GitHub has decided to pause its controversial plan to charge users for self-hosted runners, which would have cost $0.002 per minute. This decision follows backlash from engineers who were frustrated by the announcement. In a post on X, GitHub acknowledged the negative response and admitted it failed to involve users in the planning process. While the company plans to reevaluate the billing change, it hasn’t ruled out the possibility of implementing some form of charges in the future. Initially, the proposed fee would apply to self-hosted runners used on private repositories, while usage on public repositories would remain free. GitHub justified the fee by stating that running GitHub Actions infrastructure incurs costs, which self-hosted runners previously avoided. The company also mentioned that 96% of its users would not see a price increase, with many benefiting from lower costs on GitHub-hosted runners. However, concerns persist that using self-hosted runners could reduce the free quota minutes for users, leading to higher overall costs. The situation reflects broader tensions among enterprise developers who rely on self-hosted solutions. One user estimated that the new charges could add about $3,500 to their monthly GitHub bill. GitHub’s pricing changes have stirred a significant amount of discussion, with many users worried about their long-term costs and the impact of this shift on their development workflows. The company has opened a community discussion thread for further feedback, but the uncertainty remains as they navigate user concerns and operational costs.