Blacksmith provides Github Actions runners, that you can start using by just changing one line in the Github actions workflow file. This post provides a detailed description of the features of Blacksmith, and see how it compares to WarpBuild.
Blacksmith Features
x86-64 and arm64 Runners
Blacksmith supports both x86-64 and arm64 architectures. This allows you to build your projects on both platforms, without emulation. This can speed up your arm64 builds 2-5x.
Note
WarpBuild Advantage: WarpBuild supports x86-64 and arm64 instances. WarpBuild arm64 instances are ~20% more powerful for faster raw performance but Blacksmith's x86-64 instances are ~15% faster. WarpBuild has faster networking, more disk configurations which lead to overall faster builds.
Concurrency
Blacksmith has no concurrency limits, in theory. However, there may be some delays for large customers because of lead time in provisioning instances.
Note
WarpBuild Advantage: WarpBuild supports truly unlimited concurrency at no additional cost out of the box for x86-64 and arm64 instances.
OS and Images
Blacksmith supports Ubuntu 22.04 only, compatible with Github actions runner images.
Note
WarpBuild Advantage: WarpBuild supports ubuntu 22.04 and the latest 24.04 ubuntu image as well, and is 100% compatible with Github actions runner images. Users can use the app to setup any number of custom base images directly.
WarpBuild also supports MacOS runners powered by M2 Pros for blazing fast MacOS builds on MacOS 13 and 14.
Caching
Blacksmith provides 25GB of cache per repo, free. Any additional usage evicts the least recently used cache entries. The cache performance is fast for low concurrency workflows but may not scale well for high concurrency workflows since it is backed by a single disk.
Note
WarpBuild Advantage: WarpBuild provides unlimited cache storage with a 7-day retention policy from last access. The cache performance is blazing fast even for workflows having 100+ concurrent jobs.
This is a major advantage for larger customers, especially when there are large artifacts, monorepos, or container builds with large layers.
WarpBuild supports container large layer caching, which Blacksmith does not support.
Hosting Provider
Blacksmith runners are hosted on Hetzner, with most of the compute in the EU region.
Note
WarpBuild Advantage: WarpBuild runs compute on AWS, GCP, and Azure and users can choose which region to run their builds in. This has enormous advantages for customers to minimize inter-region data transfer costs and improve performance.
Security
Blacksmith runners are ephemeral VMs, running on bare-metal. This is potentially subject to noisy neighbors and performance degradation.
Note
WarpBuild Advantage: WarpBuild runners are ephemeral VMs as well, with the virtualization and isolation handled by the underlying cloud provider (AWS, GCP, Azure) and strong performance guarantees. This allows WarpBuild to be more secure and compliant with the most stringent security standards.
Enterprise Compliance
Blacksmith is SOC2 Type1 compliant. Data residency regions are not handled.
Note
WarpBuild Advantage: WarpBuild is in the process of getting SOC2 Type2 compliance certification. The documentation will be available for free, on request.
Static IPs
Blacksmith supports static IPs for the runner instances, required for allowlisting in sensitive workflows. This is a paid feature and is available on request.
Note
WarpBuild Advantage: WarpBuild offers static IPs for runners (on BYOC only) at no additional cost.
Runner Pricing
Blacksmith's pricing is 50% of the cost of a Github Actions runner for x86-64 and arm64 runners.
Note
WarpBuild Advantage: WarpBuild x86-64 runners are the same price as Blacksmith runners. The arm64 runners are 20% more expensive but offer ~20% higher performance.
Dashboard and Analytics
Blacksmith has a basic dashboard for runners at the high level without drill-downs, but with nice cache analytics.
Note
WarpBuild Advantage: WarpBuild supports a rich dashboard for runners, cache usage, and builds. There are also analytics and insights for the entire repository, including build times, build failure rates, runtime trends, activity heatmaps and more.
Missing Features
Blacksmith is missing a lot of features essential for robust CI. These features are usually deal breakers for large and fast growing teams. WarpBuild supports all of these features.
Snapshots
WarpBuild supports saving and restoring state from a runner instance for persistence and incremental builds is essential for large codebases. WarpBuild users see a 10x improvement in build times, due to this feature. Snapshots are very useful because the time in a CI workflow spent installing dependencies is eliminated and snapshots enable incremental builds.
Spot Instances
WarpBuild has multiple runner instance configurations including spot instances, which are ideal for low-cost and short-duration workflows. This makes the WarpBuild instances ~20-40% cheaper than Blacksmith.
Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC)
WarpBuild supports BYOC, with a cloud-hosted control plane and the runners spawned in the user's cloud account. This provides the best of both worlds with maximum flexibility and zero management overhead. This is a major advantage for larger customers and is 10x cheaper than Blacksmith. Users can leverage preferential pricing agreements with their cloud providers for even more value.
Regions
WarpBuild supports over 29 regions globally. This is huge for minimizing data transfer costs and improving performance. It is essential for some customers with sensitive workloads and data residency regulations.
Disk Configurations
Blacksmith only supports 64GB of disk storage. WarpBuild supports configurable disk sizes, iops, and throughput. This is useful for ML/AI workloads, large container builds, monorepos, game developers, and mobile app development.
Roadmap
Blacksmith's product is still evolving. In contrast, WarpBuild is already the most capable product in this space and has been adding new features and capabilities to its platform rapidly since launch less than a year ago.
Conclusion
Blacksmith is a basic provider of Github Actions runners. WarpBuild is superior to Blacksmith in every way, except ~10% difference in x86-64 vCPU performance. Blacksmith is ~5x more expensive compared to WarpBuild's BYOC runners. Large or fast growing teams use WarpBuild for their CI/CD needs at scale for 10x faster builds with snapshots, better security, and more customizable with BYOC.
Get Started Today
WarpBuild is committed to providing you with the tools you need to build faster, smarter, and more cost-effectively. Join us in this new era of development.
Stay tuned for more updates and features coming soon. Happy building!
For detailed technical documentation, visit WarpBuild Docs. Contact us at [email protected].