# Blacksmith runners

22 Hacker News commenters recommended Blacksmith runners and 21 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Developers recommend it for faster CI builds and tests and lower cost than GitHub-hosted runners. Critics say a free trial led to unexpected charges and weak support.

## Why people recommend it

- Faster tests and builds (5 comments): "Massively sped up tests and a huge improvement for Docker builds" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46193643)) "love to hear we've helped speed up your tests and docker builds" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46193966)) "have been pretty happy with how fast and inexpensive they are" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49793456))
- Lower cost than GitHub runners (4 comments): "Services like blacksmith and WarpBuild (I'm the founder) are still cheaper than GitHub hosted runners" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46293143)) "using WarpBuild/blacksmith runners remains the cheaper option" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46294143)) "have been pretty happy with how fast and inexpensive they are" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49793456))

## What people warn about

- Unexpected charges after free trial (6 comments): "giving us an unpleasant surprise and a prickly support exchange" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48472397)) "it implies Blacksmith knows they're being shady: if you know you're not going to pursue it, why did you invoice the customer in the first place?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48478680)) "a business would take an approach to a free trial that risks leaving such a sour taste in a prospect's mouth" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48487316))
- Depends on GitHub's outages (3 comments): "that didn't shield us from this as GitHub actions is still the control plane for triggering and monitoring them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48278874)) "They run on top of GH, so if GH goes down, so does Blacksmith, every time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49332065)) "they've had multiple outages in the last week" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49331052))
- Poor support and communication (4 comments): "giving us an unpleasant surprise and a prickly support exchange" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48472397)) "this feels like damage control" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48478423)) "BlackSmith should get in this thread and explain themselves." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48472207))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [WarpBuild](https://hackerapproved.com/p/warpbuild.md): 12 recommend
- [GitHub Actions self-hosted runners](https://hackerapproved.com/p/github-actions-self-hosted-runners.md): 9 recommend
- [Namespace](https://hackerapproved.com/p/namespace.md): 8 recommend
- [Forgejo Runner](https://hackerapproved.com/p/forgejo-runner.md): 8 recommend
- [RISE RISC-V Runners](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rise-risc-v-runners.md): 7 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.blacksmith.sh/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Blacksmith runners", https://hackerapproved.com/p/blacksmith/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).