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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Stytch

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Stytch logo

Stytch

Cybersecurity

Identity platform with passwordless auth, passkeys and bot detection.

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Stytch free tier limited to 10,000 monthly active users; scaling beyond this requires custom pricing negotiation
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Stytch actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Stytch differ
AttributeEarthlyStytch
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websitefreemium
PlatformsWeb, CLIWeb, API
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
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 Stytch

Nothing recorded that Earthly does not also cover.

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

Stytch

  • Applications prioritising passwordless and passkey authenticationnot Earthly
  • SaaS platforms requiring AI agent authentication and machine-to-machine flowsnot Earthly
  • Companies with emerging identity needs such as bot detection and device intelligencenot Earthly
  • Organisations building with Next.js and React requiring modern auth patternsnot Earthly
  • Applications needing transparent pricing without surprise tiers or feature gatingnot 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

Stytch

  • Free tier limited to 10,000 monthly active users; scaling beyond this requires custom pricing negotiation
  • Fraud prevention capabilities billed at $0.005 per fingerprint for usage exceeding 10,000 free checks
  • Additional SSO or SCIM connections beyond the 5 included in free tier cost $125 each
  • Brand customisation and email removal require one-time payment of $99
  • HIPAA and advanced fraud protection only available in Enterprise tier
  • No native UI builder; requires custom frontend development for fully-branded auth flows

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Stytch

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 10,000 monthly active users and AI agents
    • Unlimited organisations
    • 5 SSO or SCIM connections
  • Scaled$undefined/variable
    • Usage-based pricing for users exceeding 10,000
    • All free tier features
    • Volume discounts available
  • Enterprise$undefined/variable
    • Custom pricing
    • Discounted volume rates
    • Enterprise support SLA

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 Stytch if

  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
Stytch review

Questions people ask

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

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
Stytch: What is included in Stytch's free tier?

The free tier includes 10,000 monthly active users (human and AI agents), unlimited organisations, 5 SSO or SCIM connections, and 1,000 machine-to-machine tokens with full authentication features.

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
Stytch: Does Stytch support AI agent authentication?

Yes. Stytch provides native AI agent authentication and authorisation, with support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for authenticating AI agents accessing external systems.

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
Stytch: What fraud prevention features does Stytch offer?

Stytch includes bot detection with 99.99% accuracy, device fingerprinting, invisible CAPTCHA, and zero-day device intelligence built into all tiers.

Source
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