# Cirrus Runners alternative: a flat price and unlimited minutes for GitHub Actions

> Cirrus Runners takes no new customers since Cirrus Labs joined OpenAI. Skipbox continues the same model for Linux x64 jobs: $149 a month for 16 vCPU at once with unlimited minutes, where one Cirrus runner was $150. Each Cirrus label's replacement, and the one-line move.

Cirrus Runners takes no new customers. On April 7, 2026, Cirrus Labs [announced](https://cirruslabs.org/): "I'm happy to announce today that we've entered into an agreement to join OpenAI as part of the Agent Infrastructure team." About Cirrus Runners, the announcement says: "We are no longer accepting new customers for Cirrus Runners but will continue supporting the service for existing customers through their existing contract periods."

Skipbox continues the flat price with unlimited minutes. One Cirrus runner was $150 a month for 16 vCPU of Linux x86 jobs at once. Skipbox's plan L is $149 a month for 16 vCPU at once, and you move a job by changing its `runs-on` line.

- The same model as Cirrus Runners: you buy jobs at once, and minutes are unlimited
- 16 vCPU at once for $149 a month. Smaller teams start at $39, where Cirrus's smallest purchase was a $150 runner
- Open to new customers: 7 days free, no card

**GitHub Actions at a flat price, unlimited minutes** Skipbox runs your GitHub Actions jobs on your own dedicated machine: $39 a month, however many minutes you run. Docker layers and dependency caches stay between jobs, so the next job starts right away.

A 4 vCPU runner, 20,000 minutes a month: GitHub $222 → Skipbox $39. You save $183 every month.

Moving takes one line: `runs-on: skipbox`.

[Start my 7-day free trial](https://app.skipbox.dev/sign-in?ref=compare-cirrus-runners-alternatives-en)

## Why Cirrus Runners teams move to Skipbox

Cirrus Runners sold one thing well: a bill that doesn't move. Its pricing page says "Each Cirrus Runner costs $150 a month and there is no limit on the amount of minutes for your actions", and its own post put the model in one line: "we price by concurrency (how many jobs you can run at once) and don't charge per minute at all."

Skipbox sells that model to new customers.

- **You buy jobs at once, as vCPU.** A plan adds 4, 8 or 16 vCPU to your account. Hold any number of plans in any mix: your jobs run at once up to the plans' total vCPU, and the next job waits its turn.
- **Minutes are unlimited.** No usage charges, no allowance to watch.
- **Skipbox runs the machines.** There is no server to rent or keep up.

Skipbox runs Linux x64 jobs of public and private repositories, for organizations and personal accounts.

## One Cirrus runner beside Skipbox

A Cirrus runner was $150 a month whatever size of job you ran on it. Skipbox prices the size you use.

| Linux x86 jobs at once | Cirrus Runners | Skipbox |
|---|---|---|
| 16 vCPU | $150 a month (1 runner) | $149 a month (plan L) |
| 8 vCPU | $150 a month (1 runner) | $79 a month (plan M) |
| 4 vCPU | $150 a month (1 runner) | $39 a month (plan S) |

Need more at once? Add plans, as you added runners. Two L plans run two 16 vCPU jobs at once.

A Skipbox plan is also a machine kept for your account. Each Cirrus runner came "with 10GB of storage space" for its cache and ran every job "in a single use virtual machine". Plan L keeps a 320 GB disk between jobs, so Docker images and build cache, package caches and the tool cache are still there for the next job.

## What a flat price saves you

When your Cirrus contract period ends, the default is GitHub's own runners, billed by the minute. Here is a 16 vCPU runner there against plan L:

| Minutes a month (16 vCPU) | GitHub | Skipbox L | You save every month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $402 | $149 | **$253** |
| 20,000 | $822 | $149 | **$673** |
| 30,000 | $1,242 | $149 | **$1,093** |
| Always on | $1,796.40 | $149 | **$1,647.40** |

The smaller sizes, at 20,000 minutes a month:

| 20,000 minutes a month | GitHub | Blacksmith | Skipbox | You save against GitHub |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 vCPU | $222 | $148 | $39 (S) | **$183** |
| 8 vCPU | $422 | $308 | $79 (M) | **$343** |
| 16 vCPU | $822 | $628 | $149 (L) | **$673** |

GitHub's figures are the bill after GitHub Team's included compute; Blacksmith's are its per-minute rate times the minutes, less its free tier. A per-minute runner brings back the bill Cirrus spared you: every push, re-run and new test adds to it. At full use, plan S is 1/12 of GitHub's price. Put your own minutes into the [calculator on the home page](https://skipbox.dev/?ref=compare-cirrus-runners-alternatives-en#cost).

## From each Cirrus label to its Skipbox label

Find every job on a Cirrus label. In a checkout:

```bash
grep -rn "cirruslabs" .github/workflows
```

Across an organization, in GitHub's code search:

```text
org:YOUR-ORG path:.github/workflows "ghcr.io/cirruslabs"
```

Then change each Linux x86 label:

| Cirrus label | Skipbox label | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| `ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:24.04-xs` (2 vCPU) | `skipbox` (4 vCPU, 16 GB) | S |
| `ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:24.04-sm` (4 vCPU) | `skipbox` (4 vCPU, 16 GB) | S |
| `ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:24.04-md` (8 vCPU) | `skipbox-8x16` (8 vCPU, 16 GB) | M |
| `ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:24.04` (16 vCPU) | `skipbox-16x32` (16 vCPU, 32 GB) | L |
| `ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:24.04-xl` (32 vCPU) | `skipbox-16x32` (16 vCPU, 32 GB) | L |

- **Size.** Skipbox's largest job is 16 vCPU and 32 GB, and every size has 2 GB of memory per vCPU. Pick each job's label by the memory it uses as well as its vCPU.
- **Image.** Skipbox machines run Ubuntu 24.04 on x64 with Docker, Node.js and Python installed. Your steps and actions stay as they are.
- **Other labels.** Skipbox runs Linux x64 jobs. Leave any other `runs-on` line as it is.

