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Cybersecurity · head to head

DTiQ vs Garden

DTiQ logo

DTiQ

Cybersecurity

Managed video loss prevention with human auditors for restaurants, convenience stores and retail

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Garden has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: DTiQ you are buying labour, so the cost per site is far higher than a self-service video licence and it does not fall as camera prices do.; 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.
  • They diverge on capability: DTiQ covers SmartAudit, Garden covers Action graph.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DTiQ and Garden actually diverge.

Attributes where DTiQ and Garden differ
AttributeDTiQGarden
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

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 DTiQ

  • SmartAudit
  • POS transaction linking
  • 360iQ platform
  • Exception alerting
  • Drive-through timing
  • Food safety and compliance checks
  • Managed installation

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.

DTiQ

  • A multi-unit quick service franchisee who has no one available to review video across fifteen storesnot Garden
  • A convenience store chain investigating till fraud by matching voids to what actually happened at the counternot Garden
  • An operator enforcing drive-through service time standards across locations from evidence rather than anecdotenot Garden
  • A brand auditing food safety and cleanliness compliance at franchise sites without sending a field managernot Garden

Garden

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

Where each one falls short

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

DTiQ

  • You are buying labour, so the cost per site is far higher than a self-service video licence and it does not fall as camera prices do.
  • Audits are sampled, not continuous, so a problem outside the reviewed window is invisible and the score is a statistical impression rather than a complete record.
  • Nothing is published on price and the commercial shape is a multi-year managed service agreement, which is harder to exit than a software subscription and typically involves bundled hardware you do not own.
  • Ownership changed in a $200 million Digital Alpha led investment tied to a Cisco Meraki partnership, so the hardware and network roadmap may shift under an existing estate.
  • It is built around restaurant, convenience and retail operating models, so an organisation outside those verticals gets a generic video product and pays for an audit methodology that does not fit its work.

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

DTiQ

On request
  • DTiQ managed service$undefined/month
    • Priced per location as a managed service, not per camera
    • Audit frequency and scope determine the rate
    • Hardware and installation bundled into the service agreement

Garden

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

Which should you pick?

Choose DTiQ if

  • You need smartaudit.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want pos transaction linking.
DTiQ review

Choose Garden if

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

Questions people ask

Is DTiQ or Garden better?
Neither clearly leads. DTiQ starts at On request and Garden at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DTiQ or Garden?
Garden has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for DTiQ and Free for Garden.
Does DTiQ or Garden run on more platforms?
DTiQ runs on Web, iOS, Android. Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes.
Can I use Garden for free?
Yes. Garden has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. DTiQ starts at On request.
What is DTiQ best used for?
DTiQ is most often used for a multi-unit quick service franchisee who has no one available to review video across fifteen stores, a convenience store chain investigating till fraud by matching voids to what actually happened at the counter, an operator enforcing drive-through service time standards across locations from evidence rather than anecdote, a brand auditing food safety and cleanliness compliance at franchise sites without sending a field manager. Of those, a multi-unit quick service franchisee who has no one available to review video across fifteen stores and a convenience store chain investigating till fraud by matching voids to what actually happened at the counter are not what Garden is typically brought in for.
What can DTiQ do that Garden cannot?
DTiQ covers SmartAudit, POS transaction linking, 360iQ platform, Exception alerting. Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

DTiQ: Is DTiQ a video management system?

Not primarily. It is a managed service where human auditors review your footage and deliver scored reports. The platform exists to support that service.

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.

DTiQ: How is it priced?

Per location as a managed service, based on audit scope and frequency, with hardware and installation bundled. Nothing is published.

Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

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

DTiQ: Who owns DTiQ?

Digital Alpha holds a majority stake following a $200 million investment that bought out Bain Capital, BV Investment Partners and others, alongside a Cisco Meraki partnership.

Garden: Does it replace my CI system?

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

DTiQ: Does it integrate with my POS?

Yes, with major restaurant and convenience store point of sale systems, which is what allows transaction exceptions to be replayed on video.

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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