diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-ants.yml b/.github/workflows/build-ants.yml
index 9c4f4b7..c96ccb6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-ants.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-ants.yml
@@ -4,11 +4,6 @@ on:
   pull_request:
     branches: [ master ]
   workflow_dispatch:
-    inputs:
-      git_ref:
-        description: 'Upstream ANTsX/ANTs commit ref to check out when building'
-        required: true
-        default: 'b37e8b56e4e518b0f2947f80d0e3701a5ddfe120'
 
 jobs:
 
@@ -26,9 +21,20 @@ jobs:
         echo "ARTIFACT=$OS" >> $GITHUB_ENV
     - name: package
       run: |
+        # download and extract pre-built ants
+        case "${{ env.ARTIFACT }}" in
+          ubuntu-latest)
+            URL="https://github.com/spinalcordtoolbox/build_ANTs/releases/download/r20220516-2/sct-apps_centos7.tar.gz"
+            ;;
+          macos-latest)
+            URL="https://github.com/spinalcordtoolbox/build_ANTs/releases/download/r20220516-2/sct-apps_macos-10.15.tar.gz"
+            ;;
+          esac
+        curl -L "$URL" -o ants-unix.tar.gz
+        unzip ants-unix.tar.gz
         # snip out the apps we need for https://github.com/neuropoly/spinalcordtoolbox, since including all of ANTS is too much
         mkdir sct-apps/
-        cp antsbin/ANTS-build/Examples/{antsRegistration,antsSliceRegularizedRegistration,antsApplyTransforms,ComposeMultiTransform} sct-apps
+        cp ants-2.4.4/bin/{antsRegistration,antsSliceRegularizedRegistration,antsApplyTransforms,ComposeMultiTransform} sct-apps
         (cd sct-apps; for i in *; do mv $i isct_$i; done)
         cp COPYING.txt sct-apps
         tar -zcvf sct-apps_${{ env.ARTIFACT }}.tar.gz sct-apps/
@@ -49,11 +55,18 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     container: ${{ matrix.os }}
     steps:
+    - name: install centos toolchain
+      if: contains(matrix.os, 'centos:stream8')
+      run: |
+        yum install -y unzip
     - name: package
       run: |
+        # download and extract pre-built ants
+        curl -L "https://github.com/ANTsX/ANTs/releases/download/v2.4.4/ants-2.4.4-centos7-X64-gcc.zip" -o ants-centos.tar.gz
+        unzip ants-centos.tar.gz
         # snip out the apps we need for https://github.com/neuropoly/spinalcordtoolbox, since including all of ANTS is too much
         mkdir sct-apps/
-        cp antsbin/ANTS-build/Examples/{antsRegistration,antsSliceRegularizedRegistration,antsApplyTransforms,ComposeMultiTransform} sct-apps
+        cp ants-2.4.4/bin/{antsRegistration,antsSliceRegularizedRegistration,antsApplyTransforms,ComposeMultiTransform} sct-apps
         (cd sct-apps; for i in `ls`; do mv $i isct_$i; done)
         cp COPYING.txt sct-apps
         tar -zcvf sct-apps_${{ env.ARTIFACT }}.tar.gz sct-apps/
@@ -84,9 +97,11 @@ jobs:
         echo "ARTIFACT=$OS" >> $GITHUB_ENV
     - name: package
       run: |
+        curl -L "https://github.com/ANTsX/ANTs/releases/download/v2.4.4/ants-2.4.4-ubuntu-22.04-X64-gcc.zip" -o ants-windows.tar.gz
+        unzip ants-windows.tar.gz
         # snip out the apps we need for https://github.com/neuropoly/spinalcordtoolbox, since including all of ANTS is too much
         mkdir sct-apps/
-        cp antsbin/ANTS-build/Examples/Release/{antsRegistration,antsSliceRegularizedRegistration,antsApplyTransforms,ComposeMultiTransform}.exe sct-apps
+        cp ants-2.4.4/bin/{antsRegistration,antsSliceRegularizedRegistration,antsApplyTransforms,ComposeMultiTransform}.exe sct-apps
         (cd sct-apps; for i in `ls`; do mv $i isct_$i; done)
         cp COPYING.txt sct-apps
         tar -zcvf sct-apps_${{ env.ARTIFACT }}.tar.gz sct-apps/