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Developer Tools · head to head

Atlantis vs Bolt.new

Atlantis logo

Atlantis

Developer Tools

Runs Terraform plan and apply from pull request comments, self-hosted and free

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Bolt.new logo

Bolt.new

Web Development

Prompt, run, edit, and deploy full-stack web apps

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Atlantis there is no company, no service level agreement and no paid support at any price, and the six maintainers are volunteers with day jobs, which some risk committees will not accept for a component holding production cloud credentials.; Bolt.new the free plan is capped at 300K tokens a day and 1M tokens a month
  • They diverge on capability: Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Bolt.new covers Full-stack app generation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Atlantis and Bolt.new actually diverge.

Attributes where Atlantis and Bolt.new differ
AttributeAtlantisBolt.new
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feefreemium
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsWeb Development
FoundedUnknown2017

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 Atlantis

  • Pull request plans
  • Comment driven apply
  • Workspace locking
  • Policy checking
  • Multi-platform webhooks
  • Custom workflows

Only in Bolt.new

  • Full-stack app generation
  • Prompt-to-app creation
  • Real-time editing
  • Instant deployment
  • Screenshot to UI
  • Multi-framework support
  • Live preview
  • Code export

What people use each for

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

Atlantis

  • Making Terraform review meaningful by putting the actual plan output in front of the approvernot Bolt.new
  • Removing local applies and the credential sprawl that comes with every engineer holding production keysnot Bolt.new
  • Getting pull request driven infrastructure without paying a per-user subscription for a hosted platformnot Bolt.new
  • Enforcing Conftest policies as a blocking check before an apply can runnot Bolt.new

Bolt.new

  • Rapid prototypingnot Atlantis
  • MVP developmentnot Atlantis
  • UI mockup creationnot Atlantis
  • Full-stack app generationnot Atlantis
  • Proof of conceptnot Atlantis

Where each one falls short

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

Atlantis

  • There is no company, no service level agreement and no paid support at any price, and the six maintainers are volunteers with day jobs, which some risk committees will not accept for a component holding production cloud credentials.
  • The security surface is inherently sharp, because it is an internet-reachable webhook endpoint that executes applies with privileged credentials, gated by pull request comment authorisation that is coarse next to a real policy engine.
  • It is stateful, holding a working directory and lock database on local disk, so high availability and horizontal scaling are awkward and you own upgrades, webhook plumbing, secret rotation and the host itself.
  • It lacks the features that distinguish the commercial alternatives, with no native drift detection, no cost estimation, no managed state interface and no policy engine beyond the Conftest integration.
  • Terragrunt and monorepo layouts are not first-class, requiring hand-written custom workflows and repository configuration that becomes a growing maintenance burden as the number of repositories increases.

Bolt.new

  • The free plan is capped at 300K tokens a day and 1M tokens a month
  • Pro starts at 10M tokens a month for $25, so heavy sessions are metered rather than unlimited
  • Team seats are billed at $30 per member per month and tokens are not pooled across the team
  • Unused tokens roll over for one additional month only, so they expire after two

Pricing, plan by plan

Atlantis

Free
  • AtlantisFree
    • Apache-2.0, no usage limits and no seat count
    • No commercial edition and no paid support tier
    • Community support through GitHub and the CNCF Slack channel

Bolt.new

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Limited generations
    • Basic templates
    • Public projects
  • Pro$20/month
    • Unlimited generations
    • Advanced AI models
    • Private projects

Which should you pick?

Choose Atlantis if

  • You need pull request plans.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
  • You also want comment driven apply.
Atlantis review

Choose Bolt.new if

  • You need full-stack app generation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want prompt-to-app creation.
Bolt.new review

Questions people ask

Is Atlantis or Bolt.new better?
Neither clearly leads. Atlantis starts at Free and Bolt.new at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Atlantis or Bolt.new?
Atlantis starts at Free and Bolt.new at Free.
Does Atlantis or Bolt.new run on more platforms?
Atlantis runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. Bolt.new runs on Web.
Can I use Atlantis for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Atlantis best used for?
Atlantis is most often used for making terraform review meaningful by putting the actual plan output in front of the approver, removing local applies and the credential sprawl that comes with every engineer holding production keys, getting pull request driven infrastructure without paying a per-user subscription for a hosted platform, enforcing conftest policies as a blocking check before an apply can run. Of those, making terraform review meaningful by putting the actual plan output in front of the approver and removing local applies and the credential sprawl that comes with every engineer holding production keys are not what Bolt.new is typically brought in for.
What can Atlantis do that Bolt.new cannot?
Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Comment driven apply, Workspace locking, Policy checking. Bolt.new covers Full-stack app generation, Prompt-to-app creation, Real-time editing, Instant deployment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Atlantis: Is there a company behind Atlantis?

No. It runs as a series of LF Projects under the Linux Foundation and is maintained by volunteers. There is no vendor to buy support from and no service level agreement.

Bolt.new: Can I use Bolt for free indefinitely?

Bolt invites users to 'Try it out and start building for free', indicating a free option is available. However, the page mentions two tiers (Standard and MaxPro) and includes a '/pricing' link, suggesting paid plans exist. Specific details about free tier limits and paid pricing are not on the main page.

Source
Atlantis: Is it a CNCF project?

No. It uses a channel in the CNCF Slack, which is often misread as membership, but the project sits under LF Projects rather than the CNCF.

Bolt.new: What are the differences between Standard and MaxPro tiers?

The page mentions both 'Standard' (described as 'Recommended for general development') and 'MaxPro' tiers in feature comparisons, but does not disclose specific differences, pricing, or what qualifies as 'general development' vs. other use cases.

Source
Atlantis: Does it work with OpenTofu?

Yes, there is a dedicated integration guide alongside Terraform, and it also has configuration for working with hosted Terraform backends.

Bolt.new: Are there usage limits on the free tier?

The page does not specify what limits apply to the free tier. To obtain detailed information about free tier limits and paid plan features, you would need to visit the dedicated pricing page.

Source
Atlantis: What does it not do that a paid platform does?

Drift detection, cost estimation, a managed state and run interface, and a real policy engine. Atlantis does pull request plan and apply well and stops there.

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