Latchkey vs Blacksmith
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.
The short answer
On x86-64 Linux, the class most CI still runs on, Blacksmith lists $0.004 per minute against the Latchkey rate of $0.0025, and neither Blacksmith nor GitHub repairs a failing job. A transient registry timeout on Blacksmith costs you the minutes you already burned plus a full re-run, and it costs an engineer the interruption. Latchkey diagnoses and fixes that class of failure on the machine while the job is still running.
Head to head
| What you are comparing | Latchkey | Blacksmith |
|---|---|---|
| 2 vCPU / 8 GB Linux x86-64, list rateBoth are published list prices for the same runner class. | $0.0025/min | $0.004/min |
| 2 vCPU / 8 GB Linux arm64, list rateBlacksmith sells ARM at the rate Latchkey charges for x86-64. Latchkey runners are x86-64 only. | Not offered | $0.0025/min |
| Windows and macOS runners | Not offered | Windows $0.008/min, macOS M4 $0.08/min |
| Free minutes per month | 2,000 to 6,000 by plan | 3,000 |
| Fixes failing builds on the runnerNetwork timeouts, OOM kills, disk-full errors, missing tools and config drift are repaired mid-run. Real failures in your code still fail, with the original logs. | Yes, on by default, no separate charge | No |
| Cost and performance analytics | Built in | Not published |
| Switching cost | One line of YAML | One line of YAML |
Blacksmith figures are list prices published at www.blacksmith.sh/pricing, read on August 2026. Latchkey figures are our own published list rates. Prices change: check both pages before you decide, and tell us if anything here has gone stale.
Which one you should pick
Switching takes one line
Point runs-on at a Latchkey label. Your steps, actions, secrets, and matrix stay exactly as they are.
jobs:
build:
- runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+ runs-on: latchkey-medium
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4Questions about Latchkey and Blacksmith
Is Latchkey cheaper than Blacksmith?
On x86-64 Linux, yes: Latchkey lists $0.0025 per minute for a 2 vCPU / 8 GB runner against the published Blacksmith rate of $0.004 per minute for the same class. On ARM the answer is no, because Blacksmith publishes Ubuntu ARM at $0.0025 per minute and Latchkey does not sell ARM runners. Both sets of figures are list prices taken from the vendor pricing pages.
What can Latchkey do that Blacksmith cannot?
Repair a failing build without a human. Latchkey runners run a self-healing agent that diagnoses the failure on the machine, applies the fix, and retries the step, so transient failures such as registry timeouts, OOM kills and disk-full errors never reach a person. Blacksmith is a faster, cheaper runner; it does not attempt to fix the job it is running.
What can Blacksmith do that Latchkey cannot?
Run ARM, Windows and macOS jobs. Blacksmith publishes Ubuntu ARM, Windows x64 and macOS M4 runners. Latchkey runners are x86-64 Ubuntu 24.04 today. Windows and macOS runners are on the roadmap and are not available yet.
How hard is it to move from Blacksmith to Latchkey?
It is the same one-line change you made to adopt Blacksmith: point runs-on at a Latchkey label. Your steps, actions, secrets, services and matrix stay exactly as they are, because both products are drop-in replacements for GitHub-hosted runners rather than new pipeline formats.