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Developer Tools · head to head

Garden vs Hanwha Vision

Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

Kubernetes development and testing automation with shared caching, now owned by Incredibuild

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Hanwha Vision logo

Hanwha Vision

Cybersecurity

Korean camera maker whose Wisenet WAVE VMS licences are perpetual per channel with no annual renewal

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Garden has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Garden incredibuild acquired Garden in November 2024 and the pricing page now redirects to documentation, so there is no public commercial offer and no published roadmap for a team betting a platform on it.; Hanwha Vision nDAA compliance is confirmed per model and per bill of materials rather than across the brand, and TAA status depends on whether a specific unit was made in Korea or Vietnam, so a buyer with procurement obligations must get both stated on the quote rather than relying on a brand-level claim.
  • They diverge on capability: Garden covers Action graph, Hanwha Vision covers Wisenet WAVE VMS.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Garden and Hanwha Vision actually diverge.

Attributes where Garden and Hanwha Vision differ
AttributeGardenHanwha Vision
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeOne-time purchase
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, KubernetesWindows, Linux, Web, iOS, Android
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

Identical on both: 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 Garden

  • Action graph
  • Shared result caching
  • Remote Kubernetes environments
  • In-cluster builds
  • Same config everywhere
  • Hot reload sync
  • Helm and Kustomize support
  • Templating

Only in Hanwha Vision

  • Wisenet WAVE VMS
  • On-camera AI
  • NDAA and TAA positioning
  • Multi-site management
  • Open platform
  • Wisenet cameras and recorders
  • Cybersecurity hardening
  • Integration licences

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Garden

  • A platform team whose integration test suite takes longer than the coffee break and needs caching to cut the loopnot Hanwha Vision
  • An organisation with thirty or more services on Kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates productionnot Hanwha Vision
  • Giving every developer an ephemeral namespace instead of queuing for one shared staging environmentnot Hanwha Vision
  • Running the identical build and test definition locally and in CI so failures reproduce on a laptopnot Hanwha Vision

Hanwha Vision

  • A federal agency or federal contractor whose procurement rules exclude Section 889 covered manufacturersnot Garden
  • A school district that wants a fixed one-time software cost rather than a per-camera monthly subscriptionnot Garden
  • A site running 200 cameras for a decade where a cloud subscription would cost several times a perpetual licencenot Garden
  • An integrator standardising on one manufacturer for cameras, recorders and VMS to simplify supportnot Garden

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Garden

  • Incredibuild acquired Garden in November 2024 and the pricing page now redirects to documentation, so there is no public commercial offer and no published roadmap for a team betting a platform on it.
  • It is tightly bound to Kubernetes, so teams running on ECS, Nomad, plain VMs or serverless get little from it and would need a different tool entirely.
  • The YAML action graph is a real configuration surface: a large monorepo needs someone to own and maintain Garden config as a first-class artefact, which is a standing platform-engineering cost.
  • Shared remote environments mean every developer needs cluster access and a cost allocation model, so cloud spend rises and namespace sprawl becomes a thing you have to police.
  • Caching correctness depends on declaring dependencies accurately; an under-declared action will serve a stale cached pass and hide a genuine test failure, which is a hard class of bug to notice.

Hanwha Vision

  • NDAA compliance is confirmed per model and per bill of materials rather than across the brand, and TAA status depends on whether a specific unit was made in Korea or Vietnam, so a buyer with procurement obligations must get both stated on the quote rather than relying on a brand-level claim.
  • Perpetual licences mean you own the servers, storage and patching, so the cost avoided on subscription reappears as IT labour and a hardware refresh every five to seven years.
  • Hanwha publishes no list pricing and sells through distributors, so the perpetual-versus-subscription comparison it wins on paper still requires a distributor quote to verify.
  • Wisenet WAVE is a solid mid-market VMS but does not match Genetec or Milestone on enterprise features such as federation across independently owned systems, scripted operator procedures or deep access control unification.
  • Hanwha Vision is part of Hanwha Group, a large Korean conglomerate spanning defence, chemicals and finance, so the video business is one line among many and roadmap priority is set at a corporate level well above the security division.

Pricing, plan by plan

Garden

Free
  • Garden open sourceFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed CLI
    • Full action graph and caching
    • Self-managed clusters
  • Commercial tier$undefined/year
    • Hosted caching and team features
    • Support and onboarding
    • Pricing no longer published since the Incredibuild acquisition

Hanwha Vision

On request
  • Wisenet WAVE channel licence$undefined/year
    • Perpetual per-channel licence that does not expire once activated
    • No annual renewal fee to keep the system running
    • Sold singly and in 4, 8, 16, 24 and 48 channel bundles

Which should you pick?

Choose Garden if

  • You need action graph.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes.
  • You also want shared result caching.
Garden review

Choose Hanwha Vision if

  • You need wisenet wave vms.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want on-camera ai.
Hanwha Vision review

Questions people ask

Is Garden or Hanwha Vision better?
Neither clearly leads. Garden starts at Free and Hanwha Vision at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Garden or Hanwha Vision?
Garden has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Garden and On request for Hanwha Vision.
Does Garden or Hanwha Vision run on more platforms?
Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes. Hanwha Vision runs on Windows, Linux, Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Garden for free?
Yes. Garden has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Hanwha Vision starts at On request.
What is Garden best used for?
Garden is most often used for a platform team whose integration test suite takes longer than the coffee break and needs caching to cut the loop, an organisation with thirty or more services on kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates production, giving every developer an ephemeral namespace instead of queuing for one shared staging environment, running the identical build and test definition locally and in ci so failures reproduce on a laptop. Of those, a platform team whose integration test suite takes longer than the coffee break and needs caching to cut the loop and an organisation with thirty or more services on kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates production are not what Hanwha Vision is typically brought in for.
What can Garden do that Hanwha Vision cannot?
Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds. Hanwha Vision covers Wisenet WAVE VMS, On-camera AI, NDAA and TAA positioning, Multi-site management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Garden: Is Garden still maintained?

The open source project remains on GitHub under Incredibuild ownership, but the commercial pricing page redirects to the docs and there is no public paid offer.

Hanwha Vision: Is Hanwha Vision NDAA compliant?

Hanwha is a South Korean manufacturer and is not among the Section 889 covered entities, which are Hikvision, Dahua, Huawei, ZTE and Hytera, and its cameras do not use banned Chinese system-on-chip processors. Confirm compliance per model on the quote.

Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

Effectively yes. Garden is built around Kubernetes environments and offers little to teams on other runtimes.

Hanwha Vision: Are Wisenet WAVE licences subscriptions?

No. Channel licences are perpetual and do not expire once activated, with no annual renewal fee.

Garden: Does it replace my CI system?

No. It runs inside GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or similar and speeds up what those pipelines execute.

Hanwha Vision: Is Wisenet WAVE the same as Nx Witness?

It is built on the Network Optix platform, so the two share a common core, with Hanwha adding its own camera integration and support.

Garden: What is the actual saving?

It comes from skipping builds and tests whose inputs have not changed, so the benefit scales with how many services you have and how often only a few change.

Hanwha Vision: Is Hanwha TAA compliant?

Many models are, manufactured in South Korea and Vietnam, but TAA is a per-unit question tied to manufacturing origin, so it must be verified model by model.

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