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Web Development · head to head

.NET vs Earthly

.NET logo

.NET

Web Development

Free, cross-platform, open source developer platform

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: .NET .NET 8 and .NET 9 both reach end of support on 10 November 2026, per dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support/policy (Aug 2026), forcing an upgrade to .NET 10 by that date; Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which .NET and Earthly actually diverge.

Attributes where .NET and Earthly differ
Attribute.NETEarthly
Pricing modelopen-sourceNo pricing published on website
PlatformsWebWeb, CLI
CategoryWeb DevelopmentDeveloper 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 .NET

Nothing recorded that Earthly does not also cover.

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.

.NET

  • Web development with ASP.NET Core and Entity Frameworknot Earthly
  • Cloud-native application development for Azurenot Earthly
  • Mobile and desktop apps with .NET MAUI cross-platform frameworknot Earthly
  • AI and machine learning applications using C#not Earthly

Earthly

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

Where each one falls short

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

.NET

  • .NET 8 and .NET 9 both reach end of support on 10 November 2026, per dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support/policy (Aug 2026), forcing an upgrade to .NET 10 by that date
  • Standard Term Support releases get only 2 years of patches versus 3 years for Long Term Support releases, per Microsoft's own support policy page, so teams on an STS release face a shorter upgrade cycle

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

.NET

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the .NET review.

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Which should you pick?

Choose .NET if

  • You want to start without paying.
.NET 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 .NET or Earthly better?
Neither clearly leads. .NET 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, .NET or Earthly?
.NET starts at Free and Earthly at Free.
Does .NET or Earthly run on more platforms?
.NET runs on Web. Earthly runs on Web, CLI.
Can I use .NET for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is .NET best used for?
.NET is most often used for web development with asp.net core and entity framework, cloud-native application development for azure, mobile and desktop apps with .net maui cross-platform framework, ai and machine learning applications using c#. Of those, web development with asp.net core and entity framework and cloud-native application development for azure are not what Earthly is typically brought in for.
What can .NET do that Earthly cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

.NET: Is .NET free to use?

Yes. .NET is completely free and open-source, available on GitHub.

Source
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
.NET: What platforms does .NET support?

.NET supports Windows, Linux, macOS, and Docker. A single C# codebase can run across multiple platforms including iOS, Android, and cloud environments.

Source
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
.NET: How large is the .NET ecosystem?

NuGet provides 390,000+ unique packages with 50,000+ new packages added annually. .NET has 474K+ GitHub stars and active community support across multiple platforms.

Source
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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