Buildkite Agent vs Gitea Act Runner
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted ci/cd & build options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Buildkite Agent | Gitea Act Runner |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | CI/CD & Build | CI/CD & Build |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,078 | ★ 800 |
| First released | 2014 | 2023 |
| Replaces | GitHub Actions, CircleCI | GitHub Actions |
What are Buildkite Agent and Gitea Act Runner?
Buildkite Agent
The Buildkite Agent is an open-source build runner that executes pipeline jobs on your own machines while Buildkite coordinates orchestration. It lets teams keep build infrastructure private and scalable.
- Runs builds on your own hardware
- Cross-platform agent
- Parallel job execution
- Artifact handling
Gitea Act Runner
Act Runner is the official runner for Gitea Actions, executing workflow jobs defined in repositories. It brings GitHub Actions-style automation to self-hosted Gitea instances.
- GitHub Actions-compatible workflows
- Docker and host execution
- Lightweight Go binary
- Auto-registration with Gitea
Buildkite Agent vs Gitea Act Runner: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Buildkite Agent is the more established project (first released 2014), while Gitea Act Runner arrived in 2023.
Why pick each one
Choose Buildkite Agent if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Choose Gitea Act Runner if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Buildkite Agent or Gitea Act Runner better?
Neither is universally better. Buildkite Agent has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Buildkite Agent and Gitea Act Runner free and open-source?
Yes. Buildkite Agent is licensed under MIT and Gitea Act Runner under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Buildkite Agent and Gitea Act Runner with Docker?
Buildkite Agent: yes. Gitea Act Runner: yes.