GitHub will begin charging for self-hosted action runners on March 2026

Well, fellow artisans of the digital forge, it seems we’ve got a bit of a shift coming down the pipeline for our beloved GitHub Actions. Starting in March 2026, those handy self-hosted runners, the ones we meticulously set up to keep our CI/CD pipelines humming just the way we like them, will start to incur a cost. This isn't just a minor tweak; it’s a move towards a more streamlined pricing structure, aiming to simplify things overall. While the exact details are still unfolding, the key takeaway for us is to start thinking about our self-hosted runner strategy and its associated expenses. It’s a good time to evaluate if the current setup is still the most cost-effective or if we might need to explore alternative strategies or even the standard GitHub-hosted runners more closely.

This upcoming change is a prime opportunity to revisit our automation workflows. For those of us who’ve built robust self-hosted runner environments, perhaps with custom hardware or specific configurations, it's time to do the math. We'll want to understand the new pricing model when it's fully released and compare it against the operational costs of maintaining our own infrastructure. This might lead to some clever optimizations, maybe consolidating runners, or even discovering that GitHub’s hosted options are now more competitive for certain workloads. Think of it as a chance to refine our craft, ensuring our build and deployment processes remain not just functional, but also economically sound, embodying that true craftsman's efficiency.

📰 Original article: https://github.blog/changelog/2025-12-16-coming-soon-simpler-pricing-and-a-better-experience-for-github-actions/

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