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Developer Tools · head to head

Atlantis vs Corteza

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
Corteza logo

Corteza

No-Code

Apache-licensed open source low-code platform, formerly Crust, positioned against Salesforce

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.; Corteza planet Crust is a small company of roughly a dozen or so people, so the entire commercial support capability behind Corteza is thin and a large deployment can outgrow the vendors ability to respond.
  • They diverge on capability: Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Corteza covers Corteza Low Code.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Atlantis and Corteza actually diverge.

Attributes where Atlantis and Corteza differ
AttributeAtlantisCorteza
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker
CategoryDeveloper ToolsNo-Code

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), 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 Corteza

  • Corteza Low Code
  • Automation and workflow
  • Bundled CRM
  • Case management
  • Federation
  • Role-based access control
  • Corteza Messaging and integrations
  • Self-hosted deployment

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 Corteza
  • Removing local applies and the credential sprawl that comes with every engineer holding production keysnot Corteza
  • Getting pull request driven infrastructure without paying a per-user subscription for a hosted platformnot Corteza
  • Enforcing Conftest policies as a blocking check before an apply can runnot Corteza

Corteza

  • A European public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor feenot Atlantis
  • An NGO replacing a Salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring costnot Atlantis
  • An integrator building a regulated vertical application it intends to resell, requiring a permissive licence it can ship commerciallynot Atlantis
  • A mid-size European company that wants one platform for internal applications and a sales pipeline without paying per seat as headcount growsnot 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.

Corteza

  • Planet Crust is a small company of roughly a dozen or so people, so the entire commercial support capability behind Corteza is thin and a large deployment can outgrow the vendors ability to respond.
  • No pricing is published for Planet Crusts support, hosting or implementation services, so the true running cost of a supported deployment cannot be estimated without a sales conversation.
  • The connector ecosystem is small compared with commercial low-code platforms, so integrations with common SaaS tools usually mean writing against the REST API rather than installing something.
  • Hiring is hard: almost nobody has Corteza on a CV, so you are training internal developers on a niche platform and you cannot easily replace them.
  • The bundled CRM is a starting point rather than a mature product, and teams that expect Salesforce-equivalent sales functionality out of the box will spend months building the gap themselves.

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

Corteza

Free
  • Corteza communityFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed with no feature gating
    • Low-code builder, workflow engine, CRM and case management included
    • Self-hosted on your own infrastructure
  • Planet Crust support and services$undefined/year
    • Commercial support, hosting and implementation from Planet Crust
    • Custom application development
    • Training

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 Corteza if

  • You need corteza low code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker.
  • You also want automation and workflow.
Corteza review

Questions people ask

Is Atlantis or Corteza better?
Neither clearly leads. Atlantis starts at Free and Corteza at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Atlantis or Corteza?
Atlantis starts at Free and Corteza at Free.
Does Atlantis or Corteza run on more platforms?
Atlantis runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. Corteza runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker.
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 Corteza is typically brought in for.
What can Atlantis do that Corteza cannot?
Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Comment driven apply, Workspace locking, Policy checking. Corteza covers Corteza Low Code, Automation and workflow, Bundled CRM, Case management.

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.

Corteza: Is Corteza the same thing as Crust?

Yes. The project was branded Crust and renamed Corteza in 2019 when Crust Technology donated it to the Commons Conservancy.

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.

Corteza: Who owns the code?

The Commons Conservancy, a Dutch foundation. Planet Crust in Cork is the primary developer and sells commercial services around it.

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.

Corteza: Is there a paid enterprise edition?

No. Corteza is Apache 2.0 with no feature gating. Planet Crust sells support, hosting and development instead of a restricted edition.

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.

Corteza: Can it genuinely replace Salesforce?

For case management and a straightforward sales pipeline on a self-hosted footprint, yes. For a large sales organisation relying on AppExchange products and a mature ecosystem, no.

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