WarpBuild vs Buildkite

WarpBuild plugs into GitHub Actions: you change one runs-on label and your jobs run on its VMs, in its cloud or yours. Buildkite is its own CI platform, with pipelines and hosted agents that run each job on a fresh VM in the US.

The companies and products

WarpBuild

WarpBuild sells hosted GitHub Actions runners: you change the runs-on label and your CI jobs run on its machines.

WarpBuild is a CI service, not an agent sandbox. Each GitHub Actions job runs in its own VM on Linux (x86-64 or arm64), Windows or macOS on Apple M4 Pro, and the VM and its disk are destroyed after the build. It also sells remote Docker builders, can run the same runners inside your own AWS, GCP or Azure account, and can host Claude Managed Agents sessions on its stock runners.

Kind of product: GitHub Actions runners and remote Docker builders, billed per minute
Isolation: Each runner runs in its own virtual machine, created on demand and destroyed after each build
Platforms: Ubuntu on x86-64 and arm64, Windows Server 2022 and 2025, macOS 14, 15 and 26 on Apple M4 Pro
Where it runs: WarpBuild's cloud, or BYOC in your own AWS, GCP or Azure account
Concurrency: Unlimited on Linux and Windows; high macOS concurrency through support
SSO: SAML SSO with Okta, Azure AD or Google Workspace, $250 a month
Compliance: Says it is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant

Buildkite

Buildkite is a CI and software delivery platform, and hosted agents are the build machines it runs for you.

You write Buildkite pipelines, and each job runs on a fresh virtual machine that Buildkite starts for that job and destroys when it ends; only cache volumes carry files to the next job. Hosted agents come in Linux and macOS on Apple M4, with Windows in private preview, and you can also run Buildkite's agent on your own machines. It is a CI service, not an agent sandbox, so this page compares the part where they overlap: a machine where an agent or a job does its work.

Product: CI and software delivery platform; hosted agents, Mac hosted agents and self-hosted agents run pipeline jobs
Isolation: A virtual machine per job, destroyed after the job with all of its data; macOS uses Apple's Virtualization framework
Job time limit: Up to 8 hours on Linux and 4 hours on macOS; longer on request to support
Where it runs: Hosted agents run only in US East Coast data centers
Customers: Logos include Cursor, Shopify, Uber, Reddit, Figma and Discord
Compliance: Maintains a SOC 2 Type II report

Which use cases each one fits

For each use case, Battleships prices every sandbox provider on the same workload and sorts them from the cheapest monthly bill up. “94th cheapest of 377” means 93 of the other 376 providers run that workload, with every feature it needs, for less. “With limits” means the provider runs it but misses something, so it is listed after every full match. Open a use case for its whole ranking and what each provider misses.

Use case and its workload	WarpBuild: price rank	Buildkite: price rank	boat: price rank
Software factory 100 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 2,200 sessions of 8 h a month A software factory needs machines that keep their files; WarpBuild wipes the disk after every job and Buildkite keeps only cache volume paths.	269th of 367, with limits $4,343 a month	43rd of 367, with limits $11,648 a month	3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month
Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB An assistant that lives all month does not fit either: GitHub stops a WarpBuild job after 5 days and a Buildkite job stops after 8 hours.	285th of 366, with limits $5,650 a month	351st of 366, with limits $17,564 a month	5th cheapest of 366 $657 a month
Code interpreter bursts 100 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 200,000 sessions of 1 min a month	287th of 345, with limits $600 a month	315th of 345, with limits $1,587 a month	186th of 345, with limits $2,000 a month
Sandboxes for your users 300 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 30,000 sessions of 23 min a month Sandboxes for your users need a URL; WarpBuild blocks all inbound traffic, Buildkite exposes no ports, and boat gives HTTPS on up to 50 ports.	278th of 361, with limits $1,890 a month	326th of 361, with limits $4,984 a month	Cheapest of 361 $209 a month
RL rollouts 1,000 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 1,000,000 sessions of 3 min a month	281st of 360, with limits $9,000 a month	316th of 360, with limits $23,881 a month	34th of 360, with limits $2,000 a month
Agent evals 250 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 15,000 sessions of 20 min a month	294th of 364, with limits $1,440 a month	324th of 364, with limits $3,884 a month	10th cheapest of 364 $200 a month
CI runners 40 at once · 8 vCPU / 16 GB · 6,000 sessions of 12 min a month WarpBuild is a drop-in runner for GitHub Actions and Buildkite is a whole CI platform; boat can run CI too, but you set up the runner on a sandbox yourself.	94th cheapest of 377 $864 a month	203rd of 377, with limits $2,318 a month	4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month
24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB A dev box needs a disk that stays; on both CI services the machine is destroyed after the job.	182nd of 368, with limits $226 a month	354th of 368, with limits $715 a month	18th cheapest of 368 $26 a month
Computer-use agents 50 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 20,000 sessions of 15 min a month Buildkite's macOS desktop access is for a person debugging a job and WarpBuild has no desktop; boat streams a 60fps desktop with computer use.	264th of 369, with limits $1,320 a month	70th of 369, with limits $3,500 a month	6th cheapest of 369 $200 a month
Browser-use agents 50 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 30,000 sessions of 10 min a month	280th of 367, with limits $720 a month	142nd of 367, with limits $1,772 a month	7th cheapest of 367 $200 a month
Scraping & bots (startup scale) 50 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 100,000 sessions of 3 min a month	306th of 346, with limits $878 a month	142nd of 346, with limits $2,354 a month	6th cheapest of 346 $90 a month
Mass scraping & bots (undetectable) 1,000 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 3,000,000 sessions of 2 min a month	275th of 338, with limits $17,550 a month	317th of 338, with limits $46,814 a month	71st of 338, with limits $1,800 a month
Parallel red teaming 200 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 5,000 sessions of 30 min a month	264th of 360, with limits $435 a month	85th of 360, with limits $1,184 a month	2nd cheapest of 360 $200 a month
GPU eval jobs 10 at once · 8 vCPU / 32 GB · 500 sessions of 30 min a month None of the three fits: all their hosted shapes are CPU only.	Can't run it	Can't run it	Can't run it
macOS agents 5 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 1,000 sessions of 20 min a month Both have macOS on Apple silicon (WarpBuild on M4 Pro, Buildkite on M4), and boat runs Linux only.	29th of 36, with limits $1,520 a month	35th of 36, with limits $2,310 a month	Can't run it

