GitHub changed Actions pricing twice in the space of a few weeks around the new year, and only one of those changes actually happened. Here is where things stand, checked against GitHub's own pricing reference, billing docs and changelog on November 10, 2026.
How much do GitHub Actions runners cost per minute in 2026?
Since January 1, 2026, GitHub-hosted runners cost up to 39% less than before. The rates for private repositories:
| GitHub runner | Label | Per minute |
|---|---|---|
| Linux 1-core | ubuntu-slim |
$0.002 |
| Linux 2-core x64 | ubuntu-latest |
$0.006 |
| Linux 2-core arm64 | ubuntu-24.04-arm |
$0.005 |
| Windows 2-core | windows-latest |
$0.010 |
| macOS 3-core M1 | macos-latest |
$0.062 |
| Linux 4-core larger runner | your own label | $0.012 |
| Linux 8-core larger runner | your own label | $0.022 |
Linux 2-core went from $0.008 to $0.006. Each plan's included usage is now stated in dollars: $12 a month on Free, $18 on Pro and Team, $300 on Enterprise Cloud. That's still 2,000, 3,000 and 50,000 standard Linux minutes; the allowance didn't grow. Standard runners stay free in public repositories, and GitHub rounds every job up to a whole minute.
Is GitHub charging for self-hosted runners?
No. On December 16, 2025, GitHub announced a $0.002-a-minute "cloud platform charge" on self-hosted runner usage in private repositories, starting March 1, 2026. Days later it postponed that half of the announcement "to take time to re-evaluate our approach", with no new date. GitHub's billing docs still list self-hosted runners as free.
So the honest budgeting position is: the fee isn't in effect, and it could come back. Plan a self-hosted fleet around the machines and the people who keep them patched, not around the rate.
What are cheaper alternatives to GitHub-hosted runners?
You don't have to leave GitHub Actions to pay less per minute. Third-party hosted runners take the same workflow with a different runs-on label. List prices at matched Linux x64 sizes, from each provider's pricing page (read November 7, 2026):
| Runner | 2 vCPU | 4 vCPU | 8 vCPU |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub-hosted | $0.006 | $0.012 | $0.022 |
| Sengi Basic | $0.001 | $0.002 | $0.004 |
| Sengi Premium | $0.003 | $0.006 | $0.012 |
| Blacksmith | $0.004 | $0.008 | $0.016 |
| WarpBuild | $0.004 | $0.008 | $0.016 |
| Depot | $0.006 | $0.012 | $0.024 |
| Self-hosted | $0 to GitHub + your machines (+$0.002 if the fee returns) |
Sengi Basic is one-sixth of GitHub's rate at 2 vCPU. Sengi Premium is the faster tier for CPU-bound builds: a production Docker image built in 7m34s on it, against 14m36s on GitHub's 4 vCPU runner, at half that runner's per-minute price. Both are Linux x64, with the Actions cache and Docker layer cache included, and new accounts get 3,000 free Basic minutes a month.
Switching a job is one line:
jobs:
build:
runs-on: sengi-basic-2-ubuntu-2404 # was: ubuntu-latest
Use sengi-basic-4-ubuntu-2404 or sengi-basic-8-ubuntu-2404 for more vCPU, or the sengi-premium-* labels for the faster tier. Workflows, secrets and logs stay in GitHub.
The short version
- GitHub-hosted Linux: $0.006 a minute since January 1, 2026.
- Self-hosted runner fee: announced at $0.002 a minute, postponed, not charged today.
- Cheapest hosted option on published price lists: Sengi Basic at $0.001 a minute.
The full dated timeline of every GitHub Actions pricing change since 2019, kept up to date, is here: GitHub Actions pricing changes 2026.
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