12 Best GetMac Alternatives for GitHub Actions Runners

GetMac specializes in macOS runners with modern M4 Apple Silicon hardware and excellent debugging tools, but macOS-only support means separate runners for Linux and Windows workloads, plan-based pricing can become expensive at high volumes, and 60-minute session limits constrain debugging workflows. Finding the right alternative depends on whether you need cross-platform support, prefer per-minute pricing, or want runners that handle multiple operating systems.

This guide examines 12 GetMac alternatives so you can find a runner solution that matches your platform requirements and workflow diversity.

What makes a good GetMac alternative?

GetMac excels at iOS and macOS CI/CD with cutting-edge M4 hardware, VNC debugging, and pre-configured tooling like Xcode and Fastlane. An alternative should deliver comparable macOS performance, similar debugging capabilities, or address GetMac's single-platform limitation while maintaining the simplicity and developer experience that makes GetMac valuable.

12 Best GetMac Alternatives

GetMac provides drop-in compatibility with GitHub Actions requiring only label changes. Look for alternatives with similar ease of migration that won't force workflow rewrites or introduce compatibility issues.

1. Depot

Depot provides managed GitHub Actions runners spanning Linux, Windows, and macOS with exceptional performance through fast compute and intelligent caching. It accelerates both standard workflows and Docker builds without infrastructure management.

🌟 Key features

• Managed runners for Linux, Windows, and macOS M2
• Multi-platform support addressing GetMac's macOS-only limitation
• Ultra Runners with memory-backed storage for I/O-heavy workloads
• Integrated caching across regular Actions and Docker layers
• Per-second billing vs GetMac's plan-based pricing
• Intel and ARM architecture support
• Self-hosting option available for AWS deployment

➕ Pros

• Covers all major platforms GetMac doesn't support
• Ultra Runners with provisioned I/O for maximum throughput
• Integrated high-speed GitHub Actions cache
• Ephemeral VMs maintaining clean state per job
• Repository-scoped persistent cache volumes
• Optional egress filtering for security compliance
• Native Docker registry and build cache integration

➖ Cons

• Managed service pricing runs higher than some alternatives
• macOS runner capacity can occasionally cause queue delays

💲 Pricing

Developer tier costs $20 monthly, including 500 Docker build minutes, 2,000 Actions minutes, and 25 GB cache storage for one user. Startup tier runs $200 monthly with unlimited users, 5,000 Docker minutes, 20,000 Actions minutes, and 250 GB cache, plus $0.004/min overage charges for Actions. Business tier provides dedicated infrastructure and custom runner pools. All runner time bills per second.

2. Cirrus Runners

Cirrus Runners implements flat-rate pricing by charging per concurrent runner with unlimited minutes. It specializes in macOS M4 Pro runners alongside Linux and GPU options.

🌟 Key features

• macOS M4 Pro runners matching GetMac's modern hardware
• Flat monthly rate per concurrent runner with unlimited minutes
• No 60-minute debugging session limits like GetMac
• Linux x86, arm64, and GPU runner options
• Performance 2-3x faster than GitHub runners
• Predictable costs regardless of usage volume
• 10 GB cache allocation per runner

➕ Pros

• Fixed $150 monthly price per concurrent runner with unlimited minutes
• macOS M4 Pro runners with 4 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM, and GPU access
• Linux x86 runners providing 16 vCPUs and 48 GB RAM with KVM
• Linux arm64 runners with 8 vCPUs and 24 GB RAM
• Linux GPU runners featuring 8 vCPUs, 24 GB RAM, and Nvidia GPU
• Flexible resource classes selected via image name suffixes
• Cirrus cache action for optimized restore and save operations

➖ Cons

• Flat pricing can become expensive for teams with sporadic usage
• Cache storage caps at 10 GB per runner

💲 Pricing

Each concurrent runner costs $150 monthly with truly unlimited minute usage. All runner types carry the same flat rate. Annual commitment provides 15% discount. Nonprofit discount cuts pricing by 50% for qualifying non-revenue projects. Effective per-minute cost drops significantly with heavy usage, reaching approximately $0.003/min for high-volume teams.

3. Namespace

Namespace prioritizes both performance and debuggability for GitHub Actions workflows. It wraps runners with developer-focused tooling including persistent cache volumes, remote Docker builders, and interactive debugging.

