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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Hex

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit EarthlyFull review
Hex logo

Hex

Business Intelligence

AI-powered analytics platform unifying notebooks, dashboards, and business intelligence

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit HexFull review

The short version

  • Earthly is free; Hex starts at $36/mo.
  • Only Earthly lists policy as code; only Hex lists agentic notebooks.
  • Where Earthly falls short: pricing model not published; requires sales contact.
  • Where Hex falls short: pricing based per-seat ($36-$75/editor/month) becomes expensive for large teams.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Hex actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Hex differ
AttributeEarthlyHex
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websiteSeat-based subscription with credit system
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, Slack
CategoryDeveloper ToolsBusiness Intelligence
Founded20202019

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

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 Earthly

  • Policy as code
  • Multi-stage enforcement
  • AI agent governance
  • Repository-wide policies
  • Incident response automation
  • Compliance management
  • Earthfiles build tool
  • Satellites

Only in Hex

  • Agentic notebooks
  • Conversational analytics
  • Data apps
  • Context Studio
  • Data warehouse integration
  • dbt integration
  • Version history
  • Scheduled automation

What people use each for

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

Earthly

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

Hex

  • Deep exploratory analysis by data teams on organizational datasetsnot Earthly
  • Self-serve analytics for business users without SQL knowledgenot Earthly
  • Executive dashboarding and reporting with real-time datanot Earthly
  • Cross-functional data collaboration and insight sharingnot Earthly
  • AI-assisted analysis reducing manual exploration timenot Earthly

Where each one falls short

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

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

Hex

  • Pricing based per-seat ($36-$75/editor/month) becomes expensive for large teams
  • Free Community tier limited to small compute and trial AI features
  • Advanced compute adds per-hour fees ($0.32-$4.06/hour), requiring cost monitoring
  • Learning curve for users unfamiliar with SQL or Python notebooks
  • Enterprise features requiring custom quotes lack transparent pricing

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Hex

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • Hex agent trial
    • Data source connections
    • All cell types
  • Professional$36/mo
    • Everything in Community
    • Full Hex agent access
    • Standard credits
  • Team$75/mo
    • Everything in Professional
    • Extended credits
    • Unlimited published apps
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Everything in Team
    • Explorer seat add-ons
    • Audit logs

Which should you pick?

Choose Earthly if

  • You need policy as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want multi-stage enforcement.
Earthly review

Choose Hex if

  • You need agentic notebooks.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Slack.
  • You also want conversational analytics.
Hex review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Hex better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Hex at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Hex?
Earthly starts at Free and Hex at Free.
Does Earthly or Hex run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, API. Hex runs on Web, Slack.
Can I use Earthly for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Earthly best used for?
Earthly is most often used for enforcing engineering standards across ai and human developers, automating incident response procedures across all repositories, embedding compliance requirements into development workflows, standardizing build processes with earthfiles. Of those, enforcing engineering standards across ai and human developers and automating incident response procedures across all repositories are not what Hex is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Hex cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Hex covers Agentic notebooks, Conversational analytics, Data apps, Context Studio.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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
Hex: What is included in the free Community plan?

The Community plan ($0) includes Hex agent trial, data source connections, all cell types, and small compute sizing. It's suitable for prototyping and hobbyist projects.

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
Hex: How much do advanced compute resources cost?

Advanced compute is billed per minute and ranges from $0.32 to $4.06 per hour depending on resource tier. Monthly credit grants are included in paid plans.

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
Hex: Can I share analytics with non-Hex users?

Yes. Published apps can be shared publicly. Embedded analytics are available on Enterprise plans for integrating Hex into other applications.

Source
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