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Developer Tools · head to head

Dagger vs Hanwha Vision

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
Hanwha Vision logo

Hanwha Vision

Cybersecurity

Korean camera maker whose Wisenet WAVE VMS licences are perpetual per channel with no annual renewal

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Dagger has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Hanwha Vision nDAA compliance is confirmed per model and per bill of materials rather than across the brand, and TAA status depends on whether a specific unit was made in Korea or Vietnam, so a buyer with procurement obligations must get both stated on the quote rather than relying on a brand-level claim.
  • They diverge on capability: Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Hanwha Vision covers Wisenet WAVE VMS.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dagger and Hanwha Vision actually diverge.

Attributes where Dagger and Hanwha Vision differ
AttributeDaggerHanwha Vision
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer month per team for Dagger CloudOne-time purchase
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, Self-hostedWindows, Linux, Web, iOS, Android
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

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 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

Only in Hanwha Vision

  • Wisenet WAVE VMS
  • On-camera AI
  • NDAA and TAA positioning
  • Multi-site management
  • Open platform
  • Wisenet cameras and recorders
  • Cybersecurity hardening
  • Integration licences

What people use each for

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

Dagger

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

Hanwha Vision

  • A federal agency or federal contractor whose procurement rules exclude Section 889 covered manufacturersnot Dagger
  • A school district that wants a fixed one-time software cost rather than a per-camera monthly subscriptionnot Dagger
  • A site running 200 cameras for a decade where a cloud subscription would cost several times a perpetual licencenot Dagger
  • An integrator standardising on one manufacturer for cameras, recorders and VMS to simplify supportnot Dagger

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Hanwha Vision

  • NDAA compliance is confirmed per model and per bill of materials rather than across the brand, and TAA status depends on whether a specific unit was made in Korea or Vietnam, so a buyer with procurement obligations must get both stated on the quote rather than relying on a brand-level claim.
  • Perpetual licences mean you own the servers, storage and patching, so the cost avoided on subscription reappears as IT labour and a hardware refresh every five to seven years.
  • Hanwha publishes no list pricing and sells through distributors, so the perpetual-versus-subscription comparison it wins on paper still requires a distributor quote to verify.
  • Wisenet WAVE is a solid mid-market VMS but does not match Genetec or Milestone on enterprise features such as federation across independently owned systems, scripted operator procedures or deep access control unification.
  • Hanwha Vision is part of Hanwha Group, a large Korean conglomerate spanning defence, chemicals and finance, so the video business is one line among many and roadmap priority is set at a corporate level well above the security division.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Hanwha Vision

On request
  • Wisenet WAVE channel licence$undefined/year
    • Perpetual per-channel licence that does not expire once activated
    • No annual renewal fee to keep the system running
    • Sold singly and in 4, 8, 16, 24 and 48 channel bundles

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Hanwha Vision if

  • You need wisenet wave vms.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want on-camera ai.
Hanwha Vision review

Questions people ask

Is Dagger or Hanwha Vision better?
Neither clearly leads. Dagger starts at Free and Hanwha Vision at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dagger or Hanwha Vision?
Dagger has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Dagger and On request for Hanwha Vision.
Does Dagger or Hanwha Vision run on more platforms?
Dagger runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted. Hanwha Vision runs on Windows, Linux, Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Dagger for free?
Yes. Dagger has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Hanwha Vision starts at On request.
What is Dagger best used for?
Dagger is most often used for a platform team maintaining near-identical build yaml across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls instead, an engineering organisation migrating off a ci provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migration, a team whose engineers waste hours pushing commits to debug ci-only failures and needs to reproduce the exact run locally, a monorepo where most commits touch a small subset of services and cache-accurate step skipping cuts build minutes materially. Of those, a platform team maintaining near-identical build yaml across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls instead and an engineering organisation migrating off a ci provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migration are not what Hanwha Vision is typically brought in for.
What can Dagger do that Hanwha Vision cannot?
Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Local and CI parity, Content-addressed caching, Dagger Functions and modules. Hanwha Vision covers Wisenet WAVE VMS, On-camera AI, NDAA and TAA positioning, Multi-site management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Hanwha Vision: Is Hanwha Vision NDAA compliant?

Hanwha is a South Korean manufacturer and is not among the Section 889 covered entities, which are Hikvision, Dahua, Huawei, ZTE and Hytera, and its cameras do not use banned Chinese system-on-chip processors. Confirm compliance per model on the quote.

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.

Hanwha Vision: Are Wisenet WAVE licences subscriptions?

No. Channel licences are perpetual and do not expire once activated, with no annual renewal fee.

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.

Hanwha Vision: Is Wisenet WAVE the same as Nx Witness?

It is built on the Network Optix platform, so the two share a common core, with Hanwha adding its own camera integration and support.

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.

Hanwha Vision: Is Hanwha TAA compliant?

Many models are, manufactured in South Korea and Vietnam, but TAA is a per-unit question tied to manufacturing origin, so it must be verified model by model.

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