Earthly 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 | Earthly | Gitea Act Runner |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | CI/CD & Build | CI/CD & Build |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 12,048 | ★ 800 |
| First released | 2020 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Make, GitHub Actions | GitHub Actions |
What are Earthly and Gitea Act Runner?
Earthly
Earthly is an open-source build automation tool that runs reproducible builds inside containers using a syntax that combines Dockerfiles and Makefiles. It works the same on any CI system or locally.
- Reproducible container builds
- Works on any CI
- Parallel build execution
- Build cache support
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
Earthly vs Gitea Act Runner: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — MPL-2.0 for Earthly versus MIT for Gitea Act Runner. Gitea Act Runner is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Earthly. Earthly is the more established project (first released 2020), while Gitea Act Runner arrived in 2023. Earthly has the considerably larger community, at 12,048 GitHub stars versus 800.
Why pick each one
Choose Earthly if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 12k 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 Earthly or Gitea Act Runner better?
Neither is universally better. Earthly has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Earthly and Gitea Act Runner free and open-source?
Yes. Earthly is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Gitea Act Runner under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Earthly and Gitea Act Runner with Docker?
Earthly: yes. Gitea Act Runner: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Earthly or Gitea Act Runner?
Gitea Act Runner has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Earthly. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.