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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Mode

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit EarthlyFull review
Mode logo

Mode

Business Intelligence

Collaborative analytics for data teams

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit ModeFull review

The short version

  • Mode is a collaborative analytics platform.
  • Earthly is free; Mode starts at $65/mo.
  • Only Earthly lists policy as code; only Mode lists SQL Editor.
  • Where Earthly falls short: pricing model not published; requires sales contact.
  • Where Mode falls short: free tier limited to 4GB RAM and 1 CPU for SQL notebooks, insufficient for large datasets.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Mode actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Mode differ
AttributeEarthlyMode
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websiteSubscription
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsBusiness Intelligence
Founded20202013

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 Mode

  • SQL Editor
  • Python/R Notebooks
  • Interactive Reports
  • Version Control
  • Scheduling
  • Snowflake
  • Redshift
  • BigQuery

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

Mode

  • Self-service analyticsnot Earthly
  • Data explorationnot Earthly
  • Ad-hoc reportingnot Earthly
  • Collaborative analysisnot Earthly
  • Embedded analyticsnot 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

Mode

  • Free tier limited to 4GB RAM and 1 CPU for SQL notebooks, insufficient for large datasets
  • Requires SQL knowledge for most analysis tasks, creating dependency on technical resources
  • Paid plan pricing not publicly listed; requires sales consultation
  • Recently acquired by ThoughtSpot in 2026, creating product direction uncertainty
  • Limited customization options for visual aspects and embedded analytics

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Mode

Free
  • FreeFree
    • SQL Editor
    • Python/R Notebooks
    • Basic Charts
  • Business$65/mo
    • Advanced Visualizations
    • Collaboration
    • Integrations

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 Mode if

  • You need sql editor.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want python/r notebooks.
Mode review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Mode better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Mode at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Mode?
Earthly starts at Free and Mode at Free.
Does Earthly or Mode run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, API. Mode runs on Web.
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 Mode is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Mode cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Mode covers SQL Editor, Python/R Notebooks, Interactive Reports, Version Control.

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
Mode: What languages does Mode support for analysis?

Mode notebooks support SQL, Python (3.11 with pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, matplotlib), and R (4.2.0 with ggplot2, dplyr, tidyr). Both Python and R allow additional library installation at runtime.

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
Mode: Can I integrate Mode notebook results into reports?

Yes. Mode allows adding notebook cell results directly to reports, with synchronized scheduling so reports re-run to keep data current.

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
Mode: Does Mode support collaborative analysis?

Yes. Mode notebooks provide moveable code blocks and markdown cells enabling exploratory analysis and team collaboration on data queries and visualizations.

Source
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