# Latchkey vs Blacksmith

Source: https://latchkey.dev/vs/blacksmith

On this page

- The short answer
- Head to head
- Which one you should pick
- Switching takes one line
- Common questions
- Keep comparing

Updated August 2026 · Figures are published list prices

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 |
| Independent rating ([RunnerBench](https://runnerbench.com)) | A | A |

Blacksmith figures are list prices published at [www.blacksmith.sh/pricing](https://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@v4
```

## Questions 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.

## Keep comparing

- [All Latchkey comparisons →](/vs)
- [Best GitHub Actions self-hosted runner alternatives →](/github-actions-self-hosted-runner-alternatives)
- [Reduce your GitHub Actions costs →](/github-actions-cost-reduction)

## Try it on your own pipeline

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)
- [Read the runner docs](/documentation/runners-overview)

---

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