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Developer Tools · head to head

Dagger vs Resolver

Dagger logo

Dagger

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Resolver logo

Resolver

Cybersecurity

Risk, incident and investigations platform for corporate security and operational risk teams, owned by Kroll

From
On request
Free plan
No

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.; Resolver kroll ownership since 2022 means the product is sold alongside risk consulting services, so buyers who want software with no services attach should expect that conversation and should price the licence separately in negotiation.
  • They diverge on capability: Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Resolver covers Incident management.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dagger and Resolver actually diverge.

Attributes where Dagger and Resolver differ
AttributeDaggerResolver
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer month per team for Dagger Cloudquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, Self-hostedWeb, 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 Resolver

  • Incident management
  • Investigations
  • Enterprise risk management
  • Internal audit
  • Compliance and obligations
  • Business continuity
  • Risk Event Management
  • Configurable dashboards

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 Resolver
  • An engineering organisation migrating off a CI provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migrationnot Resolver
  • A team whose engineers waste hours pushing commits to debug CI-only failures and needs to reproduce the exact run locallynot Resolver
  • A monorepo where most commits touch a small subset of services and cache-accurate step skipping cuts build minutes materiallynot Resolver

Resolver

  • A national retailer consolidating store incident reporting, loss prevention cases and investigations into one system with defensible evidence handlingnot Dagger
  • A bank that needs operational risk events captured against a risk and control register rather than in spreadsheets and emailnot Dagger
  • A university security operations centre running dispatch, case management and clery-style reporting from a single recordnot Dagger
  • An organisation that already retains Kroll for investigations and wants case intake and vendor handoff in the same platformnot 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.

Resolver

  • Kroll ownership since 2022 means the product is sold alongside risk consulting services, so buyers who want software with no services attach should expect that conversation and should price the licence separately in negotiation.
  • Configuration flexibility comes at the cost of implementation time, with deployments commonly running several months and typically requiring vendor or partner services, so the first-year cost is well above the annual licence.
  • Module-based pricing means the platform gets expensive quickly once you add audit, compliance and continuity to a security-led purchase, and modules bought later rarely carry the discount of the original deal.
  • The IT and cyber compliance side is thinner than dedicated tools, so organisations chasing SOC 2 or ISO 27001 evidence automation will find it does not replace a Drata or Vanta.
  • Reporting is capable but the drag and drop builder has a real learning curve, and organisations that do not train an internal administrator end up raising support tickets for changes that should be self-service.

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

Resolver

On request
  • Resolver Core$undefined/year
    • Priced by modules selected and number of users
    • Annual or multi-year enterprise agreement
    • Implementation and configuration quoted separately

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.

Choose Resolver if

  • You need incident management.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want investigations.

Questions people ask

Is Dagger or Resolver better?
Neither clearly leads. Dagger starts at Free and Resolver at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dagger or Resolver?
Dagger has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Dagger and On request for Resolver.
Does Dagger or Resolver run on more platforms?
Dagger runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted. Resolver runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Dagger for free?
Yes. Dagger has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Resolver 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 Resolver is typically brought in for.
What can Dagger do that Resolver cannot?
Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Local and CI parity, Content-addressed caching, Dagger Functions and modules. Resolver covers Incident management, Investigations, Enterprise risk management, Internal audit.

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.

Resolver: Who owns Resolver?

Kroll, which acquired it in 2022. It is marketed as a Kroll business and sold alongside Kroll risk and investigations services.

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.

Resolver: What does Resolver cost?

Pricing is not published. It is quoted by module and user count on an annual or multi-year enterprise agreement, with implementation charged separately.

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.

Resolver: Is Resolver a SOC 2 compliance tool?

No. It is a risk, incident and investigations platform. Automated evidence collection for security certifications is not its strength.

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.

Resolver: How long does implementation take?

Months rather than weeks for a multi-module deployment, and most customers use vendor or partner services to configure it.

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