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Developer Tools · head to head

Garden vs Okta

Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Okta logo

Okta

Technology

The identity platform for builders

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.; Okta requires $1,500 annual minimum contract
  • They diverge on capability: Garden covers Action graph, Okta covers Single sign-on (SSO).
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Garden and Okta actually diverge.

Attributes where Garden and Okta differ
AttributeGardenOkta
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeUnknown
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, KubernetesWeb, SaaS
CategoryDeveloper ToolsTechnology
FoundedUnknown2009

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 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 Okta

  • Single sign-on (SSO)
  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Lifecycle management
  • Universal directory
  • API access management
  • B2B integration
  • Passwordless authentication
  • Adaptive MFA

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

Okta

  • Employee SSOnot Garden
  • Customer identitynot Garden
  • B2B integrationnot Garden
  • Zero Trust securitynot Garden
  • Compliancenot 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.

Okta

  • Requires $1,500 annual minimum contract
  • Admin-only MFA can be vulnerable to push notification fatigue attacks
  • Implementation requires significant services and integration fees in year one

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

Okta

Free
  • Starter Suite$6/user/month
    • SSO
    • MFA
    • Universal Directory
  • Core Essentials Suite$14/user/month
    • Adaptive MFA
    • Privileged Access
    • Lifecycle Management
  • Essentials Suite$17/user/month
    • Same as Core Essentials
    • Most popular
  • Professional Suite$undefined/custom
    • Device Access
    • Identity Security Posture
    • Threat Protection

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 Okta if

  • You need single sign-on (sso).
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, SaaS.
  • You also want multi-factor authentication.
Okta review

Questions people ask

Is Garden or Okta better?
Neither clearly leads. Garden starts at Free and Okta at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Garden or Okta?
Garden starts at Free and Okta at Free.
Does Garden or Okta run on more platforms?
Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes. Okta runs on Web, SaaS.
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 Okta is typically brought in for.
What can Garden do that Okta cannot?
Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds. Okta covers Single sign-on (SSO), Multi-factor authentication, Lifecycle management, Universal directory.

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.

Okta: What is the minimum contract for Okta Workforce Identity?

Okta requires a $1,500 annual minimum contract for Workforce Identity plans. Pricing starts at $6 per user per month (Starter) and ranges to $17 per user per month (Essentials), billed annually.

Source
Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

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

Okta: Does Okta offer a free trial?

Yes, Okta provides a 30-day free trial so customers can explore all product capabilities before committing to a paid plan.

Source
Garden: Does it replace my CI system?

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

Okta: How many pre-built integrations does Okta support?

Okta offers over 7,000 pre-built integrations with popular enterprise applications including Salesforce, Slack, Workday, Box, Confluence, and Zendesk.

Source
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.

Okta: What security features does Okta provide for admins?

Okta provides multi-factor authentication, adaptive MFA, single logout, and identity threat detection and response. However, only 94% of Okta customers have MFA enabled for administrators.

Source
Okta: Can Okta integrate with on-premises directories?

Yes, Okta's Universal Directory and lifecycle management support cloud and on-premises identity sources, including Active Directory and LDAP.

Source
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