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Cybersecurity · head to head

Beyond Identity vs Dagger

Beyond Identity logo

Beyond Identity

Cybersecurity

Phishing-resistant passwordless authentication with device trust enforced at every login

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Dagger logo

Dagger

Developer Tools

Programmable CI/CD engine that runs your pipeline as containers on any runner

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Dagger has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Beyond Identity it is an authentication layer, not an identity provider, so you keep and keep paying for Okta or Entra ID underneath and the combined per-user cost is roughly double a single-vendor approach.; Dagger dagger is not a CI provider, so you keep paying for GitHub Actions or GitLab runners underneath it; the Dagger Cloud subscription is an addition to your CI bill, not a replacement for it.
  • They diverge on capability: Beyond Identity covers Device-bound credentials, Dagger covers Pipelines as code.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Beyond Identity and Dagger actually diverge.

Attributes where Beyond Identity and Dagger differ
AttributeBeyond IdentityDagger
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer month per team for Dagger Cloud
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

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 Beyond Identity

  • Device-bound credentials
  • Continuous device posture
  • No shared secrets
  • Identity provider integration
  • Secure developer signing
  • Administrator policy engine

Only in Dagger

  • Pipelines as code
  • Local and CI parity
  • Content-addressed caching
  • Dagger Functions and modules
  • CI-provider agnostic
  • Dagger Cloud traces
  • GitHub Checks integration
  • Container-native execution

What people use each for

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

Beyond Identity

  • An organisation that suffered a breach through MFA push fatigue and needs a factor that cannot be socially engineerednot Dagger
  • A software company enforcing that code is only signed from a managed device with current patchesnot Dagger
  • A firm with contractors on unmanaged laptops that must meet posture requirements before reaching internal systemsnot Dagger
  • A security team wanting to remove passwords from the helpdesk workload rather than adding another factor on topnot Dagger

Dagger

  • A platform team maintaining near-identical build YAML across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls insteadnot Beyond Identity
  • An engineering organisation migrating off a CI provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migrationnot Beyond Identity
  • A team whose engineers waste hours pushing commits to debug CI-only failures and needs to reproduce the exact run locallynot Beyond Identity
  • A monorepo where most commits touch a small subset of services and cache-accurate step skipping cuts build minutes materiallynot Beyond Identity

Where each one falls short

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

Beyond Identity

  • It is an authentication layer, not an identity provider, so you keep and keep paying for Okta or Entra ID underneath and the combined per-user cost is roughly double a single-vendor approach.
  • Every device that authenticates needs the platform authenticator installed, which makes onboarding contractors, third parties and shared kiosks awkward and sometimes impossible.
  • Pricing is quoted per user with no published rates, so buyers cannot benchmark it against the increasingly capable passkey support now included in identity provider base licences.
  • Losing all enrolled devices requires an administrative recovery path, and organisations that design that path poorly reintroduce a social-engineering target at the helpdesk.
  • Legacy applications that only speak passwords or older protocols need a federation shim or stay outside the policy, so coverage is rarely complete in an estate with old systems.

Dagger

  • Dagger is not a CI provider, so you keep paying for GitHub Actions or GitLab runners underneath it; the Dagger Cloud subscription is an addition to your CI bill, not a replacement for it.
  • Writing pipelines in Go or TypeScript raises the barrier to entry: a release engineer who could edit a YAML step now needs to read code, and the people who can fix a broken build shrink to those comfortable with the SDK.
  • The engine runs as a container on the runner and needs a persistent cache volume to deliver its main benefit, so ephemeral CI runners give you correctness without the speed, and provisioning durable cache storage is extra platform work.
  • The Team plan caps at ten users and ten million events per month; an organisation of any size crosses that quickly and moves to Enterprise pricing that is not published, so cost at scale is unknowable up front.
  • The module ecosystem is young and thinly maintained relative to the marketplace of a mature CI provider, so integrations that exist as a one-line Action often have to be written yourself as a Dagger function.

Pricing, plan by plan

Beyond Identity

On request
  • Secure Access Platform$undefined/year
    • Per-user annual subscription quoted by seat count
    • Deployed alongside an existing identity provider rather than replacing it
    • Device posture integrations with major EDR and MDM vendors included

Dagger

Free
  • IndividualFree
    • One user
    • One million events per month
    • Workflow logs and function call traces
  • Team$50/month
    • Up to ten users
    • Ten million events per month
    • Module insights and module catalogue
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom user and event limits
    • SSO
    • Managed single-tenant deployment

Which should you pick?

Choose Beyond Identity if

  • You need device-bound credentials.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android.
  • You also want continuous device posture.
Beyond Identity review

Choose Dagger if

  • You need pipelines as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
  • You also want local and ci parity.
Dagger review

Questions people ask

Is Beyond Identity or Dagger better?
Neither clearly leads. Beyond Identity starts at On request and Dagger at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Beyond Identity or Dagger?
Dagger has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Beyond Identity and Free for Dagger.
Does Beyond Identity or Dagger run on more platforms?
Beyond Identity runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android. Dagger runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
Can I use Dagger for free?
Yes. Dagger has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Beyond Identity starts at On request.
What is Beyond Identity best used for?
Beyond Identity is most often used for an organisation that suffered a breach through mfa push fatigue and needs a factor that cannot be socially engineered, a software company enforcing that code is only signed from a managed device with current patches, a firm with contractors on unmanaged laptops that must meet posture requirements before reaching internal systems, a security team wanting to remove passwords from the helpdesk workload rather than adding another factor on top. Of those, an organisation that suffered a breach through mfa push fatigue and needs a factor that cannot be socially engineered and a software company enforcing that code is only signed from a managed device with current patches are not what Dagger is typically brought in for.
What can Beyond Identity do that Dagger cannot?
Beyond Identity covers Device-bound credentials, Continuous device posture, No shared secrets, Identity provider integration. Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Local and CI parity, Content-addressed caching, Dagger Functions and modules.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Beyond Identity: Does it replace Okta or Entra ID?

No. It sits in front of them as the authentication method. Budget for both.

Dagger: Does Dagger replace GitHub Actions?

No. Dagger runs inside GitHub Actions or any other CI. It replaces the YAML that describes your pipeline steps, not the trigger and runner layer.

Beyond Identity: What happens when a user loses their laptop?

They authenticate from another enrolled device, or go through an administrative recovery flow. Designing that recovery well matters, because it is the weakest point.

Dagger: Is the engine open source?

Yes, the Dagger engine and SDKs are open source and free. Dagger Cloud, the observability product, is what costs money.

Beyond Identity: Is it different from passkeys?

The credential mechanism is similar in spirit. The difference is enforcing device security posture at every authentication, which standard passkeys do not do.

Dagger: What is an event in the pricing?

Dagger Cloud meters pipeline telemetry events. One million per month is free; the Team plan at 50 USD per month allows ten million.

Dagger: Can I run the same pipeline on my laptop?

Yes, that is the main reason teams adopt it. The dagger CLI executes the identical graph locally, so CI-only failures become reproducible.

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