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Developer Tools · head to head

Atlantis vs Saviynt

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
Saviynt logo

Saviynt

Cybersecurity

Cloud identity governance with privileged access in the same platform

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.; Saviynt implementation typically runs a year or more with a partner, and the cost of that work regularly exceeds the first year subscription, which is rarely in the initial business case.
  • They diverge on capability: Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Saviynt covers Identity governance.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Atlantis and Saviynt actually diverge.

Attributes where Atlantis and Saviynt differ
AttributeAtlantisSaviynt
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedWeb
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 Saviynt

  • Identity governance
  • Access certification
  • Segregation of duties
  • Privileged access
  • Cloud entitlements
  • Third party access
  • Access request

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

Saviynt

  • An enterprise with an audit finding that privileged administrative accounts are excluded from access reviewsnot Atlantis
  • A healthcare system governing clinician access to Epic alongside corporate applications in one certification campaignnot Atlantis
  • A company that has to prove segregation of duties in SAP to an external auditor every yearnot Atlantis
  • A federal contractor needing an identity governance service with FedRAMP authorisationnot 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.

Saviynt

  • Implementation typically runs a year or more with a partner, and the cost of that work regularly exceeds the first year subscription, which is rarely in the initial business case.
  • Governance quality is limited by HR and application data quality, so organisations with inconsistent joiner records spend the early phases correcting source data rather than certifying access.
  • Pricing is per governed identity, so counting contractors, service accounts and non-employee identities materially changes the bill and the definition is worth negotiating explicitly.
  • The privileged access module is younger than the governance core and is not a full substitute for a dedicated PAM product in estates with heavy session recording or credential rotation requirements.
  • Connectors to less common applications require custom development, and each one adds a maintenance burden that reappears every time the target application changes its API.

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

Saviynt

On request
  • Saviynt Identity Cloud$undefined/year
    • Priced per governed identity per year
    • Modules for governance, privileged access and cloud entitlements
    • SaaS delivery with FedRAMP authorised offering available

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 Saviynt if

  • You need identity governance.
  • You also want access certification.
Saviynt review

Questions people ask

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

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.

Saviynt: Does Saviynt replace a PAM vendor?

It can for time-bound privileged access, but organisations with heavy session recording, credential rotation or legacy server access requirements often keep a dedicated PAM product alongside it.

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.

Saviynt: Is there a FedRAMP authorised version?

Yes, Saviynt offers a FedRAMP authorised government cloud offering, which matters where that is an eligibility requirement rather than a preference.

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.

Saviynt: How is it priced?

Per governed identity per year, quoted. Define carefully whether service accounts and contractors count toward the identity total.

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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