🌟 Key features

• Managed runners for Linux, macOS, and Windows
• Interactive debugging with breakpoints and SSH/VNC/RDP access
• No 60-minute session limits for debugging workflows
• Cache Volumes persisting data locally across runs
• Native integrations with Bazel, Turborepo, Pants, and Moon
• Granular job observability tracking per-step performance
• AMD EPYC, Ampere, and Apple M-series hardware options

➕ Pros

• Multi-platform support beyond GetMac's macOS-only focus
• Runner profiles configuring OS, architecture, and machine specifications
• Container image acceleration through intelligent layer caching
• Git checkout caching optimized for large monorepos
• Interactive debugging with workflow breakpoints
• Crash and OOM detection with automatic dump capture
• Detailed per-step metrics

➖ Cons

• Unit minute and VM credit pricing system adds complexity
• Bundling compute and caching with single vendor creates potential lock-in

💲 Pricing

VM credits price at $0.015 each. Developer plan operates pay-as-you-go at roughly $0.0015/min in unit minutes with no base fee. Team plan costs $100 monthly, including 100,000 minutes and 1,000 Docker builds. Business plan runs $250 monthly with 250,000 minutes and 2,500 builds. Enterprise tier offers custom runner pools and very high concurrency limits.

4. RunsOn

RunsOn provides GitHub Actions runners running entirely inside your AWS account. It manages EC2 instance lifecycles automatically, spinning up fresh machines for jobs and terminating them afterward.

🌟 Key features

• Self-hosted runners in your AWS account
• macOS support through AWS EC2 Mac instances
• Linux and Windows support addressing GetMac's limitation
• Unlimited S3-based caching vs GetMac's standard cache
• Aggressive spot instance usage for cost savings
• Static egress IPs through NAT gateway configuration
• CloudFormation deployment completing in roughly 10 minutes

➕ Pros

• Multi-platform support including macOS, Linux, Windows, and GPU instances
• Complete workflow compatibility with GitHub-hosted runners
• Fresh ephemeral VMs providing clean state per job
• S3 Magic Cache with unlimited storage capacity
• Integrated cost reporting and usage metrics
• Partly open source with sponsorship licensing available
• Can reduce costs up to 90% vs GitHub runners

➖ Cons

• Requires AWS account and familiarity with AWS services
• Total cost combines RunsOn license with AWS infrastructure charges

💲 Pricing

Commercial license runs €300 annually with unlimited job execution and email support. Sponsorship license costs €1,500 yearly, adding priority support, private Slack access, and full source code. AWS charges bill per second at spot pricing rates, typically delivering 7-17x cost reduction versus GitHub runners. Non-profit organizations can request free licensing.

5. Buildkite

Buildkite operates as a complete CI/CD platform that integrates with GitHub, GitLab, or other Git providers. You maintain source control in GitHub while Buildkite handles pipeline execution, build orchestration, and test analytics.

🌟 Key features

• Complete CI/CD platform beyond just runners
• Cross-platform agents supporting macOS, Linux, and Windows
• Self-hosted agents or managed hosted agents
• Test Engine for large test suite optimization
• Advanced pipeline capabilities exceeding GitHub Actions
• Native integration with multiple Git providers
• Enterprise security features (SSO, SCIM, audit logs)

➕ Pros

• Full platform migration with more CI/CD control
• Buildkite Test Engine for large test suite optimization
• Buildkite Package Registries for artifact management
• Insights features including retry analysis and queue control
• Support for multiple Git providers beyond GitHub
• Mac M4 hosted agents available
• Can run self-hosted agents for cost control

➖ Cons

• Requires rewriting workflows from GitHub Actions syntax to Buildkite pipelines
• Platform pricing model differs from simple per-minute alternatives

💲 Pricing

Personal plan is free, including 3 concurrent jobs, 1 user, 50,000 test executions, 1 GB Package Registries storage, and 500 minutes Linux small. Pro plan costs $30 per user monthly with 10 self-hosted agents, unlimited test executions (then $0.10/managed test), 20 GB registries storage, 2,000 minutes Linux small, and SSO support. Enterprise provides custom pricing. Hosted agents: Linux small $0.013/min, medium $0.026/min, large $0.052/min. Mac M4 medium $0.18/min, large $0.36/min.

6. Cirun

Cirun orchestrates self-hosted GitHub Actions runners across AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle Cloud, and on-premise infrastructure. It provisions ephemeral VMs per job based on labels you define in .cirun.yml.

🌟 Key features

• Self-hosted runners in your cloud accounts
• Multi-cloud support including AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle Cloud
• macOS support on AWS addressing GetMac's single-platform focus
• ARM and GPU instance support across clouds
• GitHub App integration for straightforward setup
• Free tier for public open source repositories
• One-line workflow changes switching to Cirun labels

➕ Pros

• Multi-platform support beyond macOS
• Repository-specific configuration through .cirun.yml files
• Runner provisioning triggered automatically per job
• On-demand runner provisioning per job
• Preemptible and spot instance optimization
• Free for open source projects
• Direct cloud provider billing without markup

➖ Cons

• Private repository pricing scales with repository count
• You remain responsible for cloud account management and networking

💲 Pricing

Open Source plan is free with unlimited public repositories, unlimited runners, and full ARM/GPU support across all clouds. Startup plan costs $29 monthly for up to 3 private repositories with Slack and email support. Business plan runs $79 monthly supporting up to 10 private repositories. Enterprise provides custom pricing for unlimited private repositories with premium support. Actual compute bills directly from your chosen cloud provider.

