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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Upstash

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Upstash logo

Upstash

Cloud

Serverless data for modern developers

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Upstash hTTP-based REST API only, no TCP connections means higher latency than self-hosted or connection-pooled Redis
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Upstash covers Serverless Redis.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Upstash actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Upstash differ
AttributeEarthlyUpstash
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websiteUnknown
PlatformsWeb, CLIREST API, Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, Vercel Edge, Cloudflare Workers, AWS Lambda
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCloud

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), founded (2020).

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 Upstash

  • Serverless Redis
  • Serverless Kafka
  • QStash
  • Global Replication
  • REST API
  • Edge Functions Support
  • Rate Limiting
  • Caching

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

Upstash

  • Cachingnot Earthly
  • Session storagenot Earthly
  • Real-time messagingnot Earthly
  • Rate limitingnot Earthly
  • Serverless backendsnot 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

Upstash

  • HTTP-based REST API only, no TCP connections means higher latency than self-hosted or connection-pooled Redis
  • Rate limiting occurs when traffic exceeds configured budget cap or request limits
  • Kafka service discontinued in March 2025, requiring migration to Upstash Workflow or alternatives
  • Limited Redis feature support compared to self-hosted Redis or Redis Cloud
  • High-request-volume workloads can accumulate significant costs due to per-request pricing model

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Upstash

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 256 MB data
    • 500K commands per month
    • 10 GB bandwidth
  • Pay-as-you-go$0.2/per 100K commands
    • Per-request billing
    • Storage at $0.25/GB
    • Unlimited commands
  • Fixed Plan$10/month
    • 250 MB Redis
    • Predictable pricing
    • Global replication available at higher tiers

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 Upstash if

  • You need serverless redis.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on REST API, Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, Vercel Edge, Cloudflare Workers, AWS Lambda.
  • You also want serverless kafka.
Upstash review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Upstash better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Upstash at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Upstash?
Earthly starts at Free and Upstash at Free.
Does Earthly or Upstash run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Upstash runs on REST API, Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, Vercel Edge, Cloudflare Workers, AWS Lambda.
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 Upstash is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Upstash cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Upstash covers Serverless Redis, Serverless Kafka, QStash, Global Replication.

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
Upstash: Does Upstash have a free tier?

Yes. The free tier provides 256 MB of data and 500,000 commands per month with 10 GB of bandwidth in a single region, no credit card required.

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
Upstash: How does Upstash work with edge platforms like Vercel and Cloudflare Workers?

Upstash uses a REST API instead of TCP connections, enabling it to work from Vercel Edge, Cloudflare Workers, and AWS Lambda without persistent connections or connection pooling.

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
Upstash: What programming languages are supported?

Upstash provides native SDKs for Python, Node.js, Go, and Rust. Java, C#, and PHP developers can use the REST API or community libraries.

Source
Upstash: Is Upstash Kafka still available?

No. Upstash Kafka was deprecated on September 11, 2024 and fully discontinued on March 11, 2025. Upstash Workflow is now recommended for durable serverless messaging and task queuing.

Source
Upstash: How is Upstash pricing structured?

Upstash uses per-request pricing at $0.20 per 100K commands for Redis, $0.25/GB for storage, and $0.40 per 100K requests for Vector database. Idle applications cost nothing.

Source
Upstash: Can Upstash be used with AWS Lambda?

Yes. Upstash works with AWS Lambda via its REST API, eliminating the need for connection pooling and making it ideal for stateless serverless functions.

Source
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