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Developer Tools · head to head

Atlantis vs McAfee Total Protection

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
McAfee Total Protection logo

McAfee Total Protection

Cybersecurity

Award-winning antivirus trusted by millions

From
$29.99/year
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.; McAfee Total Protection significant renewal price increase after first year (from $29.99 to $84.99/year)
  • They diverge on capability: Atlantis covers Pull request plans, McAfee Total Protection covers Real-time antivirus.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Atlantis and McAfee Total Protection actually diverge.

Attributes where Atlantis and McAfee Total Protection differ
AttributeAtlantisMcAfee Total Protection
Starting priceFree$29.99/year
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeUnknown
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedWindows, macOS, iOS, Android
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown1987

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 McAfee Total Protection

  • Real-time antivirus
  • Firewall
  • Safe browsing
  • Password manager
  • Secure VPN
  • Identity monitoring
  • Protection Score
  • Parental controls

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

McAfee Total Protection

  • Antivirusnot Atlantis
  • Internet Securitynot Atlantis
  • Identity Protectionnot 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.

McAfee Total Protection

  • Significant renewal price increase after first year (from $29.99 to $84.99/year)
  • Customer support responsiveness issues reported as reason for switching
  • Renewal billing can be aggressive with auto-renewal defaults

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

McAfee Total Protection

$29.99/year
  • Basic$29.99/year
    • Antivirus
    • Firewall
    • 1 device
  • Plus$39.99/year
    • Antivirus
    • Firewall
    • 5 devices
  • Premium$49.99/year
    • Antivirus
    • Firewall
    • VPN
  • Advanced$74.99/year
    • Antivirus
    • Firewall
    • VPN

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 McAfee Total Protection if

  • You need real-time antivirus.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
  • You also want firewall.
McAfee Total Protection review

Questions people ask

Is Atlantis or McAfee Total Protection better?
Neither clearly leads. Atlantis starts at Free and McAfee Total Protection at $29.99/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Atlantis or McAfee Total Protection?
Atlantis has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Atlantis and $29.99/year for McAfee Total Protection.
Does Atlantis or McAfee Total Protection run on more platforms?
Atlantis runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. McAfee Total Protection runs on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
Can I use Atlantis for free?
Yes. Atlantis has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. McAfee Total Protection starts at $29.99/year.
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 McAfee Total Protection is typically brought in for.
What can Atlantis do that McAfee Total Protection cannot?
Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Comment driven apply, Workspace locking, Policy checking. McAfee Total Protection covers Real-time antivirus, Firewall, Safe browsing, Password manager.

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.

McAfee Total Protection: How much does McAfee Total Protection cost?

McAfee Total Protection introductory pricing ranges from $29.99/year (Basic) to $74.99/year (Advanced), but renewal costs jump to $84.99/year after the first year.

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.

McAfee Total Protection: What is the trial period for McAfee Total Protection?

McAfee offers a 60-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to try the service risk-free for two months.

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.

McAfee Total Protection: How many devices can I protect with one McAfee Total Protection subscription?

Device coverage varies by plan: Basic covers 1 device, while other plans protect 5 to unlimited devices depending on the tier selected.

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.

McAfee Total Protection: Does McAfee Total Protection include VPN?

VPN is included in higher-tier McAfee plans if you opt for auto-renewal.

Source
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