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Cloud · head to head

Beam Cloud vs Earthly

Beam Cloud logo

Beam Cloud

Cloud

Serverless GPU computing with sub-second cold starts and multi-cloud support

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Beam Cloud free tier limited to $30 monthly credits with 5 GPU containers; Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • They diverge on capability: Beam Cloud covers Sub-second cold starts, Earthly covers Policy as code.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Beam Cloud and Earthly actually diverge.

Attributes where Beam Cloud and Earthly differ
AttributeBeam CloudEarthly
Pricing modelFreemium with pay-per-millisecond usage chargesNo pricing published on website
PlatformsCloud, PythonWeb, CLI
CategoryCloudDeveloper Tools
FoundedUnknown2020

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 Beam Cloud

  • Sub-second cold starts
  • Inference endpoints
  • Task queues
  • Sandboxes
  • Multi-cloud support
  • Python SDK
  • Global distribution
  • Massive parallelization

Only in Earthly

  • Policy as code
  • Multi-stage enforcement
  • AI agent governance
  • Repository-wide policies
  • Incident response automation
  • Compliance management
  • Earthfiles build tool
  • Satellites

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Beam Cloud

  • Deploying ML models with minimal latency and setup timenot Earthly
  • Large-scale batch processing across thousands of concurrent tasksnot Earthly
  • Cost-effective inference serving with bursty workloadsnot Earthly
  • Multi-cloud AI deployments with global low-latency accessnot Earthly
  • Serverless AI development for rapid experimentationnot Earthly

Earthly

  • Enforcing engineering standards across AI and human developersnot Beam Cloud
  • Automating incident response procedures across all repositoriesnot Beam Cloud
  • Embedding compliance requirements into development workflowsnot Beam Cloud
  • Standardizing build processes with Earthfilesnot Beam Cloud

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Beam Cloud

  • Free tier limited to $30 monthly credits with 5 GPU containers
  • Massive parallelization complexity may require DevOps expertise
  • Per-millisecond pricing model requires careful cost monitoring
  • Smaller team relative to established cloud providers

Earthly

  • Pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • Earthly Lunar is a recent launch (2025) with limited track record
  • Primarily GitHub-focused; limited integration with other platforms
  • No public documentation on pricing or feature tiers

Pricing, plan by plan

Beam Cloud

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • $30 monthly free credits
    • 5 GPU containers, 30 CPU containers
    • Community support
  • Team$89/month
    • $30 monthly free credits included
    • 50 GPU containers, 1,000 CPU containers
    • 3 seats included, $25 per additional
  • Growth$undefined/custom
    • 1,000+ GPU containers
    • Unlimited CPU containers
    • Unlimited seats
  • Serverless GPUs$undefined/per-millisecond
    • RTX 4090: $0.00019/sec

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Beam Cloud if

  • You need sub-second cold starts.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Cloud, Python.
  • You also want inference endpoints.
Beam Cloud review

Choose Earthly if

  • You need policy as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI.
  • You also want multi-stage enforcement.
Earthly review

Questions people ask

Is Beam Cloud or Earthly better?
Neither clearly leads. Beam Cloud starts at Free and Earthly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Beam Cloud or Earthly?
Beam Cloud starts at Free and Earthly at Free.
Does Beam Cloud or Earthly run on more platforms?
Beam Cloud runs on Cloud, Python. Earthly runs on Web, CLI.
Can I use Beam Cloud for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Beam Cloud best used for?
Beam Cloud is most often used for deploying ml models with minimal latency and setup time, large-scale batch processing across thousands of concurrent tasks, cost-effective inference serving with bursty workloads, multi-cloud ai deployments with global low-latency access. Of those, deploying ml models with minimal latency and setup time and large-scale batch processing across thousands of concurrent tasks are not what Earthly is typically brought in for.
What can Beam Cloud do that Earthly cannot?
Beam Cloud covers Sub-second cold starts, Inference endpoints, Task queues, Sandboxes. Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Beam Cloud: What is included in the Developer plan?

The Developer plan includes $30 monthly free credits, 5 GPU containers, 30 CPU containers, and community support. No upfront commitment is required.

Source
Earthly: What is the difference between Earthfiles and Earthly Lunar?

Earthfiles is an open-source build tool that reached 12,000 GitHub stars and is used by companies like NVIDIA, Intel, and Databricks. Earthly Lunar is a separate governance platform launched in 2025 for enforcing standards across development workflows.

Source
Beam Cloud: How fast are the cold starts?

Beam Cloud achieves sub-second cold starts through memory snapshots that restore GPU containers 35x faster than traditional cold boots.

Source
Earthly: How does Earthly Lunar enforce standards?

Lunar converts engineering standards, compliance requirements, and processes documented in AGENTS.md files, wikis, and incident postmortems into enforceable guardrails that apply consistently across repositories and development stages.

Source
Beam Cloud: Can I deploy across multiple cloud providers?

Yes, Beam Cloud supports multi-cloud deployment across AWS, GCP, Azure, Hetzner, and other providers with 30+ global regions available.

Source
Earthly: What is the pricing for Earthly Lunar?

Pricing is not published on the website. Interested customers should contact Earthly's sales team for current pricing and feature tiers.

Source
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