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Developer Tools · head to head

Atlantis vs Entrust Identity as a Service

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
Entrust Identity as a Service logo

Entrust Identity as a Service

Cybersecurity

Workforce and customer authentication from a certificate authority

From
$2/month
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.; Entrust Identity as a Service the application integration catalogue is smaller than that of the dedicated identity vendors, so uncommon SaaS applications more often need custom SAML configuration rather than a template.
  • They diverge on capability: Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Entrust Identity as a Service covers Multi-factor authentication.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Atlantis and Entrust Identity as a Service actually diverge.

Attributes where Atlantis and Entrust Identity as a Service differ
AttributeAtlantisEntrust Identity as a Service
Starting priceFree$2/month
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feePer user per month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedWeb, iOS, Android, Windows, Linux
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 Entrust Identity as a Service

  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Single sign-on
  • Adaptive authentication
  • Passwordless login
  • Credential lifecycle
  • Derived PIV credentials
  • Directory integration

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

Entrust Identity as a Service

  • A government agency needing derived mobile credentials from an existing PIV smart card estatenot Atlantis
  • A bank that must support hardware tokens for corporate treasury users alongside push authentication for staffnot Atlantis
  • An organisation already buying Entrust certificates that wants credential issuance and authentication from one vendornot Atlantis
  • A defence supplier required to use certificate-based authentication that mainstream cloud identity products handle poorlynot 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.

Entrust Identity as a Service

  • The application integration catalogue is smaller than that of the dedicated identity vendors, so uncommon SaaS applications more often need custom SAML configuration rather than a template.
  • Developer experience for customer identity use cases is behind the specialists, and teams building consumer signup flows will find the APIs and documentation less complete.
  • Advanced capabilities including adaptive authentication and credential management sit above the published entry price, so the two dollar figure rarely reflects what a regulated buyer actually spends.
  • There are two overlapping products, Identity as a Service and Identity Enterprise, and choosing wrongly at the start means a migration later rather than a licence change.
  • Identity governance, access certification and privileged access are not covered, so an organisation with audit-driven access review requirements needs a second vendor alongside it.

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

Entrust Identity as a Service

$2/month
  • Workforce Standard$2/month
    • Multi-factor authentication
    • Single sign-on
    • Directory integration
  • Higher tiers$undefined/month
    • Adaptive risk-based authentication
    • Certificate and smart card credential management
    • Derived PIV credentials

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 Entrust Identity as a Service if

  • You need multi-factor authentication.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Linux.
  • You also want single sign-on.
Entrust Identity as a Service review

Questions people ask

Is Atlantis or Entrust Identity as a Service better?
Neither clearly leads. Atlantis starts at Free and Entrust Identity as a Service at $2/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Atlantis or Entrust Identity as a Service?
Atlantis has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Atlantis and $2/month for Entrust Identity as a Service.
Does Atlantis or Entrust Identity as a Service run on more platforms?
Atlantis runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. Entrust Identity as a Service runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Linux.
Can I use Atlantis for free?
Yes. Atlantis has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Entrust Identity as a Service starts at $2/month.
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 Entrust Identity as a Service is typically brought in for.
What can Atlantis do that Entrust Identity as a Service cannot?
Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Comment driven apply, Workspace locking, Policy checking. Entrust Identity as a Service covers Multi-factor authentication, Single sign-on, Adaptive authentication, Passwordless login.

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.

Entrust Identity as a Service: Is MFA included or extra?

Multi-factor authentication is included in the workforce bundles rather than sold separately, which is not true of every competitor. Adaptive risk-based authentication sits in higher tiers.

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.

Entrust Identity as a Service: Does it do identity governance?

No. Access certification, role mining and joiner-mover-leaver governance require a separate product such as SailPoint or Saviynt.

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.

Entrust Identity as a Service: Why choose this over Okta or Entra ID?

Almost always because of PKI, smart cards or derived credentials. Without that requirement the mainstream platforms are the stronger general purpose choice.

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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