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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Orca Security

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Orca Security logo

Orca Security

Cloud

Agentless cloud-native application protection platform for code-to-runtime security.

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; Orca Security no public pricing; requires a demo and custom quote from sales.
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Orca Security covers Agentless cloud scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Orca Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Orca Security differ
AttributeEarthlyOrca Security
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websitequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, CLIweb, api
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCloud
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 Orca Security

  • Agentless cloud scanning
  • Attack path analysis
  • Shadow AI detection
  • Secure code development
  • Alert prioritization
  • Workload protection

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

Orca Security

  • Gaining full cloud asset visibility without deploying agentsnot Earthly
  • Prioritizing cloud risk with attack path correlationnot Earthly
  • Detecting shadow AI usage across cloud environmentsnot Earthly
  • Scanning code, containers, and IaC before deploymentnot Earthly
  • Reducing alert fatigue through contextual risk scoringnot 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

Orca Security

  • No public pricing; requires a demo and custom quote from sales.
  • Agentless-only scanning may miss some runtime telemetry that agent-based tools capture.
  • Full value depends on integrating many of the platform's modules across code, cloud, and AI.
  • Primarily targeted at mid-to-large organizations with multi-cloud environments.

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Orca Security

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Orca Security 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 Orca Security if

  • You need agentless cloud scanning.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want attack path analysis.
Orca Security review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Orca Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Orca Security at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Orca Security?
Earthly has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Earthly and On request for Orca Security.
Does Earthly or Orca Security run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Orca Security runs on web, api.
Can I use Earthly for free?
Yes. Earthly has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Orca Security 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 Orca Security is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Orca Security cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Orca Security covers Agentless cloud scanning, Attack path analysis, Shadow AI detection, Secure code development.

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
Orca Security: How much does Orca Security cost?

Orca Security does not publish pricing tiers or rates on their website. Organizations must contact Orca Security directly or request a demo to receive custom pricing information based on their specific use case and requirements.

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
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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