---
title: "9apes vs RunsOn - Managed Runners or Your Own AWS"
description: "A managed per-minute runner service compared against RunsOn, which runs in your own AWS account under an annual licence. Costs, operational burden, and isolation."
url: https://9apes.com/compare/runs-on/
---

# 9apes vs RunsOn - Managed Runners or Your Own AWS

These are different products for different teams. RunsOn is software you run in your own AWS account under a flat annual licence, paying Amazon directly for spot compute — cheap at volume if you are willing to own the infrastructure. 9apes is a managed service billed per minute with nothing to operate. Pick RunsOn if you want control and already run AWS well; pick 9apes if you want the runner to be somebody else's problem.

## Per-minute rates

GitHub-hosted list prices for the equivalent runner size, against the published 9apes rate. Checked 2026-08-25.

### Linux x86_64 runners

| `runs-on` label | vCPU | RAM | Architecture | OS | OS version | 9apes price/min | GitHub-hosted price/min |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `9apes-1vcpu-ubuntu-2404` | 1 | 4 GB | x86_64 | Ubuntu | 24.04 | $0.0009 | $0.002 |
| `9apes-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404` | 2 | 8 GB | x86_64 | Ubuntu | 24.04 | $0.0018 | $0.006 |
| `9apes` | 4 | 16 GB | x86_64 | Ubuntu | 24.04 | $0.0036 | $0.012 |
| `9apes-4vcpu-ubuntu-2404` | 4 | 16 GB | x86_64 | Ubuntu | 24.04 | $0.0036 | $0.012 |
| `9apes-8vcpu-ubuntu-2404` | 8 | 32 GB | x86_64 | Ubuntu | 24.04 | $0.0072 | $0.022 |

## Free minutes

- **9apes** — 3000 free runner minutes every month on every account, no card required.

- **RunsOn** — Free for nonprofits, open-source projects, and educational use, in exchange for public attribution. Commercial use starts at the annual licence fee.

## What each one covers

| Capability | 9apes | RunsOn |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Linux x86_64 runners | Yes | Yes |
| Linux ARM64 runners | On demand | Yes |
| Windows runners | On demand | Yes |
| macOS runners | On demand | No |
| Nothing to operate (RunsOn runs in your AWS account; you own the stack, the alerts, and the upgrades.) | Yes | No |
| No cloud account required | Yes | No |
| Billed per runner minute (RunsOn is an annual licence plus whatever AWS charges you.) | Yes | No |
| Recurring free monthly minutes | Yes | No |
| Code and cache stay in your own cloud account | No | Yes |
| One-line migration | Yes | Yes |
| Ephemeral Firecracker microVM per job | Yes | No |

**On demand** means the platform is not on the public 9apes label list, but the team will arrange it. Email support@9apes.com with your workflow, expected scale, and timing.

## When to choose RunsOn

- You already run AWS competently and want CI compute billed at spot prices with no per-minute markup. At steady high volume this is usually the cheapest option available, including against us.

- Compliance requires that build machines and cache live inside infrastructure you own and control, rather than a vendor's.

- You want ARM64 or Windows runners, or instance types no managed provider offers, and you are willing to operate the fleet to get them.

## Moving to 9apes

```yaml
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: 9apes
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm test
```

## Common questions

**Which is actually cheaper?**

It depends entirely on volume and on how well you use AWS. RunsOn adds no per-minute markup, so at high steady utilisation it is usually cheaper once the licence is amortised. At low or spiky volume, a managed per-minute service with a free monthly allowance is usually cheaper and always less work.

**What is the real difference in effort?**

RunsOn is infrastructure you deploy and maintain in your own AWS account, including the cache bucket, networking, and upgrades. 9apes has nothing to deploy: install the GitHub App and change a label.

## Related pages

- [All runner comparisons](https://9apes.com/compare/)

- [9apes pricing](https://9apes.com/pricing/) — every label and rate

- [Quick Start](https://9apes.com/docs/quick-start/) — move your first job