# Compare Latchkey: CI runner comparisons - Latchkey

Source: https://latchkey.dev/vs

On this page

- The short answer
- Head-to-head comparisons
- At a glance
- Shopping more broadly
- Common questions

The short answer

Latchkey is a drop-in replacement for GitHub-hosted runners at $0.0025 per minute for 2 vCPU, up to 60% below the GitHub-hosted list price, with a self-healing agent that diagnoses and fixes failing steps on the machine while the job is still running. Competing managed runners are faster and cheaper than GitHub; none of them repair the build. That is the line to weigh when you compare them.

## Head-to-head comparisons

- [Latchkey vs Blacksmith managed GitHub Actions runners Blacksmith and Latchkey both sell managed GitHub Actions runners that replace ubuntu-latest with one line of YAML. The published rates differ by runner class, and only one of the two tries to repair a build that is failing. Read the comparison →](/vs/blacksmith)
- [Latchkey vs WarpBuild managed runners, plus a bring-your-own-cloud mode WarpBuild and Latchkey both sell managed GitHub Actions runners that replace ubuntu-latest with one line of YAML. WarpBuild also sells a bring-your-own-cloud mode that is the cheapest published per-minute figure in the category, and is cheaper than Latchkey if you are willing to own the cloud account underneath it. Read the comparison →](/vs/warpbuild)
- [Latchkey vs Buildkite a hybrid CI platform with self-hosted agents Buildkite is a full CI platform with its own pipeline format and self-hosted agents. Latchkey replaces the machines your existing GitHub Actions jobs run on and leaves the workflows alone. The real decision is whether you want to migrate your pipelines at all. Read the comparison →](/vs/buildkite)
- [Latchkey vs StarSling AI-native GitHub Actions runners StarSling and Latchkey both put AI agents on GitHub Actions CI, at opposite ends of the failure. StarSling analyses finished runs and opens pull requests for review. Latchkey fixes the failing step on the runner while the job is still executing. Read the comparison →](/vs/starsling)

## At a glance

| Feature | Latchkey | Blacksmith | GitHub Hosted |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Price per minute | from $0.0025/min | from $0.0040/min | from $0.0060/min |
| Savings vs GitHub | -60% | -33% | Baseline |
| Free minutes/mo (mid tier) | 4,000 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| Cold start speed | ~10s | ~10s | 30-60s |
| AI optimization insights |  |  |  |
| Cost performance analytics |  |  |  |
| Dependency caching | Built-in S3 streaming | 25 GB/repo | 10 GB/repo |
| AI scan runner images |  |  |  |

## Shopping more broadly?

If you are still working out which category of product you need, these survey the field rather than argue one case.

- [Best GitHub Actions self-hosted runner alternatives →](/github-actions-self-hosted-runner-alternatives)
- [Top GitHub Actions runner optimization platforms →](/github-actions-runner-optimization-platforms)
- [CI/CD tools with AI-powered build failure diagnosis →](/ai-build-failure-diagnosis)
- [Reduce your GitHub Actions costs →](/github-actions-cost-reduction)

## Common questions

### How does Latchkey compare to other GitHub Actions runner providers?

On price, Latchkey lists $0.0025 per minute for a 2 vCPU / 8 GB Linux runner against a GitHub-hosted list price of $0.006, and most managed-runner competitors publish $0.004 for the same class. The larger difference is behavioural: Latchkey runners repair failing builds on the machine while the job is running, which no other provider in this category does. Competitors do beat us on specific dimensions, and each comparison page says where.

### Do these comparisons use real published prices?

Yes. Every competitor figure on these pages is a list price read off that vendor own pricing page, with the URL cited on the page and the date it was read. Nothing is estimated, and no competitor price is extrapolated to a runner size the vendor does not publish.

### Do you show where competitors beat Latchkey?

Yes, in the same table, styled the same way. Blacksmith is cheaper on ARM and sells Windows and macOS runners we do not. Buildkite runs agents inside your own VPC. StarSling opens pipeline-restructuring pull requests we do not open today. A comparison that never concedes a loss is not worth reading.

### How hard is it to switch to Latchkey?

One line. Point runs-on at a Latchkey label and your steps, actions, secrets, services and matrix stay exactly as they are. Latchkey is a drop-in replacement for GitHub-hosted runners, not a new pipeline format, so there is nothing to migrate and nothing to rewrite.

## Decide with your own numbers

Managed runners with caching and self-healing built in, from $0.0025 per minute. 30 days free, no credit card required, and switching is one line of YAML.

- [See pricing →](/pricing)
- [Talk to a human](https://calendly.com/kaveh-latchkey/30min)

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Latchkey runs CI/CD that repairs its own failures. Agent entry points: https://latchkey.dev/agent.txt, https://latchkey.dev/openapi.json, https://latchkey.dev/llms.txt