Blacksmithvs
WarpBuild
WarpBuild: Similar per-minute GitHub Actions runner pricing with comparable performance
Blacksmith
2x faster GitHub Actions with 60% cost savings
As of 29 August 2026, Blacksmith has a free plan and paid plans start at $0.004/minute. Blacksmith is a GitHub Actions runner service that functions as a drop-in replacement for standard GitHub-hosted runners. Softwr lists it under Developer Tools. Blacksmith is available on Linux, Windows, macOS.
Overview
What Blacksmith does
Blacksmith accelerates CI/CD pipelines by providing faster, more cost-effective GitHub Actions runners as a drop-in replacement. The platform runs GitHub Actions on bare metal gaming CPUs with high single-core performance, features co-located dependency caching, and includes managed Docker layer persistence. Runners are available across multiple operating systems including Ubuntu x64 (0.004/min), Ubuntu ARM (0.0025/min), Windows x64 (0.008/min), and macOS M4 (0.08/min), each offering similar cost savings compared to GitHub's standard runners. All plans include a free tier of 3,000 minutes per month, an observability console for debugging CI pipelines, and support for Docker layer caching and sticky disks as add-ons. The platform is trusted by over 3,000 organizations and processes over 50 million jobs monthly. Enterprise customers receive custom pricing, 99.9% SLA guarantees, 24/7 priority support, dedicated Slack channels, white-glove onboarding, and CI optimization consulting.
What people use it 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
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Blacksmith
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- BlacksmithvsDepot
Depot: Full CI/CD platform with runners and build caching
- BlacksmithvsGitHub Actions
GitHub Actions: GitHub's native runners with standard pricing
Pricing
What Blacksmith costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Ubuntu x64
$0.004 /minute
- 3,000 free minutes per month
- 2x faster hardware
- 4x faster cache downloads
- GitHub Actions observability
- 67% savings vs GitHub
Ubuntu ARM
$0.003 /minute
- 3,000 free minutes per month
- 2x faster hardware
- 4x faster cache downloads
- GitHub Actions observability
- 75% savings vs GitHub
Windows x64
$0.008 /minute
- 3,000 free minutes per month
- 2x faster hardware
- 4x faster cache downloads
- GitHub Actions observability
- 60% savings vs GitHub
macOS M4
$0.08 /minute
- 3,000 free minutes per month
- 2x faster hardware
- 4x faster cache downloads
- GitHub Actions observability
- 35% savings vs GitHub
Enterprise
On request
- Custom pricing
- 99.9% SLA
- 24/7 priority support
- Dedicated Slack channel
- White-glove onboarding
- CI optimization support
Capabilities
Features
Bare metal runners
High-performance bare metal infrastructure
Multiple OS support
Ubuntu, Windows, and macOS runners
ARM support
ARM architecture runners available
Docker layer caching
Persistent Docker layer cache storage
Sticky disks
Persistent disk storage across runs
GitHub Actions observability
Debug and monitor CI pipeline execution
Free tier
3,000 free minutes per month
Static IPs
Optional static IP addresses
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
SourceCan 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.
SourceWhat 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.
SourceKeep looking
Where to go from Blacksmith
- Blacksmith alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Blacksmith pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Blacksmith badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Developer Tools softwareThe full category
- Best Developer Tools softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Blacksmith, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
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Blacksmith alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Blacksmith pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
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Put it head to head with anything we hold
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