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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Wireshark

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Wireshark logo

Wireshark

Cybersecurity

The world's foremost network protocol analyzer

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Wireshark free and open source under the GNU GPL; downloadable without paying any license fee, no commercial tier
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Wireshark covers Deep packet inspection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Wireshark actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Wireshark differ
AttributeEarthlyWireshark
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websitefree
PlatformsWeb, CLIDesktop, Cli
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
Founded20201998

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 Wireshark

  • Deep packet inspection
  • Live capture
  • Offline analysis
  • 3000+ protocol support
  • Rich display filters
  • VoIP analysis
  • Decryption support
  • Scripting with Lua

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

Wireshark

  • Network Securitynot Earthly
  • Packet Analysisnot Earthly
  • Open Sourcenot 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

Wireshark

  • Free and open source under the GNU GPL; downloadable without paying any license fee, no commercial tier

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Wireshark

Free
  • Free & Open SourceFree
    • Full functionality
    • Deep inspection
    • Live capture

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 Wireshark if

  • You need deep packet inspection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Desktop, Cli.
  • You also want live capture.
Wireshark review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Wireshark better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Wireshark at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Wireshark?
Earthly starts at Free and Wireshark at Free.
Does Earthly or Wireshark run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Wireshark runs on Desktop, Cli.
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 Wireshark is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Wireshark cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Wireshark covers Deep packet inspection, Live capture, Offline analysis, 3000+ protocol support.

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
Wireshark: Is there a cost to download and use Wireshark?

No, Wireshark is completely free. It's distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2, making it "free software" with no demo limitations. The full version is available at no cost.

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
Wireshark: What support options are available for Wireshark users?

Wireshark offers multiple support channels including mailing lists, an active Discord community, the Ask Wireshark Q&A platform, comprehensive documentation, a user guide, and developer resources for those needing technical assistance.

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
Wireshark: Are there different pricing tiers or subscription levels?

Wireshark does not offer pricing tiers or subscriptions. There is one free version available to all users regardless of use case, personal, professional, or organizational.

Source
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