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runs-on/runs-on

Self-hosted GitHub Actions runners made simple. For AWS. 10x cheaper, up to 2x faster, and unlimited caching. Best alternative to Actions Runner Controller. observed · 2026-08-28

github.com/runs-on/runs-on · homepage · MIT (permissive) observed · 2026-08-28

Health v2 · maintenance only

93/100

  • Activity 99
  • Release rhythm 99
  • Longevity 71
How is this computed?

round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-02. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.

  • gap_med: 11
  • age_days: 998
  • days_rel: 9
  • days_push: 9
  • n_releases_24m: 46

Full methodology

Adoption not part of the score

1300 stars · 51 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded

RunsOn is a self-hosted GitHub Actions runner control plane for AWS that launches a fresh, ephemeral EC2 instance for every CI job, deployed via a single CloudFormation stack or Terraform module. It offers GitHub runner-image compatibility, spot pricing without per-minute markup, GPU/Windows/arm64 support, and built-in caching and observability, positioning itself as a simpler, cheaper alternative to Actions Runner Controller (ARC).

Use cases

  • run GitHub Actions CI on my own AWS account to cut costs
  • replace Actions Runner Controller without managing Kubernetes
  • get faster CI runners with more CPU or GPU than GitHub-hosted
  • spin up ephemeral per-job runners with spot instances
  • self-host GitHub Actions runners with unlimited build caching
  • run CI jobs on arm64 or GPU EC2 instances
  • keep CI credentials and runner infrastructure inside my VPC

When to choose

  • your GitHub Actions bill is high and you want AWS spot pricing without per-minute markup
  • you want runner infrastructure, IAM, and networking fully inside your own AWS account
  • you need larger or faster instances (up to 896 vCPUs, GPU, arm64, Windows) than GitHub-hosted runners offer
  • you want a simpler alternative to ARC without managing a Kubernetes cluster
  • you need per-job cost tracking, OpenTelemetry traces, and effectively unlimited caching

When to avoid

  • you need macOS runners — not yet supported
  • you don't use AWS or don't want to manage cloud infrastructure at all
  • you prefer a fully free open-source solution — commercial use requires a paid license (free only for non-commercial)
  • your CI volume is tiny and GitHub-hosted runners are already cost-effective
  • you're Kubernetes-first and want runner pods managed alongside your workloads in ARC

Facets

service · maturity active

ci-cd deployment infrastructure-as-code monitoring caching self-hosted cloud-computing developer-tools cloud self-hosted windows github-actions ec2-spot ephemeral-runners cloudformation terraform gpu-runners cost-optimization runner-controller arm64 opentelemetry devops continuous-integration automation docker linux

10 sources

Member repositories

RepositoryRoleHealth v2
runs-on/runs-onmain93

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="runs-on/runs-on")

Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem