| Xcode Cloudsold by the hour, checked 16 October 2026 | $49.99 | $49.99 | $99.99 |
| MacRunsold by the Mac, checked 16 October 2026 | $139 | $139 | $139 |
| Manzanitasold by the runner, checked 16 October 2026 | $149 | $149 | $149 |
| Bitrise Build HubM4 Large, 5 CPU, 14 GB, sold in monthly tiers, checked 17 October 2026 | $90 | $180 | $300 |
| Namespace4 vCPU, list price, checked 16 October 2026 | $120 | $300 | $600 |
GitHub-hosted runnersmacos-latest, 3 vCPU, list price, checked 15 October 2026 | $124 | $310 | $620 |
| Blacksmith6 vCPU, list price, checked 16 October 2026 | $160 | $400 | $800 |
| Depot8 vCPU, list price, at least the $200 plan, checked 16 October 2026 | $200 | $400 | $800 |
| WarpBuild6 vCPU, list price, checked 16 October 2026 | $160 | $400 | $800 |
| CodemagicMac mini M2, list price, checked 17 October 2026 | $190 | $475 | $950 |
| CircleCIM4 Pro Medium, 6 CPU, 28 GB, list price, at least the $15 plan, checked 17 October 2026 | $240 | $600 | $1,200 |
| BuildkiteHosted M4 Medium, 6 vCPU, list price, at least the $30 plan, checked 17 October 2026 | $240 | $600 | $1,200 |
List prices for private repositories, before free minutes or credits on any side, cheapest first at 5,000 minutes. Public repositories run free on GitHub-hosted standard runners and on Buildhound. Runner sizes differ, as each note says, and a bigger runner may finish the same work in fewer minutes, so a row is the price of the same minutes, not of the same work. One machine runs these minutes a job at a time. Personal is for a personal account, Team for an organisation.
A month of Linux CI
List prices, cheapest first at 5,000 minutes
At 5,000 minutes of Linux CI a month, Ubicloud costs least, $6.25.
| Option | 2,000 minutes | 5,000 minutes | 10,000 minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubicloud2 vCPU, list price, checked 16 October 2026 | $2.50 | $6.25 | $12.50 |
| Buildhound Personalone machine you already have, on a personal account | $10 | $10 | $10 |
| Namespace2 vCPU, list price, checked 16 October 2026 | $6 | $15 | $30 |
| Blacksmith2 vCPU, list price, checked 16 October 2026 | $8 | $20 | $40 |
| WarpBuild2 vCPU, list price, checked 16 October 2026 | $8 | $20 | $40 |
| Buildhound Teamone machine you already have, in an organisation | $24 | $24 | $24 |
| AWS CodeBuildLinux Small, 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, list price, checked 17 October 2026 | $10 | $25 | $50 |
GitHub-hosted runnersubuntu-latest, 2 vCPU, list price, checked 15 October 2026 | $12 | $30 | $60 |
| Depot2 vCPU, list price, at least the $20 plan, checked 16 October 2026 | $20 | $30 | $60 |
| CircleCIDocker Medium, 2 CPU, 4 GB, list price, checked 17 October 2026 | $12 | $30 | $60 |
| BuildkiteHosted Small, 2 vCPU, list price, at least the $30 plan, checked 17 October 2026 | $30 | $40 | $80 |
| Bitrise Build HubLinux Medium, 4 vCPU, 16 GB, sold in monthly tiers, checked 17 October 2026 | $45 | $90 | $180 |
| CodemagicLinux X2, list price, checked 17 October 2026 | $90 | $225 | $450 |
List prices for private repositories, before free minutes or credits on any side, cheapest first at 5,000 minutes. Public repositories run free on GitHub-hosted standard runners and on Buildhound. Runner sizes differ, as each note says, and a bigger runner may finish the same work in fewer minutes, so a row is the price of the same minutes, not of the same work. One machine runs these minutes a job at a time. Personal is for a personal account, Team for an organisation.
Choose the one that fits
Stay with Actions Runner Controller when
- You already run Kubernetes and want runners on it.
- Your jobs are Linux containers.
- You want GitHub's own open-source controller and no vendor at all.
A machine you already have fits when
- Your CI includes macOS, which it does not run.
- You have Macs or a Linux box but no cluster to look after.
- You want a fresh VM for each job rather than a container on a shared node, with GitHub-hosted as the fallback.
Questions
What is the cheapest alternative to Actions Runner Controller for macOS CI?
At 5,000 minutes a month, one machine you already have on Buildhound Team at $24, then Xcode Cloud at $49.99, at list prices for private repositories checked 15 and 17 October 2026. Xcode Cloud is Apple's own CI rather than GitHub Actions.
What is the cheapest alternative to Actions Runner Controller for Linux CI?
At 5,000 minutes a month, Ubicloud at $6.25, then Namespace at $15, at list prices for private repositories checked 15 and 17 October 2026.
Every alternative, by kind
All comparisonsMachines you already have
A flat price per machine, never per minute, with GitHub-hosted as the fallback.
Hosted runners
Someone else's machines.
- GitHub-hosted runnersGitHub's own machines, billed by the minute$0.062 a macOS minute
- BlacksmithHosted runners on bare metal, by the minute$0.08 a macOS minute
- DepotHosted runners on AWS, sold in monthly plans$20 a month for 2,000 minutes
- WarpBuildHosted runners by the minute, or in your cloud$0.004 a Linux minute
- NamespaceHosted runners by the minute or a monthly plan$0.06 a macOS minute, pay as you go
- UbicloudLow-cost hosted Linux runners, by the minute$0.00125 a Linux minute
- Vercel DaemonsRunner containers on Vercel, in public betaNo price published in the beta
- Bitrise Build HubHosted Mac and Linux runners for GitHub Actions, in monthly tiers$15 a month and up
Runners in your own cloud
Your cloud account's machines, some with a licence or a platform fee.
macOS only
Apple's own CI, and Macs rented by the month.
Other CI services
A different CI system with its own configuration, not GitHub Actions.
Your own machines
Other ways to run jobs on hardware you have.
Put the machines you already have to work.
A spare Mac, a Linux box, or the laptop you code on while it is plugged in and not in use. One prompt into Claude Code, Codex or Cursor: Linux jobs run within minutes, macOS jobs once the Mac has built its image.
- The Buildhound agent holds no GitHub credential
- A fresh VM per job, off your network
- Your agent prepares, you approve
- How security works