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Developer Tools · head to head

Garden vs HashiCorp Boundary

Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
HashiCorp Boundary logo

HashiCorp Boundary

Cybersecurity

Identity-aware session broker for infrastructure access without distributing credentials

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • 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.; HashiCorp Boundary hashiCorp was acquired by IBM in February 2025 and Enterprise licensing now runs through IBM Passport Advantage; IBM has already retired HCP Vault Secrets, so Boundary's roadmap depends on IBM portfolio decisions rather than HashiCorp's own product strategy.
  • They diverge on capability: Garden covers Action graph, HashiCorp Boundary covers Identity-based access.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Garden and HashiCorp Boundary actually diverge.

Attributes where Garden and HashiCorp Boundary differ
AttributeGardenHashiCorp Boundary
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, KubernetesLinux, macOS, Windows, Web
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), 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 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 HashiCorp Boundary

  • Identity-based access
  • Just-in-time credentials
  • Dynamic host catalogues
  • Session recording
  • Transparent sessions
  • Multi-hop workers
  • Audit logging
  • Terraform provider

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 HashiCorp Boundary
  • An organisation with thirty or more services on Kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates productionnot HashiCorp Boundary
  • Giving every developer an ephemeral namespace instead of queuing for one shared staging environmentnot HashiCorp Boundary
  • Running the identical build and test definition locally and in CI so failures reproduce on a laptopnot HashiCorp Boundary

HashiCorp Boundary

  • A platform team replacing shared SSH keys and a bastion host so that leavers lose access the moment they are removed from the identity providernot Garden
  • Granting contractors time-boxed database access without ever issuing them a credential they could keepnot Garden
  • An estate where autoscaling replaces hosts continuously and a static access list is always out of datenot Garden
  • Producing session recordings as evidence for an audit that requires proof of who touched production and what they rannot 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.

HashiCorp Boundary

  • HashiCorp was acquired by IBM in February 2025 and Enterprise licensing now runs through IBM Passport Advantage; IBM has already retired HCP Vault Secrets, so Boundary's roadmap depends on IBM portfolio decisions rather than HashiCorp's own product strategy.
  • Enterprise pricing is not published anywhere, and the features most organisations actually need for compliance, notably session recording, are Enterprise only, so the free community edition is rarely the version you end up buying.
  • It solves access to infrastructure, not to applications; browser-based internal tools, SaaS admin consoles and APIs need a separate control, so Boundary is one component of a zero-trust programme rather than the whole thing.
  • Running it yourself means operating controllers, worker nodes and a Postgres database in a highly available configuration, and if that control plane is down nobody can reach production, which makes it a new critical dependency.
  • It is materially easier to adopt if you already run Vault and Terraform; teams without that ecosystem face a steeper learning curve than a device-based mesh product like Tailscale, for a similar access outcome.

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

HashiCorp Boundary

Free
  • Boundary Community EditionFree
    • MPL 2.0 open source
    • Self-hosted controllers and workers
    • Identity-based target access
  • Boundary Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Session recording and playback
    • Multi-hop and transparent sessions
    • Multi-tenancy via scopes

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 HashiCorp Boundary if

  • You need identity-based access.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Web.
  • You also want just-in-time credentials.
HashiCorp Boundary review

Questions people ask

Is Garden or HashiCorp Boundary better?
Neither clearly leads. Garden starts at Free and HashiCorp Boundary at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Garden or HashiCorp Boundary?
Garden starts at Free and HashiCorp Boundary at Free.
Does Garden or HashiCorp Boundary run on more platforms?
Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes. HashiCorp Boundary runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Web.
Can I use Garden for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
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 HashiCorp Boundary is typically brought in for.
What can Garden do that HashiCorp Boundary cannot?
Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds. HashiCorp Boundary covers Identity-based access, Just-in-time credentials, Dynamic host catalogues, Session recording.

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.

HashiCorp Boundary: Is Boundary open source?

The community edition is, under MPL 2.0. Boundary Enterprise is commercial and is now sold through IBM Passport Advantage.

Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

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

HashiCorp Boundary: Does it replace a VPN?

For infrastructure access, largely yes. It grants a session to a specific target rather than putting the user on a network, but it does not cover browser-based internal applications.

Garden: Does it replace my CI system?

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

HashiCorp Boundary: What does Boundary Enterprise cost?

HashiCorp does not publish Boundary pricing. It is quoted, and since the IBM acquisition it is transacted on IBM licensing paper.

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.

HashiCorp Boundary: Do I need Vault to use it?

No, but the just-in-time credential brokering that makes Boundary worthwhile depends on Vault or an equivalent secrets store.

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