Latchkey vs Blacksmith for GitHub Actions runners
Latchkey and Blacksmith both replace ubuntu-latest with a one-line runs-on change and both bill per minute, so the choice comes down to three things: the rate, what you need beyond Linux x64, and whether a failed job costs you a re-run. Latchkey is $0.0025 a minute at 2 vCPU against Blacksmith at $0.004, and Blacksmith ships arm64, Windows and macOS runners plus 3,000 free minutes a month, none…
Latchkey and Blacksmith offer managed GitHub Actions runners, both billing per minute. The main difference lies in pricing, features and supported operating systems. Latchkey charges $0.0025 per minute for 2 vCPU and 8 GB RAM on Linux, while Blacksmith charges $0.004 per minute for the same configuration. Blacksmith offers arm64, Windows and macOS runners, plus 3,000 free minutes a month, which Latchkey does not provide.
Blacksmith also offers collocated cache, sticky disks for Docker layer reuse, and self-healing agent for transient failures. Latchkey offers a 100 GB disk at both 2 and 4 vCPU sizes, compared to Blacksmith's 80 GB. Latchkey wins in cost for most CI jobs, being 37.5% cheaper at 2 vCPU and 8 GB.
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