7. BuildJet

BuildJet provides managed GitHub Actions runners powered by gaming-grade CPUs delivering approximately 2x performance improvements over GitHub's default runners. It focuses exclusively on Linux workloads.

🌟 Key features

• Gaming-grade CPUs delivering 2x performance
• Linux support across AMD and ARM architectures
• Simple per-minute billing with transparent pricing
• 20 GB cache per repository refreshed weekly
• Fully managed service with zero infrastructure overhead
• Instant scaling without capacity constraints
• Simple migration requiring only runner label changes

➕ Pros

• Approximately 2x performance versus GitHub-hosted runners
• Per-minute billing with transparent pricing
• No infrastructure to provision or maintain
• Instant scaling without capacity constraints
• Free tier includes 3,000 minutes monthly
• Simple migration by swapping runner labels
• Strong single-core performance

➖ Cons

• Linux-only support excludes macOS and Windows workloads
• Per-minute pricing can become expensive for high-volume usage

💲 Pricing

Free tier includes 3,000 minutes monthly across all repositories. Paid usage bills per minute with rates starting around $0.004/min for standard configurations. Pricing scales with machine size and architecture. No base fees or subscription charges beyond actual minute consumption.

8. Ubicloud

Ubicloud delivers GitHub Actions runners at dramatically reduced costs through partnerships with bare metal providers like Hetzner and Leaseweb. The open source platform provides managed runners without infrastructure overhead.

🌟 Key features

• Fully managed runners with guaranteed dedicated resources
• Linux x64 and arm64 architecture support
• Aggressive price-performance optimization (3-10x cheaper)
• Open source control plane (AGPL v3)
• German data centers supporting GDPR compliance
• $1 monthly credit per account covering approximately 1,250 minutes
• Broader platform with VMs, PostgreSQL, and Kubernetes

➕ Pros

• Very low per-minute pricing starting at $0.0008/min
• Dedicated CPU, memory, and storage resources
• GitHub Managed Runner Application integration
• Multiple German data centers providing high availability
• Open source control plane preventing vendor lock-in
• Self-hosting option if desired
• No infrastructure management required

➖ Cons

• Linux-only support excludes macOS and Windows workloads
• Runner infrastructure concentrates in Germany

💲 Pricing

Per-minute billing at month's end. Linux x64 standard runners start at $0.0008/min for 2 vCPUs with 8 GB RAM, scaling to $0.0120/min for 30 vCPU configurations. Premium runners cost exactly double standard rates. Arm64 pricing matches standard x64 rates. Every account receives $1 monthly credit covering approximately 1,250 minutes on 2 vCPU runners.

9. Blacksmith

Blacksmith emphasizes raw execution speed combined with deep observability into CI performance. It runs on bare metal hardware with gaming CPUs and adds specialized tooling for understanding pipeline performance.

🌟 Key features

• Bare metal gaming CPUs for strong performance
• Colocated caching delivering 4x faster downloads
• Centralized log search across all workflow executions
• Test-level analytics for performance insights
• Live SSH access for debugging running builds
• Approximately 2x performance over GitHub runners
• Docker layer reuse and public image caching

➕ Pros

• Approximately 2x performance improvement over GitHub runners
• Docker layer reuse accelerating container builds
• Public image pull cache reducing registry bottlenecks
• Run history with filtering and search capabilities
• Test-level analytics identifying performance problems
• Dedicated CI analytics dashboards
• Migration wizard for straightforward onboarding

➖ Cons

• Linux-only focus excludes macOS and Windows workloads
• Docker acceleration requires using Blacksmith-specific actions

💲 Pricing

Usage-based pricing with 3,000 free minutes monthly. Base runner rate starts around $0.004/min for 2 vCPU x64 configurations, scaling up for larger machine shapes. Docker layer caching costs approximately $0.50/GB/month as an optional add-on. Additional features include static IP addresses and priority Slack support. Enterprise tier adds white-glove onboarding, uptime SLA guarantees, and 24/7 support access.

10. Actuated

Actuated provides a hosted control plane for self-hosted runners with maximum isolation. You provide bare metal or nested virtualization servers, install the agent, and Actuated creates Firecracker microVMs for strong security boundaries.

