What Is a Spot Instance?
A spot instance is unused cloud compute offered at a steep discount (often 60-90% off on-demand) in exchange for the provider's right to reclaim it on short notice when capacity is needed elsewhere. It is ideal for interruptible, fault-tolerant workloads. CI jobs are a strong fit because they are short and can be retried.
Why it matters
CI is naturally bursty and individual jobs are disposable, so running them on spot instances can cut compute costs dramatically. The catch is interruptions, which require retrying affected jobs. Managed runners can absorb this by re-running interrupted jobs automatically, passing the savings through without the operational pain.
Related concepts
- Cheaper but interruptible versus on-demand
- Pairs well with idempotent, retryable jobs
- Managed runners can re-run interrupted spot jobs
Related guides
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