●Now in public beta

The fastest GitHub Actions runners

Start with 3,000 free runner minutes every month.From$0.0009/min

.github/workflows/build.yml

jobs:
  build:
    -   runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    +   runs-on: 9apes
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          cache: true
      - run: npm test

build passed13m 42s3m 18s

Benchmarks

Double the performance

google/xls

C++ · Bazel build

3.3× faster

GitHub Actions · 2 vCPU3h 26m

9apes · 2 vCPU1h 02m

Cost per run$1.65$0.14

facebook/folly

C++ · CMake build

2.5× faster

GitHub Actions · 2 vCPU35m 54s

9apes · 2 vCPU14m 38s

Cost per run$0.29$0.04

nasa/astrobee

C++ · ROS build + tests

2.9× faster

GitHub Actions · 2 vCPU1h 03m

9apes · 2 vCPU22m 06s

Cost per run$0.51$0.05

PeerDB-io/peerdb

Rust + Go · build + tests

2.8× faster

GitHub Actions · 2 vCPU33m 21s

9apes · 2 vCPU12m 04s

Cost per run$0.27$0.03

* Median of 5 runs, cold cache. Costs compare list per-minute pricing for the GitHub-hosted run vs the fastest 9apes run shown.

HARDWARE

2× faster

Your builds run on dedicated gaming hardware. Not on whatever is available.

CACHE

5× faster

Cache lives where your builds run. Hits land in milliseconds.

DOCKER

50× faster

Persistent Docker layers on NVMe. Builds start where they left off.

PROVISIONING

Runner spin-up in a minute

No queue. No waiting for a runner. A fresh VM spins up within a second.

BILLING

Billed per minute

Not per hour. Not per seat. What you use is what you pay.

OPERATIONS

Zero ops

No runner groups. No auto-scaling. No infra to manage.

Pricing comparison

The savings compound

Primary comparison

GitHub

$0.002

per minute

9apes

$0.0009

per minute

GitHub Hosted$0.002/min

9apes$0.0009/min

60% cheaper

Every build minute starts cheaper. At 50,000 monthly minutes, that becomes $355 saved each month before self-hosting maintenance time.

What it means for you

Same 50K monthly minutes, carried into monthly cost, annual spend, and team overhead.

GitHub

Self-host

9apes

50K mins / month

$400

~$200-300*

$45

Annual cost

$4,800

~$2,400-3,600*

$540

Operational overhead

High

Medium

None

Migration cost

- runs-on: ubuntu-latest

+ runs-on: 9apes

Just change one line.

Cut your CI bill. Ship the same pipelines.

* Cloud self-hosted estimates vary by cloud, region, instance type, and idle capacity.

Ready to stop overpaying for build minutes?

Start with one repo. Keep your existing GitHub Actions workflow.

Try for Free Contact team

vs self-hosting

Get self-hosting control without the infrastructure work

Keep the performance and control of dedicated runners. Hand off capacity, patching, and incident ownership.

If you self-host

With 9apes

If you self-host

Pay for idle capacity and every hour it exists

With 9apes

Pay per minute only while jobs run

If you self-host

Manage runner groups, autoscaling, images, and patches

With 9apes

Use dedicated hardware managed by 9apes

If you self-host

Plan cloud capacity before the team can ship

With 9apes

Get capacity when your workflows need it

If you self-host

Own the alerts and outages when CI infrastructure breaks

With 9apes

Let 9apes maintain the runner fleet

Runner sizes

Pick your runner

Most affordable

1 vCPU

9apes-1vcpu-ubuntu-2404

RAM4 GB

Cost$0.0009

2 vCPU

9apes-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404

RAM8 GB

Cost$0.0018

Common questions

Can I mix 9apes with GitHub-hosted runners?

Yes. Use 9apes on specific workflows and keep GitHub-hosted for others. No lock-in — you control which jobs run where.

How long does setup actually take?

Install GitHub App — 1 click. No credentials, no SSH keys.

Change one line — swap runs-on in your workflow.

Push & run — your next job runs on 9apes. Under 2 minutes total.

Do you support private repositories?

Yes. All GitHub repository types are supported — public, private, and internal.

What OS images do you support?

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS today. More images coming soon — reach out if you need something specific.

What happens if a runner fails mid-job?

The job is marked as failed in GitHub Actions. The microVM is destroyed immediately. Re-run from GitHub as normal — same as any hosted runner.

Can I use this with GitHub Enterprise?

We're working with Enterprise customers on a case-by-case basis. Talk to the founder to discuss your setup.

Is 9apes secure?

Every job runs in an isolated Firecracker microVM, destroyed after completion. JIT tokens, GitHub SSO, ISO 27001 data centers, quarterly pen testing. Read our full security page →

Fastest builds.Fraction of the cost.Fully managed.

Free tier included. No credit card.Start on one repo. Scale when you're ready.

Try for Free Contact team