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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Spot AI

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Spot AI logo

Spot AI

Cybersecurity

Cloud video intelligence that runs on your existing cameras through an on-site recorder

From
$99/month
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; Spot AI at roughly $99 per camera per month the all-in rate is high against a perpetual VMS licence: 200 cameras is around $240,000 a year, recurring, where an on-premise system would be largely a one-time cost.
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Spot AI covers Camera agnostic.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Spot AI actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Spot AI differ
AttributeEarthlySpot AI
Starting priceFree$99/month
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websitePer camera per month, all inclusive
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, CLIWeb, iOS, Android
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
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 Spot AI

  • Camera agnostic
  • Intelligent Video Recorder
  • AI video search
  • Operational analytics
  • Cloud management
  • Alerting and clip sharing
  • All-in per-camera pricing

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

Spot AI

  • A manufacturer with hundreds of existing cameras that wants cloud search without replacing any of themnot Earthly
  • A logistics operator investigating dock door delays and trailer dwell time from footagenot Earthly
  • A retail chain reviewing incidents across dozens of stores without a VPN into each sitenot Earthly
  • A safety team detecting forklift near-misses and missing personal protective equipment automaticallynot 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

Spot AI

  • At roughly $99 per camera per month the all-in rate is high against a perpetual VMS licence: 200 cameras is around $240,000 a year, recurring, where an on-premise system would be largely a one-time cost.
  • Reusing existing cameras saves capital but caps quality; AI analytics on a fifteen-year-old analogue camera produces correspondingly poor results and no software fixes the optics.
  • Per-camera monthly billing scales linearly with camera count, so adding coverage is always expensive and there is no volume point where marginal cameras become cheap.
  • The on-site IVR is a single point of failure per location, so an appliance fault takes that site's recording and cloud access with it until it is replaced.
  • It is a subscription with no perpetual option, so an organisation that stops paying loses the platform entirely and is left with cameras and no management system.

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Spot AI

$99/month
  • Spot AI$99/month
    • Reference rate of roughly $99 per camera per month
    • Includes the on-site IVR appliance, cloud software, AI and support
    • Monthly, annual and multi-year terms available

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 Spot AI if

  • You need camera agnostic.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want intelligent video recorder.
Spot AI review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Spot AI better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Spot AI at $99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Spot AI?
Earthly has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Earthly and $99/month for Spot AI.
Does Earthly or Spot AI run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Spot AI runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Earthly for free?
Yes. Earthly has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Spot AI starts at $99/month.
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 Spot AI is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Spot AI cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Spot AI covers Camera agnostic, Intelligent Video Recorder, AI video search, Operational analytics.

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
Spot AI: Do I have to buy new cameras?

No. That is the main point of the product: the IVR appliance connects to existing IP and analogue cameras.

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
Spot AI: What does it cost?

The reference rate that recurs across pricing breakdowns and Spot AI materials is roughly $99 per camera per month, bundling the appliance, cloud software, AI and support.

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
Spot AI: Is there a perpetual licence option?

No. It is subscription only, and the platform stops working when the subscription does.

Spot AI: Will AI analytics work on my old analogue cameras?

They will run, but detection quality follows image quality. Old low resolution cameras produce poor analytics results.

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