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Developer Tools · head to head

Garden vs WorkOS

Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
WorkOS logo

WorkOS

Cybersecurity

Developer platform for enterprise-ready authentication and identity.

From
$125/one-time per connection
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.; WorkOS authKit free tier limited to 1 million monthly active users; additional millions cost $2,500/month
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Garden and WorkOS actually diverge.

Attributes where Garden and WorkOS differ
AttributeGardenWorkOS
Starting priceFree$125/one-time per connection
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeusage-based
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, KubernetesWeb, API
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 WorkOS

Nothing recorded that Garden does not also cover.

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

WorkOS

  • SaaS applications needing rapid enterprise SSO deploymentnot Garden
  • Companies selling to mid-market and enterprise customersnot Garden
  • Applications requiring SCIM directory sync with corporate identity systemsnot Garden
  • Product teams needing audit logs for compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001)not Garden
  • Platforms with multiple identity provider requirementsnot 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.

WorkOS

  • AuthKit free tier limited to 1 million monthly active users; additional millions cost $2,500/month
  • Per-connection pricing for SSO and Directory Sync ($125–$50 each) scales poorly for enterprises with many identity providers
  • Audit logs require separate subscription at $125/month per SIEM connection or $99/month per 1 million events
  • Radar fraud protection billed separately at $100/month per 50,000 additional checks beyond 1,000 free checks
  • Custom domain feature requires $99/month subscription
  • Requires annual commitment for SLA and support guarantees; pay-as-you-go tier lacks uptime guarantee

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

WorkOS

$125/one-time per connection
  • Pay as You Go$undefined/variable
    • Per-connection pricing from $125 to $50 with volume discounts
    • Up to 60% discount at scale
    • Quick deployment
  • Annual Credits$undefined/variable
    • Custom pricing with volume discounts
    • 99.99% uptime SLA
    • Guided migration

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 WorkOS if

  • You work on Web, API.
WorkOS review

Questions people ask

Is Garden or WorkOS better?
Neither clearly leads. Garden starts at Free and WorkOS at $125/one-time per connection, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Garden or WorkOS?
Garden has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Garden and $125/one-time per connection for WorkOS.
Does Garden or WorkOS run on more platforms?
Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes. WorkOS runs on Web, API.
Can I use Garden for free?
Yes. Garden has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. WorkOS starts at $125/one-time per connection.
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 WorkOS is typically brought in for.
What can Garden do that WorkOS cannot?
Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds.

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.

WorkOS: How quickly can I implement WorkOS SSO?

Developers can implement single sign-on in minutes instead of months. Multiple customers report setting up SSO in less than a week, with WorkOS handling the complexity of SAML and OIDC protocols.

Source
Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

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

WorkOS: What SDKs does WorkOS provide?

WorkOS offers SDKs for Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, PHP, Java, and .NET.

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.

WorkOS: Does WorkOS support SCIM provisioning?

Yes. WorkOS supports SCIM provisioning integration with systems like Okta and Entra ID for automated user management.

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.

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Related pages

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