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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Sweep

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sweep logo

Sweep

Developer Tools

AI coding assistant for JetBrains IDEs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Sweep limited to JetBrains IDEs only, not available for VS Code or other editors
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Sweep covers Autocomplete.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Sweep actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Sweep differ
AttributeEarthlySweep
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websiteFreemium with paid tiers
PlatformsWeb, CLIJetBrains IDEs
Founded20202023

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Developer Tools).

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 Sweep

  • Autocomplete
  • AI Agent
  • Full codebase indexing
  • Code review functionality
  • Multi-IDE support
  • GitHub integration

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

Sweep

  • Accelerating code completion for JetBrains developersnot Earthly
  • Automating refactoring tasks across codebasesnot Earthly
  • Handling bug fixes with full repository contextnot Earthly
  • Code review and quality assurancenot 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

Sweep

  • Limited to JetBrains IDEs only, not available for VS Code or other editors
  • Free tier limited to 1,000 autocompletes per month
  • API credit consumption varies by feature usage
  • Performance dependent on codebase size and indexing quality

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Sweep

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1,000 autocompletes
    • 5 USD API credits included
    • All JetBrains IDEs supported
  • Pro$20/month
    • Unlimited autocomplete
    • Higher API credit allocation
    • Priority support
  • Ultra$60/month
    • Unlimited autocomplete
    • Maximum API credit allocation
    • Extended context window

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 Sweep if

  • You need autocomplete.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on JetBrains IDEs.
  • You also want ai agent.
Sweep review

Questions people ask

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

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
Sweep: What programming languages does Sweep support?

Sweep works with all programming languages supported by JetBrains IDEs, including Python, Java, JavaScript, Go, Kotlin, C++, and many others.

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
Sweep: Does Sweep retain my code data?

No. Sweep is SOC 2 Type II certified with zero data retention. Code is processed for suggestions but not stored.

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
Sweep: Can I cancel my Sweep subscription anytime?

Yes. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings with no long-term commitments or cancellation fees.

Source
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