Softwr

Project Management · head to head

Clockwise vs Garden

C

Clockwise

Project Management

Intelligent calendar management for teams

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit ClockwiseFull review
Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

Kubernetes development and testing automation with shared caching, now owned by Incredibuild

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit GardenFull review

The short version

  • Clockwise is an AI-powered calendar assistant.
  • Garden is free; Clockwise starts at $6.75/mo.
  • Only Clockwise lists focus Time protection; only Garden lists action graph.
  • Where Clockwise falls short: service discontinued and shut down on March 27, 2026.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Clockwise and Garden actually diverge.

Attributes where Clockwise and Garden differ
AttributeClockwiseGarden
Pricing modelFreemiumOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWebLinux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted
CategoryProject ManagementDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

Not yet recorded: founded for Garden.

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 Clockwise

  • Focus Time protection
  • Meeting optimization
  • Scheduling links
  • Team analytics
  • Conflict resolution
  • Google Calendar
  • Slack
  • Zoom

Only in Garden

  • Action graph
  • Shared result caching
  • Remote Kubernetes environments
  • In-cluster builds
  • Same config everywhere
  • Hot reload sync
  • Helm and Kustomize support
  • Templating

What people use each for

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

Clockwise

  • Schedulingnot Garden
  • Appointment bookingnot Garden
  • Time trackingnot Garden
  • Resource managementnot Garden
  • Team coordinationnot Garden

Garden

  • A platform team whose integration test suite takes longer than the coffee break and needs caching to cut the loopnot Clockwise
  • An organisation with thirty or more services on Kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates productionnot Clockwise
  • Giving every developer an ephemeral namespace instead of queuing for one shared staging environmentnot Clockwise
  • Running the identical build and test definition locally and in CI so failures reproduce on a laptopnot Clockwise

Where each one falls short

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

Clockwise

  • Service discontinued and shut down on March 27, 2026
  • All user data was deleted upon shutdown
  • Integration with Asana was removed during product lifecycle

Garden

  • Incredibuild acquired Garden in November 2024 and the pricing page now redirects to documentation, so there is no public commercial offer and no published roadmap for a team betting a platform on it
  • It is tightly bound to Kubernetes, so teams running on ECS, Nomad, plain VMs or serverless get little from it and would need a different tool entirely
  • The YAML action graph is a real configuration surface: a large monorepo needs someone to own and maintain Garden config as a first-class artefact, which is a standing platform-engineering cost
  • Shared remote environments mean every developer needs cluster access and a cost allocation model, so cloud spend rises and namespace sprawl becomes a thing you have to police
  • Caching correctness depends on declaring dependencies accurately; an under-declared action will serve a stale cached pass and hide a genuine test failure, which is a hard class of bug to notice

Pricing, plan by plan

Clockwise

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Focus Time
    • Meeting optimization
    • Personal analytics
  • Teams$6.75/mo
    • Team analytics
    • Flexible meetings
    • Admin controls

Garden

Free
  • Garden open sourceFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed CLI
    • Full action graph and caching
    • Self-managed clusters
  • Commercial tierOn request
    • Hosted caching and team features
    • Support and onboarding
    • Pricing no longer published since the Incredibuild acquisition

Which should you pick?

Choose Clockwise if

  • You need focus time protection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want meeting optimization.
Clockwise review

Choose Garden if

  • You need action graph.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
  • You also want shared result caching.
Garden review

Questions people ask

Is Clockwise or Garden better?
Neither clearly leads. Clockwise starts at Free and Garden at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Clockwise or Garden?
Clockwise starts at Free and Garden at Free.
Does Clockwise or Garden run on more platforms?
Clockwise runs on Web. Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
Can I use Clockwise for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Clockwise best used for?
Clockwise is most often used for scheduling, appointment booking, time tracking, resource management. Of those, scheduling and appointment booking are not what Garden is typically brought in for.
What can Clockwise do that Garden cannot?
Clockwise covers Focus Time protection, Meeting optimization, Scheduling links, Team analytics. Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Clockwise: What happened to Clockwise?

Clockwise was acquired by Salesforce and shut down on March 27, 2026. The company announced the team was joining Salesforce to work on Agentforce. User data was deleted and prorated refunds were issued to paying customers.

Source
Garden: Is Garden still maintained?

The open source project remains on GitHub under Incredibuild ownership, but the commercial pricing page redirects to the docs and there is no public paid offer.

Clockwise: What integrations did Clockwise support?

Clockwise integrated with Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Slack, and previously Asana (though this integration was discontinued).

Source
Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

Effectively yes. Garden is built around Kubernetes environments and offers little to teams on other runtimes.

Clockwise: What were Clockwise's key features?

Clockwise offered AI-powered focus time protection, automatic meeting buffers, Slack status sync, smart lunch breaks, and team calendar synchronization to optimize schedules and prevent burnout.

Source
Garden: Does it replace my CI system?

No. It runs inside GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or similar and speeds up what those pipelines execute.

Garden: What is the actual saving?

It comes from skipping builds and tests whose inputs have not changed, so the benefit scales with how many services you have and how often only a few change.

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