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Cloud · head to head

Buildah vs Earthly

Buildah logo

Buildah

Cloud

Build OCI container images without a daemon or a Dockerfile

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Buildah linux only, with no native macOS or Windows support; Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • They diverge on capability: Buildah covers Daemonless builds, Earthly covers Policy as code.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Buildah and Earthly actually diverge.

Attributes where Buildah and Earthly differ
AttributeBuildahEarthly
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeNo pricing published on website
PlatformsLinuxWeb, 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 Buildah

  • Daemonless builds
  • Rootless
  • Dockerfile compatible
  • Scriptable builds

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.

Buildah

  • Building images in CI without a privileged Docker daemonnot Earthly
  • Producing minimal images with tighter layer control than a Dockerfile givesnot Earthly
  • Scripted image assembly where a Dockerfile is the wrong abstractionnot Earthly

Earthly

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

Where each one falls short

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

Buildah

  • Linux only, with no native macOS or Windows support
  • Scriptable builds are powerful but less portable and less familiar than a Dockerfile
  • Narrow by design: it builds images and does not run them, so it needs Podman or another runtime alongside

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

Buildah

Free
  • BuildahFree
    • Full functionality
    • No usage limits
    • Community support

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Buildah if

  • You need daemonless builds.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux.
  • You also want rootless.
Buildah 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 Buildah or Earthly better?
Neither clearly leads. Buildah 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, Buildah or Earthly?
Buildah starts at Free and Earthly at Free.
Does Buildah or Earthly run on more platforms?
Buildah runs on Linux. Earthly runs on Web, CLI.
Can I use Buildah for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Buildah best used for?
Buildah is most often used for building images in ci without a privileged docker daemon, producing minimal images with tighter layer control than a dockerfile gives, scripted image assembly where a dockerfile is the wrong abstraction. Of those, building images in ci without a privileged docker daemon and producing minimal images with tighter layer control than a dockerfile gives are not what Earthly is typically brought in for.
What can Buildah do that Earthly cannot?
Buildah covers Daemonless builds, Rootless, Dockerfile compatible, Scriptable builds. Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Buildah: Is Buildah free?

Yes, open source with no licence fee.

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
Buildah: Do I still need a Dockerfile?

No. Buildah reads Dockerfiles if you have them, but images can be built entirely from shell commands instead.

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
Buildah: How is Buildah different from Podman?

Buildah builds images; Podman runs them. Podman actually embeds Buildah for its build command, and the two are designed to be used together.

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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