Softwr

Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Jamf Pro

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Jamf Pro logo

Jamf Pro

Cybersecurity

Apple-only device management for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, licensed per device by a public US vendor.

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Earthly has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Jamf Pro it manages Apple hardware only, so any organisation with Windows or Android devices runs a second management platform and produces two sets of compliance evidence, and the two inventories disagree with each other more often than either vendor's documentation suggests.
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Jamf Pro covers Automated Device Enrolment.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Jamf Pro actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Jamf Pro differ
AttributeEarthlyJamf Pro
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websitequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, CLIWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
Founded2020Unknown

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 Earthly

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

Only in Jamf Pro

  • Automated Device Enrolment
  • Configuration profiles
  • Policies and scripts
  • Smart groups
  • Self Service
  • Patch management
  • Extension attributes
  • Same-day OS support

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 Jamf Pro
  • Automating incident response procedures across all repositoriesnot Jamf Pro
  • Embedding compliance requirements into development workflowsnot Jamf Pro
  • Standardizing build processes with Earthfilesnot Jamf Pro

Jamf Pro

  • An Apple-heavy workforce where devices ship directly to users and must configure themselves on first boot with no IT touchnot Earthly
  • Education deployments managing shared iPads across classes with per-user app assignmentnot Earthly
  • Developer organisations where engineers have administrator rights on their own Macs and management has to be achieved by policy and script rather than lockdownnot Earthly
  • Organisations needing compliance evidence for Apple devices that a general-purpose endpoint manager cannot produce at the required depthnot 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

Jamf Pro

  • It manages Apple hardware only, so any organisation with Windows or Android devices runs a second management platform and produces two sets of compliance evidence, and the two inventories disagree with each other more often than either vendor's documentation suggests.
  • Licensing is per device per year with different rates for computers and mobile devices, so spare and shared hardware sitting in a cupboard continues to consume licences until somebody actively removes it from inventory, which is nobody's job by default.
  • Apple's frameworks set the ceiling: if Apple does not expose a setting through MDM or declarative device management, Jamf cannot manage it either, so requests that are a single Group Policy object on Windows are answered with a scripted workaround or with nothing.
  • Zero-touch deployment depends on devices being registered in Apple Business Manager, which generally means buying through Apple or an authorised reseller, so machines bought retail or inherited through an acquisition cannot be supervised without wiping and re-enrolling them.
  • Getting value from it requires an Apple platform specialist who can write shell scripts, read configuration profiles and design smart group logic, and a generalist team without that skill uses a fraction of the product while paying the full per-device rate.

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Jamf Pro

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Jamf Pro review.

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Jamf Pro if

  • You need automated device enrolment.
  • You also want configuration profiles.
Jamf Pro review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Jamf Pro better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Jamf Pro at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Jamf Pro?
Earthly has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Earthly and On request for Jamf Pro.
Does Earthly or Jamf Pro run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Jamf Pro runs on Web.
Can I use Earthly for free?
Yes. Earthly has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Jamf Pro starts at On request.
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 Jamf Pro is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Jamf Pro cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Jamf Pro covers Automated Device Enrolment, Configuration profiles, Policies and scripts, Smart groups.

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
Jamf Pro: Does Jamf Pro include endpoint security?

No. Threat prevention, endpoint telemetry and compliance monitoring are Jamf Protect, a separate product and a separate licence. Jamf Connect for identity and password sync is also separate.

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
Jamf Pro: Can it manage Windows or Android?

No. Jamf manages Apple platforms only. A mixed estate needs a second management platform, and that is a deliberate product decision rather than a gap they intend to close.

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
Jamf Pro: Do I need Apple Business Manager?

For zero-touch enrolment and volume app licensing, yes. You can enrol devices manually through a user-initiated flow without it, but you lose supervision, automatic enrolment and the ability to prevent a user removing management.

Jamf Pro: Can I host it myself?

Yes, Jamf Pro can be self-hosted, though Jamf Cloud is the default and receives new capabilities first. Self-hosting means you own the upgrade cadence, which matters because Apple's September releases set the timetable.

Jamf Pro: How does it compare to Microsoft Intune?

Intune manages Apple devices adequately and is often already paid for in an existing Microsoft agreement, which is the argument against Jamf. Jamf is deeper, supports new Apple releases faster, and has the local agent for scripting. Organisations with a few hundred Macs and a strong Apple culture generally choose Jamf; those with a handful of Macs in a Windows estate generally do not.

Share

Related pages

More on Earthly

More on Jamf Pro

Keep looking

Other head to heads