Latchkey vs Buildkite
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.
The short answer
If your pipelines already live in GitHub Actions and you want them faster and cheaper, Buildkite asks you to migrate and to pay per seat. Latchkey asks you to change one line. Buildkite Pro bills $30 per active user per month plus $3.50 per agent per month, and its hosted Linux agents bill per vCPU-minute, so a 4 vCPU agent is $0.016 per minute against $0.0050 on a Latchkey medium.
Head to head
| What you are comparing | Latchkey | Buildkite |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing modelBuildkite Pro is $30 per active user per month and $3.50 per agent per month before any compute. | Per runner-minute, flat by size | Per active user, plus per agent, plus per vCPU-minute |
| 4 vCPU / 16 GB Linux, hosted computeBuildkite hosted Linux agents bill at $0.004 per vCPU-minute, so a 4 vCPU agent is four times that rate. | $0.0050/min | $0.016/min |
| Per-seat cost | None. Latchkey does not charge per developer | $30 per active user per month on Pro |
| Keeps your existing GitHub Actions workflows | Yes, unchanged | No, pipelines are redefined in the Buildkite format |
| Runs agents on your own infrastructure | No, Latchkey runs the fleet | Yes, self-hosted agents are the core model |
| Free tier | 30 days free, 2,000 to 6,000 minutes per month by plan | Up to 5 users, 10 concurrent jobs, 2,000 Linux vCPU-minutes per month |
| Fixes failing builds on the runner | Yes, on by default | No |
Buildkite figures are list prices published at buildkite.com/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 Buildkite
Is Latchkey a replacement for Buildkite?
Only if your pipelines are already in GitHub Actions. Buildkite is a full CI platform with its own pipeline format and its own orchestration. Latchkey replaces the machines your GitHub Actions jobs run on and leaves the workflows alone. Teams evaluating both are usually deciding whether to migrate their pipeline definitions at all.
How does Buildkite pricing compare to Latchkey?
The models differ. Buildkite Pro publishes $30 per active user per month plus $3.50 per agent per month, and its hosted Linux agents bill $0.004 per vCPU-minute, so a 4 vCPU agent costs $0.016 per minute. Latchkey has no per-seat and no per-agent charge, and bills a flat rate per runner-minute by size: $0.0050 per minute for a 4 vCPU / 16 GB runner.
Does Latchkey let me run jobs on my own hardware?
No. Latchkey runs a managed fleet, which is what removes the operational work of patching AMIs, sizing pools and paying for idle capacity. The Buildkite self-hosted agent model is the right answer if running the compute inside your own VPC is a hard requirement.
Do I have to rewrite my pipelines to use Latchkey?
No. Point runs-on at a Latchkey label and the workflow is unchanged: same steps, same actions, same secrets, same matrix. That is the main practical difference from adopting Buildkite, which involves redefining your pipelines in its own format.