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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Paymo

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit EarthlyFull review
Paymo logo

Paymo

Project Management

Work & project management for teams

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit PaymoFull review

The short version

  • Paymo is a work management solution.
  • Earthly is free; Paymo starts at $5.9/mo.
  • Only Earthly lists policy as code; only Paymo lists time tracking.
  • Where Earthly falls short: pricing model not published; requires sales contact.
  • Where Paymo falls short: every advertised price rises after 3 months, with Plus going from $10.90 to $15.90 per user and Pro from $16.90 to $23.90.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Paymo actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Paymo differ
AttributeEarthlyPaymo
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websiteFreemium
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS
CategoryDeveloper ToolsProject Management
Founded20202008

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 Paymo

  • Task management
  • Time tracking
  • Invoicing
  • Gantt charts
  • Resource scheduling
  • Slack
  • Google Workspace
  • Zapier

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

Paymo

  • Time tracking for freelancersnot Earthly
  • Project management for small teamsnot Earthly
  • Invoice generation and client managementnot 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

Paymo

  • Every advertised price rises after 3 months, with Plus going from $10.90 to $15.90 per user and Pro from $16.90 to $23.90
  • The free plan allows 1 user, 1 client and 2 projects
  • The Solo plan is still capped at 3 clients and 5 projects
  • Gantt charts, task dependencies and scheduling require the Plus plan
  • Integrations are excluded from both the free and Solo plans

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Paymo

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1 user
    • unlimited time tracking
    • unlimited invoices
  • Solo$5.9/mo
    • 1 user
    • flat rate/retainer projects
    • 3 clients
  • Plus$10.9/mo
    • unlimited users
    • spreadsheet view
    • recurring tasks
  • Pro$16.9/mo
    • unlimited users
    • Gantt charts
    • task dependencies

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 Paymo if

  • You need task management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want time tracking.
Paymo review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Paymo better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Paymo at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Paymo?
Earthly starts at Free and Paymo at Free.
Does Earthly or Paymo run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, API. Paymo runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
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 Paymo is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Paymo cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Paymo covers Task management, Time tracking, Invoicing, Gantt charts.

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
Paymo: What is the storage limit by plan?

Free: 1GB, Solo: 5GB, Plus: 50GB, Pro: 500GB.

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
Paymo: Can I use Paymo with multiple users on the Free plan?

No, Free and Solo plans are limited to 1 user only. You need Plus or Pro for multiple users.

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
Paymo: What happens after the promotional pricing period ends?

Regular prices apply: Solo $9.90/month, Plus $15.90/user/month, Pro $23.90/user/month.

Source
Paymo: Is there a discount for annual billing?

Yes, annual payment offers up to 40% discount compared to monthly billing.

Source
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