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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Rollup

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Rollup logo

Rollup

Web Development

JavaScript module bundler built for libraries

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Rollup slower than the Go and Rust bundlers that followed it, since it is written in JavaScript
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Rollup covers Tree shaking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Rollup actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Rollup differ
AttributeEarthlyRollup
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websiteOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, CLILinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryDeveloper ToolsWeb Development
Founded2020Unknown

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 Rollup

  • Tree shaking
  • Clean output
  • Multiple output formats
  • Plugin API

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

Rollup

  • Publishing a JavaScript library in several module formatsnot Earthly
  • Builds where output size and cleanliness matter more than build speednot Earthly
  • Producing ES module output for consumers who will bundle it themselvesnot 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

Rollup

  • Slower than the Go and Rust bundlers that followed it, since it is written in JavaScript
  • Application concerns like dev servers and hot reloading are not its job, so app builds need Vite on top
  • Configuration for non-trivial applications gets verbose compared with tools that assume more

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Rollup

Free
  • RollupFree
    • Full functionality
    • Commercial use permitted
    • Community support

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 Rollup if

  • You need tree shaking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want clean output.
Rollup review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Rollup better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Rollup at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Rollup?
Earthly starts at Free and Rollup at Free.
Does Earthly or Rollup run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Rollup runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
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 Rollup is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Rollup cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Rollup covers Tree shaking, Clean output, Multiple output formats, Plugin API.

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
Rollup: Is Rollup free?

Yes, open source under the MIT licence.

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
Rollup: Rollup or webpack?

Rollup is the usual choice for libraries thanks to cleaner output and better tree shaking. webpack remains stronger for complex applications with heavy asset handling.

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
Rollup: Do I need Rollup if I use Vite?

Not directly. Vite uses Rollup for production builds, so you already benefit from it.

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