Developer Tools · head to head
Earthly vs Render
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Render the free Hobby workspace is limited to 25 services and 5 GB of bandwidth
- They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Render covers Web services.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Earthly and Render actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Render
- Web services
- Static sites
- Background workers
- Postgres database
- Redis database
- Scheduled jobs
- Environment variables
- Custom domains
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 Render
- Automating incident response procedures across all repositoriesnot Render
- Embedding compliance requirements into development workflowsnot Render
- Standardizing build processes with Earthfilesnot Render
Render
- Deploying web services, static sites and cron jobs from a Git repository without managing serversnot Earthly
- Running managed Postgres and Redis alongside application servicesnot Earthly
- Preview environments per pull request for small teamsnot 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
Render
- The free Hobby workspace is limited to 25 services and 5 GB of bandwidth
- Every paid plan charges the workspace fee plus compute on top, so $25 per month for Pro is a floor rather than a total
- SAML SSO and SCIM require the Scale plan at $499 per month
- HIPAA-compliant workspaces, inbound IP rules and advanced RBAC roles are Scale plan features
- Organization-level audit logs require Scale; Pro provides only workspace audit logs
- Contractual uptime SLAs, support response SLAs and a technical account manager are Enterprise only, and Enterprise is custom priced with no published rate
- Included bandwidth is 25 GB on Pro and 1 TB on Scale, with usage beyond that billed separately
Pricing, plan by plan
Earthly
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.
Render
Free- FreeFree
- 1 web service
- 1 static site
- Shared CPU
- Starter$7/month
- Unlimited services
- Dedicated CPU
- 2GB RAM
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.
Choose Render if
- You need web services.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want static sites.
Questions people ask
- Is Earthly or Render better?
- Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Render at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Earthly or Render?
- Earthly starts at Free and Render at Free.
- Does Earthly or Render run on more platforms?
- Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Render runs on Web, Api.
- 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 Render is typically brought in for.
- What can Earthly do that Render cannot?
- Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Render covers Web services, Static sites, Background workers, Postgres database.
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.
SourceRender: What is Render's pricing?
Render's pricing details are not disclosed on the public pricing page. The site references workspace plans, compute services, and features but does not display specific costs. Users must visit the pricing page directly or contact Render for detailed information.
SourceEarthly: 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.
SourceEarthly: 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.
SourceRelated pages
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