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Developer Tools · head to head

Blacksmith vs PagerDuty

Blacksmith logo

Blacksmith

Developer Tools

2x faster GitHub Actions with 60% cost savings

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
PagerDuty logo

PagerDuty

Technology

Real-time operations for real-time business

From
$21/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Blacksmith has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Blacksmith per-minute pricing model requires estimating usage to predict costs; PagerDuty aIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • They diverge on capability: Blacksmith covers Bare metal runners, PagerDuty covers Incident response.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Blacksmith and PagerDuty actually diverge.

Attributes where Blacksmith and PagerDuty differ
AttributeBlacksmithPagerDuty
Starting priceFree$21/month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsGitHub Actions, Linux, Windows, macOSWeb, Ios, Android, Api
CategoryDeveloper ToolsTechnology
FoundedUnknown2009

Identical on both: pricing model (Unknown), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Blacksmith

  • Bare metal runners
  • Multiple OS support
  • ARM support
  • Docker layer caching
  • Sticky disks
  • GitHub Actions observability
  • Free tier
  • Static IPs

Only in PagerDuty

  • Incident response
  • On-call management
  • Alert grouping
  • Escalation policies
  • Mobile incident management
  • Postmortems
  • Status pages
  • Event intelligence

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Blacksmith

  • Replacing GitHub Actions runners with faster, cheaper infrastructurenot PagerDuty
  • Accelerating CI build times for organizations with heavy CI loadnot PagerDuty
  • Reducing cloud spend on GitHub Actions by 60% or morenot PagerDuty
  • Supporting ARM architecture builds without GitHub runnersnot PagerDuty

PagerDuty

  • Incident managementnot Blacksmith
  • On-call schedulingnot Blacksmith
  • Real-time alertingnot Blacksmith
  • Service reliabilitynot Blacksmith
  • Digital operationsnot Blacksmith

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Blacksmith

  • Per-minute pricing model requires estimating usage to predict costs
  • macOS M4 pricing ($0.08/min) is significantly higher than GitHub Actions
  • Docker layer caching and sticky disks are paid add-ons at $0.50/GB/mo
  • Static IP add-on costs $100/IP/mo

PagerDuty

  • AIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • Complex escalation policies require workarounds for scheduling patterns beyond basic weekly rotations
  • 5-user minimum requirement forces costs even for small teams, with forced Business tier upgrades adding $12,000+ annually for larger teams

Pricing, plan by plan

Blacksmith

Free
  • Ubuntu x64$0.004/minute
    • 3,000 free minutes per month
    • 2x faster hardware
    • 4x faster cache downloads
  • Ubuntu ARM$0.0025/minute
    • 3,000 free minutes per month
    • 2x faster hardware
    • 4x faster cache downloads
  • Windows x64$0.008/minute
    • 3,000 free minutes per month
    • 2x faster hardware
    • 4x faster cache downloads
  • macOS M4$0.08/minute
    • 3,000 free minutes per month
    • 2x faster hardware
    • 4x faster cache downloads

PagerDuty

$21/month

No published plan breakdown. See the PagerDuty review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Blacksmith if

  • You need bare metal runners.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on GitHub Actions, Linux, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want multiple os support.
Blacksmith review

Choose PagerDuty if

  • You need incident response.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want on-call management.
PagerDuty review

Questions people ask

Is Blacksmith or PagerDuty better?
Neither clearly leads. Blacksmith starts at Free and PagerDuty at $21/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Blacksmith or PagerDuty?
Blacksmith has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Blacksmith and $21/month for PagerDuty.
Does Blacksmith or PagerDuty run on more platforms?
Blacksmith runs on GitHub Actions, Linux, Windows, macOS. PagerDuty runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
Can I use Blacksmith for free?
Yes. Blacksmith has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. PagerDuty starts at $21/month.
What is Blacksmith best used for?
Blacksmith is most often used for replacing github actions runners with faster, cheaper infrastructure, accelerating ci build times for organizations with heavy ci load, reducing cloud spend on github actions by 60% or more, supporting arm architecture builds without github runners. Of those, replacing github actions runners with faster, cheaper infrastructure and accelerating ci build times for organizations with heavy ci load are not what PagerDuty is typically brought in for.
What can Blacksmith do that PagerDuty cannot?
Blacksmith covers Bare metal runners, Multiple OS support, ARM support, Docker layer caching. PagerDuty covers Incident response, On-call management, Alert grouping, Escalation policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Blacksmith: How much do Blacksmith runners cost compared to GitHub Actions?

Blacksmith offers 60-75% cost savings depending on OS. Ubuntu x64 costs $0.004/min vs GitHub at $0.012/min. All plans include 3,000 free minutes monthly.

Source
PagerDuty: What is the minimum cost to use PagerDuty?

PagerDuty requires a minimum of 5 users per account. The Professional plan starts at $21 per user per month ($105/month minimum), with annual billing providing 16% discount.

Source
Blacksmith: Can I use Docker layer caching with Blacksmith?

Yes, Docker layer caching is available as an add-on at $0.50/GB/mo. Managed Docker layer persistence is included with the base service.

Source
PagerDuty: What integrations does PagerDuty support?

PagerDuty integrates with 750+ monitoring, ticketing, and collaboration tools including Datadog, Slack, Jira, ServiceNow, New Relic, and Nagios.

Source
Blacksmith: What is the SLA for Enterprise plans?

Enterprise Blacksmith plans include a 99.9% SLA guarantee along with 24/7 priority support, dedicated Slack channels, white-glove onboarding, and CI optimization support.

Source
PagerDuty: How much does AIOps cost in PagerDuty?

AIOps Intelligence is sold separately as an add-on starting at $699 per month, and is not included in any of the base plans.

Source
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