diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
index 0f12b99..5ea635e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ concurrency:
 
 jobs:
   release-please:
-    runs-on: akua-x64-ci-v2
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     outputs:
       release_created: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
       tag_name: ${{ steps.release.outputs.tag_name }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index e202419..79e405f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ concurrency:
 
 jobs:
   package:
-    runs-on: akua-heavy-ci-v2
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     outputs:
       matrix: ${{ steps.release-matrix.outputs.matrix }}
       commit: ${{ steps.release-ref.outputs.commit }}
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ jobs:
 
   publish:
     needs: [package, install-smoke]
-    runs-on: akua-x64-ci-v2
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     env:
       EXPECTED_COMMIT: ${{ needs.package.outputs.commit }}
     permissions:
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ jobs:
 
   tap-update:
     needs: publish
-    runs-on: akua-x64-ci-v2
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     permissions:
       contents: read
     steps:
diff --git a/test/workflows.test.ts b/test/workflows.test.ts
index 31859ff..77d3703 100644
--- a/test/workflows.test.ts
+++ b/test/workflows.test.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,19 @@ describe("distribution workflows", () => {
     expect(packageJob).toContain("runs-on: ubuntu-24.04");
   });
 
+  test("release control-plane jobs use available GitHub-hosted Linux runners", async () => {
+    const [releasePlease, release] = await Promise.all([
+      readFile(".github/workflows/release-please.yml", "utf8"),
+      readFile(".github/workflows/release.yml", "utf8"),
+    ]);
+
+    expect(releasePlease).toContain("runs-on: ubuntu-latest");
+    expect(release).toContain("runs-on: ubuntu-24.04");
+    expect(`${releasePlease}\n${release}`).not.toMatch(
+      /^\s+runs-on: akua-(?:x64|heavy)-ci-v2$/m,
+    );
+  });
+
   test("the release workflow consumes the complete release target matrix", async () => {
     const workflow = await readFile(".github/workflows/release.yml", "utf8");