AZ-400 Practice Question: Design and implement build and release pipelines
Which THREE of the following are true about GitHub Actions self-hosted runners?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume self-hosted runners are entirely free and automatically managed by GitHub, overlooking the operational overhead and infrastructure costs, while also forgetting that GitHub does not handle scaling for self-hosted runners.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
They can have custom software installed.
Option A is correct because self-hosted runners are machines you provision and manage yourself, so you can preinstall any custom software, tools, or dependencies your workflows require rather than being limited to the GitHub-hosted runner image. Option D is correct because the self-hosted runner application supports Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems, letting you register runners on any of these platforms. Option E is correct because self-hosted runners can be deployed inside your own network (for example on-premises or in a private VPC), giving workflows direct access to internal resources such as databases, file shares, and internal APIs that GitHub-hosted runners cannot reach. Option B is not correct because GitHub does not autoscale self-hosted runners; scaling must be implemented by you, for example with the Actions Runner Controller or autoscaling groups. Option C is not correct because while GitHub does not charge for self-hosted runner usage, you still pay for the underlying compute, storage, and network infrastructure you provide.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
They can have custom software installed.
Why this is correct
Self-hosted runners let you preinstall bespoke toolchains, SDKs and agents directly on the runner machine, so jobs needing software absent from GitHub-hosted images execute without per-run setup steps. This satisfies the custom-software constraint, unlike GitHub-hosted runners whose images are fixed and cannot be modified.
- ✗
They are automatically scaled by GitHub.
Why it's wrong here
GitHub does not autoscale self-hosted runners; scaling is your responsibility via runner groups, autoscaling controllers or Azure VM scale sets. Automatic scaling is what GitHub-hosted runners provide, so that would be the correct statement about the hosted offering rather than self-hosted runners.
- ✗
They are free and do not incur any costs.
Why it's wrong here
Self-hosted runners consume your own compute, storage and networking, so costs fall on your infrastructure rather than GitHub. They are free of GitHub per-minute charges, which is why teams with existing capacity consider them, but the stem asks what is true, and zero cost overall is false.
- ✓
They can run on Windows, Linux, or macOS.
Why this is correct
Self-hosted runners support Windows, Linux and macOS operating systems, letting teams match the runner environment to their build and deployment requirements. This cross-platform capability distinguishes them from GitHub-hosted runners, which offer a fixed set of images.
- ✓
They can access on-premises resources.
Why this is correct
Self-hosted runners execute jobs on infrastructure you control, so they can reach on-premises resources directly over your private network. This satisfies the stem's requirement, unlike GitHub-hosted runners, which run in GitHub's cloud and cannot route to internal systems without exposing them publicly.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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