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Developer Tools · head to head

Atlantis vs Valkey

Atlantis logo

Atlantis

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Valkey logo

Valkey

Databases

Open-source in-memory data store forked from Redis

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.; Valkey younger project, so its track record is short even though the codebase is not
  • They diverge on capability: Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Valkey covers Redis-compatible.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Atlantis and Valkey actually diverge.

Attributes where Atlantis and Valkey differ
AttributeAtlantisValkey
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeOpen source, no licence fee; managed cloud billed separately
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedLinux, macOS, Docker, Self-hosted
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDatabases

Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Valkey

  • Redis-compatible
  • BSD licensed
  • Rich data structures
  • Replication and persistence

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

Valkey

  • Continuing on a permissively licensed in-memory store after the Redis licence changenot Atlantis
  • Caching and session storage where a foundation-governed project is a procurement requirementnot Atlantis
  • Migrating from Redis without rewriting application codenot 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.

Valkey

  • Younger project, so its track record is short even though the codebase is not
  • Divergence from Redis grows over time, so compatibility is strongest near the fork point and weakens as both evolve
  • Ecosystem tooling and documentation still frequently assume Redis, leaving translation work

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

Valkey

Free
  • ValkeyFree
    • Full functionality
    • Self-hosted
    • 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 Valkey if

  • You need redis-compatible.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Docker, Self-hosted.
  • You also want bsd licensed.
Valkey review

Questions people ask

Is Atlantis or Valkey better?
Neither clearly leads. Atlantis starts at Free and Valkey at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Atlantis or Valkey?
Atlantis starts at Free and Valkey at Free.
Does Atlantis or Valkey run on more platforms?
Atlantis runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. Valkey runs on Linux, macOS, Docker, Self-hosted.
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 Valkey is typically brought in for.
What can Atlantis do that Valkey cannot?
Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Comment driven apply, Workspace locking, Policy checking. Valkey covers Redis-compatible, BSD licensed, Rich data structures, Replication and persistence.

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.

Valkey: Is Valkey free?

Yes, BSD-licensed open source under the Linux Foundation.

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.

Valkey: Why does Valkey exist?

Redis changed its licence away from BSD in 2024. Valkey is the community fork continuing under permissive terms, backed by AWS, Google Cloud and Oracle among others.

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.

Valkey: Can I switch from Redis to Valkey?

At the fork point it is drop-in compatible with existing clients and data. The further both projects move from that point, the more you should verify the specific features you use.

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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