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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Userpilot

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Userpilot logo

Userpilot

Technology

Product analytics and in-app onboarding platform.

From
Free
Free plan
Yes

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Userpilot starter tier limited to 2,000 monthly active users; even small-to-medium products may require Growth tier
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Userpilot actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Userpilot differ
AttributeEarthlyUserpilot
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websitesubscription
PlatformsWeb, CLIWeb, iOS, Android, API
CategoryDeveloper ToolsTechnology
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 Userpilot

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

Userpilot

  • SaaS companies optimising user onboarding and activationnot Earthly
  • Product teams collecting user feedback and identifying churn drivers via session replaynot Earthly
  • Customer success teams using in-app guides and contextual helpnot Earthly
  • Growth teams orchestrating multi-channel campaigns across email and in-appnot Earthly
  • Product managers measuring adoption and engagement across user cohortsnot 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

Userpilot

  • Starter tier limited to 2,000 monthly active users; even small-to-medium products may require Growth tier
  • Large price jump from Starter ($299/mo) to Growth ($849/mo), nearly 3x increase
  • Growth tier scales to 100,000 MAU but does not publish pricing for higher volumes, requiring Enterprise negotiation
  • Session replay and mobile engagement are optional add-ons in Growth tier, not included in base pricing
  • Enterprise pricing not published; custom negotiations required for large-scale deployments

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Userpilot

Free
  • Starter$299/month
    • Up to 2,000 monthly active users
    • In-app engagement
    • User segmentation
  • Growth$849/month (marked 'Most Popular')
    • 2,000 to 100,000 monthly active users
    • All Starter features
    • Advanced product analytics
  • Enterprise$undefined/variable
    • Custom monthly active user levels
    • All Growth features
    • Premium integrations

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.

Choose Userpilot if

  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Userpilot better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Userpilot at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Userpilot?
Earthly starts at Free and Userpilot at Free.
Does Earthly or Userpilot run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Userpilot runs on Web, iOS, Android, 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 Userpilot is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Userpilot 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
Userpilot: What is included in the free trial?

Userpilot offers a free 14-day trial without requiring a credit card, providing full access to the Starter tier 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
Userpilot: Does Userpilot include session replay?

Session replay is available in the Growth tier as an optional add-on for watching real user sessions and identifying friction points.

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
Userpilot: What integrations does Userpilot support?

Userpilot integrates with HubSpot, Salesforce, Segment, Google Analytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel, Heap, Zendesk, Intercom and Google Tag Manager. Additional integrations can be requested.

Source
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