Key features

Feature	WarpBuild	Buildkite	boat
Kind of product	GitHub Actions runners and remote Docker builders, billed per minute	A CI platform with its own pipelines; hosted agents run the jobs	A full VM for an agent, kept as long as you want
Isolation	A VM per job, destroyed after the build	A VM per job, destroyed after the job; Apple Virtualization framework on macOS	Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts
How long a machine runs	Until the job ends; GitHub stops a self-hosted runner job after 5 days	Up to 8 hours per job on Linux and 4 on macOS, longer on request	No session cap on paid plans
Files after a run	Disk destroyed; cache and disk snapshots (deleted after 15 days) carry state over	VM destroyed; cache volumes keep chosen paths after successful jobs, best effort, up to 14 days	Whole disk saved every minute and on stop; a stopped sandbox costs nothing
Fork	No fork; a later runner can boot from a saved disk snapshot in 45 to 60 seconds	Each job gets its own copy of the last committed cache volume	Fork a running sandbox with its disk
Docker and nested virtualization	Docker on runners; /dev/kvm on Linux x86-64, turned on with a label	Docker on Linux; macOS has the Docker CLI but no daemon; /dev/kvm not documented	Docker, root, systemd and /dev/kvm on every machine
Desktop and computer use	None	Browser desktop access to debug a running macOS job; no computer-use API	60fps desktop with Chromium, computer use and browser control, embeddable stream
Reaching the machine	All inbound traffic blocked; SSH into failed jobs for debugging	No exposed ports; a terminal into a running job through the UI or bk job ssh	HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected; raw TCP; SSH
Coding agents	Runs Claude Managed Agents sessions on stock runners	You install Claude Code in your image or step and run it as a pipeline job	Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and more preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API
Keeping keys out of the machine	GitHub secrets are passed into the runner	Anthropic proxy: jobs call it with the job token and Buildkite adds the key	Credentials proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API you register
Operating systems	Linux x86-64 and arm64, Windows Server 2022 and 2025, macOS on Apple M4 Pro	Linux (ARM64 on Enterprise), macOS on Apple M4 with Xcode, Windows in private preview	Linux on x86-64 only
Biggest Linux machine	Not covered in our sources	8 vCPU / 32 GB on Pro, 64 vCPU / 256 GB on Enterprise	16 vCPU / 32 GB on the $100 plan and above
How CI plugs in	Drop-in for GitHub Actions: change runs-on, keep your workflows	Your own Buildkite pipelines, mixing hosted and self-hosted agents	No CI service; you run a runner on a sandbox yourself
Where it runs	WarpBuild's cloud, an EU region on enterprise, or BYOC in your AWS, GCP or Azure	US East Coast data centers only	EU only (Germany, Finland, France), with EU data residency

Every feature Battleships tracks (43)

