What Namespace runners are, and how unit minutes work

Namespace runners are a unique offering by GitHub Actions, where compute units are sold instead of wall-clock minutes. One unit equals 1 vCPU plus 2 GB of RAM per minute, with multipliers for different platforms: 1 on Linux, 2 on Windows, and 10 on macOS. Users can select a runner by configuring a profile in the dashboard or by specifying the machine details in the label. The Team plan includes 100,000 unit minutes, determining the wall-clock minutes based on the chosen machine.

Namespace Cloud provides various services, including GitHub Actions runners, devboxes, remote Docker builders, and caches for popular tools like Bazel and Turborepo. These runners act as drop-in replacements for standard GitHub-hosted runners and can be integrated by connecting the GitHub organization and modifying one line of configuration. The pricing information was last updated on September 20, 2026.

There are two ways to request a machine: through a profile in the dashboard or by using a label in the workflow. Profiles allow configuration of OS, architecture, and shape, while labels keep the machine under version control with the associated workflow. Labels follow the grammar nscloud-{os}-{arch}-{shape}, with optional suffixes for cache, features, and builders. Only one nscloud label is permitted per job, and jobs with invalid or multiple labels will not be scheduled.

Shapes define the vCPU and memory configuration, with minutes counted using a platform multiplier. Pricing is available through prepaid plans or overage charges, with the difference between the two being exactly 50%. For instance, a Linux shape of 2 vCPU and 8 GB costs $0.004 per minute prepaid, which is a third less than GitHub's $0.006.

The shape that matches a standard GitHub-hosted Linux runner is also half the cost of GitHub's pricing. The plans include Team at $100 per month for 100,000 unit minutes, Business at $250 for 250,000, and Developer on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Cache volumes are another key feature of Namespace runners, offering persistent storage that persists between runs. These volumes are attached to jobs using a label with -with-cache and a companion label nscloud-cache-tag-{tag}. Volumes can be shared by jobs with the same tag, regardless of shape or repository. Cache volumes are billed separately at $0.002 per GB-hour and $0.0048 per GB-day, with plan-specific allowances.

Docker builds are handled separately, with remote builders on by default and billing at $0.05 per build on Developer plans and 1,000 builds included on Team and Business plans. This pricing structure differs significantly from other vendors in the market, particularly for pipelines with numerous short builds.