## Move the jobs

1. Sign in to Skipbox with GitHub.
2. Install the Skipbox GitHub app and pick your repositories.
3. Change each `runs-on` line to its Skipbox label and push.
4. Take out what only Cirrus understood: the `low-priority` label, and any `,runner_concurrency_group=…` suffix on the image label.
5. If the workflow points Docker's cache at Cirrus's local cache (`cache-from: type=gha,url=http://127.0.0.1:12321/`), remove those lines. Nothing listens on that address on Skipbox, and the machine's own disk keeps your Docker images between jobs.

The edit:

```yaml
jobs:
  build:
    # was: runs-on: ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64:24.04-sm
    runs-on: skipbox
```

The next job runs on Skipbox. While your Cirrus contract runs, the old label still has runners behind it, so moving a job back is the same one-line edit.

Move before the contract period ends. To GitHub, a label with no runner behind it is a job to keep queued: "A job can be in the queue for 24 hours before it is automatically cancelled." The announcement gives no end date for Cirrus Runners itself; Cirrus's pricing page names sales@cirruslabs.org for questions about your subscription.

## What changes on Skipbox

### Your machine stays warm

Cirrus started every job on a new VM. Skipbox keeps a machine for your account: Docker images and build cache, npm, pip and Gradle caches, and the tools setup actions install stay on its disk for the next job. That disk holds at least 7× the cache GitHub gives a repository, with no cache keys to write. If you want a fresh VM for every job, as on Cirrus, turn on "Clean every job" in Plans and billing.

### Your jobs stay yours

- The machine is your account's alone. No other company's job runs on it.
- After every job, the runner's credentials, processes and containers are wiped. From 13 November 2026, your checkout and its build output (Cargo's `target/`) stay on your own machine for your next jobs; Clean every job gives each job a fresh machine.
- Code from people without write access (such as pull requests from forks) runs on a fresh VM that is deleted afterwards.

[How jobs are kept apart](https://docs.skipbox.dev/isolation) has the details.

## Try it on one Cirrus job

The trial takes no card and runs for 7 days or 3,000 job-minutes. It runs one `runs-on: skipbox` job at a time at 4 vCPU and 16 GB, so start with a job that fits that size; `skipbox-8x16` and `skipbox-16x32` run on plans M and L. Move one job, run it twice, and watch the second run skip the downloads.

## FAQ

### Is Cirrus Runners shutting down?

Cirrus Labs has announced no shutdown date for Cirrus Runners. Its announcement of April 7, 2026 says: "We are no longer accepting new customers for Cirrus Runners but will continue supporting the service for existing customers through their existing contract periods." The date in the same announcement belongs to a different product: "Cirrus CI will shut down effective Monday, June 1, 2026." When a contract period ends, jobs still on a Cirrus label wait in GitHub's queue, so move them before then. Skipbox takes new customers at a flat monthly price with unlimited minutes.

### Can I still sign up for Cirrus Runners?

No. Cirrus Labs' announcement says "We are no longer accepting new customers for Cirrus Runners". Skipbox sells the same model to new customers: a flat $39, $79 or $149 a month with unlimited minutes, and a 7 days trial that takes no card.

### What replaces Cirrus Runners?

Cirrus Labs named no successor. For Linux x64 jobs, Skipbox continues what Cirrus Runners sold: you buy jobs at once, not minutes. Plan L is $149 a month for 16 vCPU at once with unlimited minutes, where one Cirrus runner was $150 a month for 16 vCPU of Linux x86 jobs.

### Is there another flat-price GitHub Actions runner with unlimited minutes?

Yes. Skipbox charges a flat $39, $79 or $149 a month per plan, for 4, 8 or 16 vCPU of jobs at once, with unlimited minutes and no usage charges. Skipbox runs the machines, you hold any number of plans, and your jobs run at once up to the plans' total vCPU.

### Which Cirrus Runners jobs move to Skipbox?

The Linux x86 ones. Skipbox runs Linux x64 jobs, so every job on a ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64 label moves by changing its runs-on line to skipbox, skipbox-8x16 or skipbox-16x32.

### How much did Cirrus Runners cost, and what does Skipbox cost?

Cirrus Runners' pricing page says: "Each Cirrus Runner costs $150 a month and there is no limit on the amount of minutes for your actions." One runner ran 16 vCPU of Linux x86 jobs at once. Skipbox's plan L is $149 a month for 16 vCPU at once, plan M is $79 for 8, and plan S is $39 for 4, all with unlimited minutes.

### How do I move a workflow from Cirrus Runners to Skipbox?

Install the Skipbox GitHub app, then change each runs-on line from a ghcr.io/cirruslabs/ubuntu-runner-amd64 label to skipbox, skipbox-8x16 or skipbox-16x32 and push. Take out the low-priority label, any runner_concurrency_group suffix, and cache settings that point at 127.0.0.1:12321. While your Cirrus contract runs, moving a job back is the same one-line edit.

### Does it cost anything to try Skipbox?

No. The trial takes no card and runs for 7 days or 3,000 job-minutes, whichever comes first. Sign in to Skipbox with GitHub and cancel any time.

Updated 2026-11-12 · https://skipbox.dev/compare/cirrus-runners-alternatives