Feature	WarpBuild	Buildkite	boat
Full VM (own kernel)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Docker inside	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nested virtualization	Yes	No	Yes
Root	Yes	Not published	Yes
Systemd	Not published	No	Yes
Desktop GUI	No	Yes	Yes
Browser	No	Yes	Yes
Computer-use API	No	No	Yes
SSH	Yes	Yes	Yes
Persistent disk	No	Yes	Yes
Pause/resume	No	No	Yes
Automatic snapshots	No	Yes	Yes
Fork/clone	No	Yes	Yes
Live fork (no pause)	No	No	Yes
Memory fork	No	No	No
Custom image (Docker or snapshot)	Yes	Yes	Yes
≥24 h sessions	Yes	No	Yes
Idle auto-stop	Yes	Yes	No
Wake on request	Yes	No	No
HTTPS preview URLs	No	No	Yes
Raw TCP inbound	No	No	Yes
Public IPv4	No	No	No
Egress allowlist	Yes	No	No
Secret proxy	No	Yes	Yes
Secret proxy for any API	No	No	Yes
Preinstalled agents	Yes	No	Yes
Agent harness API	No	No	Yes
MCP server	Yes	Yes	No
GPU	No	No	No
Windows	Yes	Yes	No
Arm64	Yes	Yes	No
Self-hosting	No	Yes	No
BYOC	Yes	No	No
Open source	No	No	No
Scoped API keys	Yes	Not published	Yes
Spend limits	Not published	Not published	Yes
Usage per sandbox (API)	Yes	No	Yes
Audit logs	Not published	Not published	No
SSO	Yes	Yes	No
SOC 2	Yes	Yes	No
HIPAA	No	No	No
EU data residency	Yes	No	Yes
Zero data retention	Not published	Not published	Yes

Performance

WarpBuildNot measured

BuildkiteNot measured

boat26.69 runs/s

We have no comparable measurement for WarpBuild or Buildkite hosted agents: neither was part of StarSling's public sandbox benchmark. On that Node.js build-and-test benchmark at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, boat did 26.69 runs per second on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts.

Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. WarpBuild and Buildkite have no published run in this suite yet, so there is no like-for-like number to compare.

Pricing in five scenarios

Each bill is priced from the providers' public price lists by the open Battleships engine, with the cheapest plan that runs the scenario.

Scenario	WarpBuild, a month	Buildkite, a month	boat, a month
One coding agent, workdays 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, 8 hours a day, 22 days a month, files kept between days	$57 · Pay as you go · with limits	$166 · Pro · with limits	$20 · $20/mo
One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month	$237 · Pay as you go · with limits	$715 · Pro · with limits	$26 · $20/mo
50 agents in parallel 50 machines of 4 vCPU / 8 GB at once, 8-hour sessions, 1,100 sessions a month, Docker inside	$2,851 · Pay as you go · with limits	$7,677 · Pro · with limits	$317 · $20/mo × 3 seats
Sandboxes for your users 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 30,000 sessions of 10 minutes a month, up to 300 at once	$810 · Pay as you go · with limits	$2,204 · Pro · with limits	$200 · $100/mo × 2 seats
1,000 short jobs at once 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 1,000 at once, 3 minutes each, 200,000 jobs a month	$1,800 · Pay as you go · with limits	$4,787 · Pro · with limits	$2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits

WarpBuild: WarpBuild bills runners per minute while a job runs, with no plan fee, from $0.003 a minute for 2 vCPU; cache, snapshot storage and snapshot restores cost extra, and BYOC adds $0.002 a minute on top of your cloud bill.

Buildkite: Buildkite Pro costs $30 per active user a month with 4,000 Linux vCPU minutes included, then $0.004 per vCPU minute on Linux and $0.02 on macOS, metered to the second.

Buildkite: You pick a monthly plan from $20, and all of it becomes usage credit spent per second on running sandboxes. A stopped sandbox costs nothing and keeps its disk.

Limits in those scenarios

Neither CI service fits the agent scenarios as sold, because a machine lives only for one job and keeps no disk afterwards. The agent that never stops hits GitHub's 5 day cap on WarpBuild and Buildkite's 8 hour job limit. On Buildkite Pro, all running agents share 256 Linux vCPU, so 300 user sandboxes or 1,000 short jobs at once mostly queue; WarpBuild publishes no cap, but those counts are not confirmed. On boat, the 1,000-job burst is limited by starts per minute and per day, so it is queued even on the $2,000 plan.

