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Mobile Development · head to head

Appcircle vs Earthly

Appcircle logo

Appcircle

Mobile Development

Mobile CI/CD platform for building, testing, and publishing apps

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Appcircle the free Starter plan caps builds at 20 per month and 30 minutes per build, limiting use for active teams.; Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • They diverge on capability: Appcircle covers Mobile Build Automation, Earthly covers Policy as code.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Appcircle and Earthly actually diverge.

Attributes where Appcircle and Earthly differ
AttributeAppcircleEarthly
Pricing modelfreemiumNo pricing published on website
Platformsweb, ios, android, apiWeb, CLI
CategoryMobile DevelopmentDeveloper Tools
FoundedUnknown2020

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Appcircle

  • Mobile Build Automation
  • Signing Identity Management
  • Testing Distribution
  • Store Publishing Automation
  • CodePush Updates
  • Enterprise App Store
  • Microsoft Intune Integration

Only in Earthly

  • Policy as code
  • Multi-stage enforcement
  • AI agent governance
  • Repository-wide policies
  • Incident response automation
  • Compliance management
  • Earthfiles build tool
  • Satellites

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Appcircle

  • Automating mobile app builds and signing for iOS and Androidnot Earthly
  • Distributing test builds to QA and beta testersnot Earthly
  • Pushing over-the-air updates without app store reviewnot Earthly
  • Hosting an internal enterprise app storenot Earthly
  • Self-hosting mobile CI/CD behind a firewallnot Earthly

Earthly

  • Enforcing engineering standards across AI and human developersnot Appcircle
  • Automating incident response procedures across all repositoriesnot Appcircle
  • Embedding compliance requirements into development workflowsnot Appcircle
  • Standardizing build processes with Earthfilesnot Appcircle

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Appcircle

  • The free Starter plan caps builds at 20 per month and 30 minutes per build, limiting use for active teams.
  • Corporate/on-premises pricing is not published and requires contacting sales.
  • Billing is annual with bank transfer terms, which is less flexible than monthly self-serve billing.
  • Focused specifically on mobile, so it lacks the general-purpose CI/CD features of broader platforms.

Earthly

  • Pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • Earthly Lunar is a recent launch (2025) with limited track record
  • Primarily GitHub-focused; limited integration with other platforms
  • No public documentation on pricing or feature tiers

Pricing, plan by plan

Appcircle

Free
  • StarterFree
    • 1 concurrent build
    • 30 minutes max build time
    • 20 builds per month
  • Corporate$undefined/month
    • Customizable limits across all modules
    • Public, private cloud, or on-premises deployment
    • SSO/LDAP support

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Appcircle if

  • You need mobile build automation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, ios, android, api.
  • You also want signing identity management.
Appcircle review

Choose Earthly if

  • You need policy as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI.
  • You also want multi-stage enforcement.
Earthly review

Questions people ask

Is Appcircle or Earthly better?
Neither clearly leads. Appcircle starts at Free and Earthly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Appcircle or Earthly?
Appcircle starts at Free and Earthly at Free.
Does Appcircle or Earthly run on more platforms?
Appcircle runs on web, ios, android, api. Earthly runs on Web, CLI.
Can I use Appcircle for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Appcircle best used for?
Appcircle is most often used for automating mobile app builds and signing for ios and android, distributing test builds to qa and beta testers, pushing over-the-air updates without app store review, hosting an internal enterprise app store. Of those, automating mobile app builds and signing for ios and android and distributing test builds to qa and beta testers are not what Earthly is typically brought in for.
What can Appcircle do that Earthly cannot?
Appcircle covers Mobile Build Automation, Signing Identity Management, Testing Distribution, Store Publishing Automation. Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Appcircle: What does Appcircle cost?

Appcircle offers an always-free Starter plan with limited monthly builds, and a Corporate plan with tailored, customizable limits priced through annual licensing.

Source
Earthly: What is the difference between Earthfiles and Earthly Lunar?

Earthfiles is an open-source build tool that reached 12,000 GitHub stars and is used by companies like NVIDIA, Intel, and Databricks. Earthly Lunar is a separate governance platform launched in 2025 for enforcing standards across development workflows.

Source
Appcircle: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?

The free Starter plan includes 1 concurrent build, 30-minute max build time, 20 builds per month, 1,000 CodePush updates, and 100 Testing Distribution downloads per month.

Source
Earthly: How does Earthly Lunar enforce standards?

Lunar converts engineering standards, compliance requirements, and processes documented in AGENTS.md files, wikis, and incident postmortems into enforceable guardrails that apply consistently across repositories and development stages.

Source
Appcircle: How is billing handled on paid plans?

Corporate plans use an annual licensing model with bank transfer payments due within 30 days of invoicing, and usage against limits can be tracked in the billing dashboard.

Source
Earthly: What is the pricing for Earthly Lunar?

Pricing is not published on the website. Interested customers should contact Earthly's sales team for current pricing and feature tiers.

Source
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