Softwr

Developer Tools · head to head

Atlantis vs Drata

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
Drata logo

Drata

Cybersecurity

Agentic trust management with compliance automation.

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Atlantis has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Drata no published pricing for any tier; requires contacting sales team for quotes
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Atlantis and Drata actually diverge.

Attributes where Atlantis and Drata differ
AttributeAtlantisDrata
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedWeb, API
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

Identical on both: 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 Drata

Nothing recorded that Atlantis does not also cover.

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

Drata

  • SaaS companies automating SOC 2 certification for enterprise salesnot Atlantis
  • Organisations managing multi-framework compliance simultaneouslynot Atlantis
  • Vendor management programmes requiring third-party security assessmentsnot Atlantis
  • Enterprises implementing AI governance and monitoring AI systemsnot Atlantis
  • Organisations seeking continuous compliance monitoring rather than point-in-time auditsnot 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.

Drata

  • No published pricing for any tier; requires contacting sales team for quotes
  • Solution tiers (Startup, Growth, Enterprise) are marketing categories with no corresponding published prices or feature differentiation
  • No transparency on cost per framework, per user, or based on organisational size
  • AI questionnaire automation claims 375+ hours saved annually but does not publish per-questionnaire costs or limits
  • Compared directly with Vanta by customers, but pricing opaque for cost-benefit analysis

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

Drata

On request
  • Startup$undefined/variable
    • 'Launch Trust Fast' with automated evidence collection
    • SOC 2 and other framework support
    • Basic compliance automation
  • Growth$undefined/variable
    • 'Accelerate Trust Smoothly' as teams expand
    • Multi-framework compliance
    • Enhanced AI automation
  • Enterprise$undefined/variable
    • 'Command Trust at Scale' for complex needs
    • Advanced GRC capabilities
    • Dedicated support

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 Drata if

  • You work on Web, API.
Drata review

Questions people ask

Is Atlantis or Drata better?
Neither clearly leads. Atlantis starts at Free and Drata at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Atlantis or Drata?
Atlantis has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Atlantis and On request for Drata.
Does Atlantis or Drata run on more platforms?
Atlantis runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. Drata runs on Web, API.
Can I use Atlantis for free?
Yes. Atlantis has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Drata starts at On request.
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 Drata is typically brought in for.
What can Atlantis do that Drata cannot?
Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Comment driven apply, Workspace locking, Policy checking.

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.

Drata: What compliance frameworks does Drata support?

Drata supports multiple frameworks including SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS and others, with multi-framework management capabilities.

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.

Drata: Does Drata automate questionnaires?

Yes. Drata's AI uses approved content to draft consistent responses, automating questionnaire completion and saving claimed 375+ hours per year.

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.

Drata: How many customers does Drata have?

Drata serves 8,500+ global customers ranging from startups to enterprises, with a 4.8/5.0 rating on G2.

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.

Share

Related pages

More on Atlantis

More on Drata

Keep looking

Other head to heads