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Developer Tools · head to head

Atlantis vs Preact

Atlantis logo

Atlantis

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Preact logo

Preact

Web Development

3kB alternative to React with the same modern API

From
Free
Rated
-
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.; Preact compatibility through preact/compat is good but not total, and some React libraries break in ways that are hard to diagnose
  • They diverge on capability: Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Preact covers 3kB runtime.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Atlantis and Preact actually diverge.

Attributes where Atlantis and Preact differ
AttributeAtlantisPreact
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsWeb Development

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 Preact

  • 3kB runtime
  • preact/compat
  • Same modern API
  • Fast rendering

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

Preact

  • Embedded widgets that load inside someone else’s page and must stay smallnot Atlantis
  • Marketing and content sites where JavaScript payload affects Core Web Vitalsnot Atlantis
  • Applications targeting low-bandwidth or low-powered devicesnot 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.

Preact

  • Compatibility through preact/compat is good but not total, and some React libraries break in ways that are hard to diagnose
  • Behavioural differences from React exist in edge cases, particularly around event handling
  • A much smaller community, so unusual problems have fewer existing answers than React

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

Preact

Free
  • PreactFree
    • Full library
    • Commercial use permitted
    • No usage limits

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 Preact if

  • You need 3kb runtime.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want preact/compat.
Preact review

Questions people ask

Is Atlantis or Preact better?
Neither clearly leads. Atlantis starts at Free and Preact at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Atlantis or Preact?
Atlantis starts at Free and Preact at Free.
Does Atlantis or Preact run on more platforms?
Atlantis runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. Preact 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 Preact is typically brought in for.
What can Atlantis do that Preact cannot?
Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Comment driven apply, Workspace locking, Policy checking. Preact covers 3kB runtime, preact/compat, Same modern API, Fast rendering.

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.

Preact: Is Preact free?

Yes, open source under the MIT licence.

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.

Preact: Can I use React libraries with Preact?

Most, through the preact/compat layer. Compatibility is good but not complete, so libraries relying on React internals can break.

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.

Preact: Why choose Preact over React?

Bundle size, almost always. If payload is not a binding constraint, React’s ecosystem is usually the better trade.

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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