Self-Hosted GitHub Actions Runners
Compare solutions for running your GitHub Actions workflows on self-hosted infrastructure.
Popular Self-Hosting Solutions
RunsOn
Launch self-hosted GitHub Actions runners at scale on AWS, no third-party. A modern and maintained alternative to actions-runner-controller or the terraform-aws-github-runner. Free for non-profit organizations, paid flat-fee license for commercial use.
Actions Runner Controller
Kubernetes operator that orchestrates and scales self-hosted runners for GitHub Actions. Underwent a major rewrite in 2022 to support runner scale sets instead of webhook-based autoscaling. Current recommendation is to use the summerwind variant with the webhook-based autoscaling mechanism. No compatible images.
Philips Terraform GitHub Runner
Provision and manage self-hosted runners using Terraform. Auto-scales using Lambda functions to spawn ephemeral EC2 instances. No compatible images. No support for spot instances.
AWS CodeBuild
AWS CodeBuild is a managed service by AWS that can run GitHub Actions workflows. Requires setting up a few moving parts to get it working.
Azure Pipelines Agents
Self-hosted runners integrated with Azure Pipelines. No compatible images.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | RunsOn | Actions Runner Controller | Philips Terraform GitHub Runner | AWS CodeBuild | Azure Pipelines Agents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | |||||
| Kubernetes | |||||
| Real Virtual Machine | |||||
| Auto-scaling | |||||
| Easy Setup | |||||
| Cloud | AWS | ANY | AWS | AWS | Azure |
| Compatible images | |||||
| Pricing | Free/Paid | Free | Free | Paid | Paid |
| Open-Source |
Ready to switch over to self-hosted runners?
Explore these self-hosted runner solutions and choose the best fit for your project.