Pick Blacksmith if
cI teams who will try Blacksmith for free, then stay on Ubuntu at $0.004 / minute when GitHub-hosted runners are the bill they want to cut.
Read the Blacksmith pageBlacksmith vs Depot
Our take
Pick Blacksmith if cI teams who will try Blacksmith for free, then stay on Ubuntu at $0.004 / minute when GitHub-hosted runners are the bill they want to cut. Pick Depot if teams who will take the 7-day trial, then stay on Developer at $20 / month while they run a first job graph — and will jump to Startup at $200 / month when they need 20,000 Actions minutes.
Blacksmith
hosted GitHub Actions runner
Depot
hosted build-and-Actions desk
Best for
Blacksmith Actions minutes you pay per minute
Depot Docker / Actions minutes you start at $20
Free plan
Blacksmith No free plan
Depot No free plan
Lowest paid
Blacksmith Ubuntu ARM $0.0025
Depot Overage $0.006
Next step up
Blacksmith Ubuntu x64 $0.004
Depot Developer $20
Runs where
Blacksmith Local or hosted
Depot Local or hosted
Watch out
Blacksmith Try for free is not a forever Free plan
Depot Developer is 1 user and 500 container minutes
Last checked
Blacksmith 2026-10-23 · blacksmith.sh/pricing
Depot 2026-10-23 · depot.dev/pricing
Which one, then?
Pick Depot if
teams who will take the 7-day trial, then stay on Developer at $20 / month while they run a first job graph — and will jump to Startup at $200 / month when they need 20,000 Actions minutes.
Read the Depot page