Scenario	WarpBuild	Buildkite	boat
One coding agent, workdays	missing persistent disk different kind of product: CI runner egress price not published	different kind of product: CI runner files survive a stop only in cache volume paths: packages installed elsewhere reset egress price not published	None that bite
One agent that never stops	missing persistent disk different kind of product: CI runner sessions end after 120 h: needs restarts to run 24/7 egress price not published	different kind of product: CI runner sessions end after 8 h: needs restarts to run 24/7 files survive a stop only in cache volume paths: packages installed elsewhere reset egress price not published	None that bite
50 agents in parallel	missing persistent disk different kind of product: CI runner egress price not published how many machines can run at once: limit not published, probably fine at 50 (the typical published limit is 50)	different kind of product: CI runner files survive a stop only in cache volume paths: packages installed elsewhere reset egress price not published	None that bite
Sandboxes for your users	different kind of product: CI runner not confirmed: how many machines can run at once (you need 300; the typical published limit is 50) egress price not published	Pro: max 128 concurrent Pro: max 256 vCPU running at once (needs 600) different kind of product: CI runner egress price not published	None that bite
1,000 short jobs at once	different kind of product: CI runner not confirmed: how many machines can run at once (you need 1,000; the typical published limit is 50) egress price not published	Pro: max 128 concurrent Pro: max 256 vCPU running at once (needs 2,000) different kind of product: CI runner egress price not published	max 2,400 starts/day (needs ~6,667) max 600 starts/hour (needs ~1,000) bursts above 90 starts/min are queued (a burst of 333 takes ~4 min to start)

Which one should you use?

Use WarpBuild when

you want faster GitHub Actions with one line changed, on Linux, Windows or macOS, in its cloud or your own.

Drop-in GitHub Actions. Useful if you live in GitHub Actions: change one runs-on label and jobs start on WarpBuild, no new CI to learn.
Runners in your own cloud. Useful if CI must run in your own AWS, GCP or Azure account, with your network rules and static egress IPs.
Windows and unlimited Linux concurrency. Useful for wide test matrices: Windows Server runners today, and no published concurrency cap on Linux or Windows.

Use Buildkite when

you want a full CI platform with its own pipelines, macOS on Apple M4 for iOS builds, or Linux build machines larger than 16 vCPU.

A whole CI platform. Useful if you want managed CI beyond GitHub Actions: pipelines, test tooling and cache volumes, with hosted and self-hosted agents mixed.
Bigger build machines. Useful for heavy builds: Enterprise Linux shapes go up to 64 vCPU and 256 GB of RAM.
macOS on Apple M4 with fresh Xcode. Useful for iOS teams: Mac hosted agents run current Xcode, with new versions about a week after Apple ships them.

Where boat fits

WarpBuild and Buildkite are both CI services: a machine lives for one job and is then destroyed. If what you are really running is agents that work for hours, keep their files and show what they built, look at boat, which gives each agent a full Linux VM that stays.

A machine that keeps its work

WarpBuild destroys the disk after each job and Buildkite keeps only cache volume paths, so an agent reinstalls packages every run. boat saves the whole disk every minute and on stop, with no session cap on paid plans.

Apps and desktops you can reach

WarpBuild blocks all inbound traffic and Buildkite exposes no ports, so nobody can open the app an agent just built. boat gives HTTPS on up to 50 ports, raw TCP and a 60fps desktop with computer use.

Coding agents you drive from outside

On WarpBuild your keys sit in the runner, and Buildkite's proxy covers Anthropic only, with no way to steer a running step. boat preinstalls Claude Code, Codex and more, with a prompt, steer and events API and a credentials proxy for any HTTPS API.

Use boat when agents need a Linux machine that stays: one that keeps its disk, runs Docker and /dev/kvm, serves the apps they build, shows a desktop and runs coding agents you drive from outside. Compare it one to one: boat vs WarpBuild and boat vs Buildkite.

Questions people ask

Is WarpBuild cheaper than Buildkite?

In every scenario we priced, WarpBuild comes out lower: one coding agent on workdays is $57 a month against $166 on Buildkite, and 50 agents in parallel are $2,851 against $7,677. boat comes to $20 and $317 for the same two. Neither CI service fits these agent scenarios as sold.

Which is faster, WarpBuild or Buildkite?

We have no comparable measurement for either: neither was in StarSling's public sandbox benchmark. boat did 26.69 Node.js build-and-test runs per second there at 4 vCPU / 8 GB.

Can WarpBuild and Buildkite run Docker?

Yes on Linux for both. WarpBuild also turns on /dev/kvm for Linux x86-64 runners with a label, while Buildkite's macOS agents have the Docker CLI but no daemon. boat has Docker, systemd and /dev/kvm on every machine.

How long can a job run on WarpBuild or Buildkite?

A WarpBuild job runs under GitHub's 5 day cap for self-hosted runners. A Buildkite hosted job runs up to 8 hours on Linux and 4 on macOS, longer on request. boat has no session cap on paid plans.

Do I need GitHub Actions to use WarpBuild?

Yes. WarpBuild registers with GitHub as a runner, so jobs come from GitHub Actions workflows. Buildkite runs jobs from its own pipelines instead.

Can I run AI coding agents on WarpBuild or Buildkite?

WarpBuild can host Claude Managed Agents sessions on stock runners, and on Buildkite you run Claude Code as a pipeline step through its Anthropic proxy. Both end when the job ends. On boat, Claude Code and Codex are preinstalled and you prompt and steer them through an API while they work.

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