Best value for GitHub Actions: choose your Sengi runner

Best value for the jobs you run.

Sengi Basic starts at $1 per 1,000 paid minutes. Premium runs on performance CPUs for builds where waiting is the expensive part. Same GitHub Actions. Same one-line change. Choose the class for each job.

Two runner classes. One workflow.

No subscription or base fee. Boot and teardown are never billed. At 2 and 4 vCPU, Basic buys six times the paid minutes per dollar of GitHub’s Linux x64 list rates. At 8 vCPU, it buys 5.5 times the minutes. That compares minute prices, without assuming Basic finishes a build faster.

Start with Basic for a smaller CI bill.

For a repository running 50,000 minutes of 2-vCPU work a month, Basic’s list-price cost is $50 before included credits. With the 3,000 monthly Basic credits used on that size, it is $47. The same 50,000 minutes at GitHub’s $0.006 list rate is $300 before GitHub’s included usage.

Basic is a useful starting point for routine checks, tests and workflows where the minute price matters most. Look at your actual runtimes and bill; a faster result and a lower minute price are different ways to get value.

Choose Premium when you want the time back.

Premium uses Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPUs and local NVMe. In our measured 4-vCPU PostHog Docker build, Premium finished in 7m34s against GitHub’s 14m36s. That is about 2× as fast. At the measured runtimes and published rates, the build cost $0.045 on Premium against $0.175 on GitHub.

Those are Premium results from October 9, 2026, using RunsOn’s open benchmark harness. Choose Premium for a slow build on your critical path, then check the difference on your own workflow. Explore the hardware and full benchmark results.

3,000 Basic credits every month. No card to start.

The allowance is shared across projects: 3,000 minutes at 2 vCPU, 1,500 at 4 vCPU, 750 at 8 vCPU, or any mix. Each minute uses 1, 2 or 4 credits by size. At exhaustion, new free jobs wait; jobs already running finish. Add a payment method when you want to keep running beyond the allowance.

Choose the runner job by job.

jobs:
  checks:
    runs-on: sengi-basic-2-ubuntu-2404
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci && npm test
  image:
    runs-on: sengi-premium-4-ubuntu-2404
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: docker build .

Connect the repository first. Then edit the labels yourself or use the Sengi migration prompt to have your coding agent open the change as a pull request.

Compare your own usage.

Use the Basic and Premium calculator to separate the minute price from Premium’s measured speed. Or see the per-minute and monthly price examples.

Frequently asked questions

Which Sengi runner should I choose?

Use Basic for a lower minute price and Premium on performance CPUs for jobs where build speed matters. You can choose a different class and size for each job in the same repository.

What does Sengi Basic cost?

Sengi Basic is $0.001/min for 2 vCPU, $0.002 for 4 and $0.004 for 8. That is $1 per 1,000 paid 2-vCPU minutes, with no subscription or base fee.

Is Premium twice as fast?

The measured 4-vCPU Docker build took 7m34s on Premium against 14m36s on GitHub: about 2× as fast. Performance depends on the workload; the benchmark does not describe Basic.

Can I start without a card?

Yes. New accounts receive 3,000 shared monthly Basic credits. A minute uses 1, 2 or 4 credits at 2, 4 or 8 vCPU. Jobs already running finish when credits run out; paid usage is opt-in.

Do I need to move my workflows?

No. Keep GitHub Actions. Connect the repository and change runs-on to a Sengi Basic or Premium label. Your steps, secrets and logs remain in GitHub.