🌟 Key features

• Self-hosted runners with Firecracker microVM isolation
• Fixed concurrency pricing with unlimited minutes
• Choose your own hardware and location
• x86-64 and arm64 host support
• GPU support for machine learning workloads
• Fully managed control plane handling orchestration
• Multi-organization dashboard for fleet management

➕ Pros

• Firecracker microVMs starting in roughly 1-2 seconds
• Centrally maintained Ubuntu guest image
• Fixed concurrency model with unlimited minute usage
• Build queue visibility across all jobs
• Historical insights covering up to 120 days
• SSH debugging support for live troubleshooting
• CLI for programmatic management

➖ Cons

• Must provide and maintain your own bare metal servers
• Linux-only support excludes macOS and Windows workloads

💲 Pricing

Basic plan costs $250 monthly, including 5 concurrent jobs, unmetered minutes, up to 1 VM host, single GitHub organization support, reports, SSH debugging, and Slack support during UK business hours. At 30,000 minutes monthly usage, this works out to approximately $0.008/min. Additional tiers available for 10, 15, 20, 35, and 50+ concurrent jobs. Custom plans available for larger runner fleets.

11. runmyjob.io

runmyjob.io (also called Puzl Cloud) implements a load-based billing model where you pay only for CPU and memory resources your jobs actually consume. Each job executes in an isolated KVM-based microVM.

🌟 Key features

• Load-based billing charging only for actual resource consumption
• Pay only for active CPU and memory use vs idle time
• Resource limits up to 48 vCPUs and 96 GB RAM
• KVM-based microVMs with near bare-metal performance
• GitHub Actions and GitLab CI support
• EU-based infrastructure
• Declarative API for programmatic runner management

➕ Pros

• Load-based billing eliminating waste from idle capacity
• KVM-based Spike Instances providing strong per-job isolation
• Ephemeral filesystem per job defaulting to 150 GB
• Interactive Web Terminal for GitLab pipeline debugging
• Up to 48 vCPUs and 96 GB RAM per individual job
• Job cache on Business tier and above
• Complete GitHub Actions environment compatibility

➖ Cons

• Load-based billing requires understanding different pricing structure
• Currently Linux-only with Windows and ARM on roadmap

💲 Pricing

Free plan at €0 monthly includes 1 integration, 10 concurrent jobs, up to 12 vCPUs and 32 GB RAM per job, 400 vCPU-minutes and 800 GB-minutes included monthly, then €0.00002 per vCPU-second and €0.000001 per GB-second beyond limits. Business plan costs €50 monthly with 3 integrations, unlimited concurrent jobs, 48 vCPUs and 96 GB RAM per job, 2,000 vCPU-minutes and 4,000 GB-minutes included, plus 10 GB persistent storage and job caching.

12. DevZero

DevZero targets Kubernetes cost and resource optimization, treating GitHub Actions runners as one workload type among many. It connects to your clusters and applies automated policy-based optimizations.

🌟 Key features

• Kubernetes cost and resource optimization platform
• Consolidates CI with application workloads
• GitHub Actions integration via Actions Runner Controller
• Automated rightsizing for pods and nodes
• Support for EKS, GKE, AKS, and on-premise clusters
• Pod live migration and spot instance management
• Savings insights with before and after projections

➕ Pros

• Kubernetes cost and resource monitoring across clusters
• Automated optimization through balance operator
• Pod live migration support for workload shifting
• Spot instance management and optimization
• Runner scale sets with DevZero-specific labels
• Audit logging and cost export capabilities
• Works with existing Kubernetes infrastructure

➖ Cons

• Overkill if sole concern is GitHub Actions minutes
• Requires running operators in clusters adding complexity

💲 Pricing

Free tier includes up to 2 clusters for 45 days with monitoring and attribution. Scaling and Optimization plan costs $7 per CPU monthly, supporting up to 2,000 CPUs with workload optimization, spot management, and Slack support. Enterprise tier offers custom pricing with SSO, GPU optimization, and dedicated support channels.

Final thoughts

GetMac excels for iOS and macOS development with M4 hardware and excellent debugging tools, but the macOS-only focus and plan-based pricing don't suit every team.

Multi-platform support comes from Depot, Namespace, and RunsOn, which handle macOS, Windows, and Linux in a single service. Similar macOS focus arrives through Cirrus Runners, which offers M4 Pro hardware with unlimited minutes for flat monthly pricing.

Better debugging capabilities appear in Namespace with no 60-minute session limits, interactive breakpoints, and SSH/VNC/RDP access. Cost flexibility comes from Depot and BuildJet with per-minute billing, or Cirrus Runners with flat-rate unlimited usage.

Linux-focused alternatives like BuildJet, Ubicloud, and Blacksmith excel at non-macOS workloads with strong performance and low costs. Self-hosted options through RunsOn, Cirun, and Actuated provide infrastructure control for teams wanting to manage their own runners.