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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Skopeo

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Skopeo logo

Skopeo

Cloud

Inspect, copy and sign container images without pulling them

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Skopeo single-purpose: it neither builds nor runs images, so it is one tool in a chain rather than a solution
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Skopeo covers Remote inspection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Skopeo actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Skopeo differ
AttributeEarthlySkopeo
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websiteOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, CLILinux, macOS
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCloud
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 Skopeo

  • Remote inspection
  • Registry-to-registry copy
  • Format conversion
  • Image signing

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

Skopeo

  • Promoting images between staging and production registries without a round tripnot Earthly
  • Inspecting an image’s contents before deciding to deploy itnot Earthly
  • Mirroring images into an air-gapped or internal registrynot 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

Skopeo

  • Single-purpose: it neither builds nor runs images, so it is one tool in a chain rather than a solution
  • Command syntax with transport prefixes such as docker:// is unusual and trips people up initially
  • Documentation is sparse compared with the rest of the container ecosystem

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Skopeo

Free
  • SkopeoFree
    • Full functionality
    • No usage limits
    • 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 Skopeo if

  • You need remote inspection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS.
  • You also want registry-to-registry copy.
Skopeo review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Skopeo better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Skopeo at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Skopeo?
Earthly starts at Free and Skopeo at Free.
Does Earthly or Skopeo run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Skopeo runs on Linux, 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 Skopeo is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Skopeo cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Skopeo covers Remote inspection, Registry-to-registry copy, Format conversion, Image signing.

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
Skopeo: Is Skopeo free?

Yes, open source with no licence fee.

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
Skopeo: Why copy images without pulling them?

A registry-to-registry copy avoids downloading and re-uploading gigabytes, which is faster and much cheaper on bandwidth in CI.

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
Skopeo: Can Skopeo run containers?

No. It only inspects, copies, signs and deletes images. Running them is Podman’s or Docker’s job.

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