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Developer Tools · head to head

Garden vs Shufti Pro

Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Shufti Pro logo

Shufti Pro

Cybersecurity

Identity verification and AML screening at the low cost end of the market

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.; Shufti Pro rates are not published despite the pay as you go framing, so the cost advantage over premium vendors has to be established through a quote rather than a price list.
  • They diverge on capability: Garden covers Action graph, Shufti Pro covers Document verification.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Garden and Shufti Pro actually diverge.

Attributes where Garden and Shufti Pro differ
AttributeGardenShufti Pro
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, KubernetesWeb, 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 Shufti Pro

  • Document verification
  • Facial biometrics
  • AML screening
  • KYB verification
  • Address verification
  • Age verification
  • Pay as you go option

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

Shufti Pro

  • A crypto exchange onboarding users in markets where premium vendors have poor document coveragenot Garden
  • A gambling operator needing age assurance at high volume where per-check cost dominates the unit economicsnot Garden
  • A gig economy platform verifying couriers whose documents are photographed on low end phonesnot Garden
  • A startup that needs verification without signing an annual volume commitment before it knows its volumenot 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.

Shufti Pro

  • Rates are not published despite the pay as you go framing, so the cost advantage over premium vendors has to be established through a quote rather than a price list.
  • Accuracy on difficult document types trails the premium vendors, and the saving per check is often consumed by the manual review headcount handling the additional referrals.
  • The enterprise assurance profile is thinner than that of larger competitors, so regulated bank procurement teams frequently rule it out at the vendor risk stage rather than on capability.
  • Support responsiveness scales with contract size, and pay as you go customers have limited recourse when a document type suddenly starts failing in one market.
  • Country coverage is broad but uneven in depth, meaning the same product can perform very differently across two markets you are launching in simultaneously.

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

Shufti Pro

On request
  • Pay as you go$undefined/month
    • Consumption billing with no annual commitment
    • Rate quoted by sales, not published
    • Resubmission sessions stated as not billable
  • Monthly commitment$undefined/month
    • Lower per-verification rate against a volume commitment
    • AML screening and KYB priced as add-ons
    • Free trial available before contracting

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 Shufti Pro if

  • You need document verification.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want facial biometrics.
Shufti Pro review

Questions people ask

Is Garden or Shufti Pro better?
Neither clearly leads. Garden starts at Free and Shufti Pro at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Garden or Shufti Pro?
Garden has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Garden and On request for Shufti Pro.
Does Garden or Shufti Pro run on more platforms?
Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes. Shufti Pro runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Garden for free?
Yes. Garden has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Shufti Pro 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 Shufti Pro is typically brought in for.
What can Garden do that Shufti Pro cannot?
Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds. Shufti Pro covers Document verification, Facial biometrics, AML screening, KYB verification.

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.

Shufti Pro: Are failed attempts charged?

Shufti states that resubmission sessions are not charged and that billing follows successful verification attempts. Get that written into the contract, because it materially changes total cost.

Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

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

Shufti Pro: Is there a published price?

No. Plan structures are published but rates are quoted. Third party estimates put effective cost well below premium vendors.

Garden: Does it replace my CI system?

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

Shufti Pro: Can we start without a commitment?

Yes. A pay as you go option exists, which is unusual in this category and useful for early stage volume.

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.

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