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Developer Tools · head to head

Ona (formerly Gitpod) vs HID Global

Ona (formerly Gitpod) logo

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

Developer Tools

Cloud development environments repositioned as a control plane for software engineering agents

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
HID Global logo

HID Global

Cybersecurity

Physical access control, credential issuance and workforce authentication hardware and software

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Ona (formerly Gitpod) has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Ona (formerly Gitpod) acquisition risk has already materialised: the company closed a sale to OpenAI on 10 August 2026 and now sits inside the Codex team, so nothing public guarantees pricing, continuity or neutrality between model vendors beyond honouring existing commitments.; HID Global sales run through integrators, so the price you get depends on which partner quotes it and there is no published list to negotiate against.
  • They diverge on capability: Ona (formerly Gitpod) covers Ephemeral environments, HID Global covers Physical access readers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ona (formerly Gitpod) and HID Global actually diverge.

Attributes where Ona (formerly Gitpod) and HID Global differ
AttributeOna (formerly Gitpod)HID Global
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer month by compute unitquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS, Google Cloud PlatformWeb, Windows, 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 Ona (formerly Gitpod)

  • Ephemeral environments
  • Agent sessions
  • Bring your own cloud
  • Devcontainer standard
  • Compute unit budgeting
  • Enterprise identity

Only in HID Global

  • Physical access readers
  • Mobile access
  • Seos credential technology
  • Card issuance
  • Workforce authentication
  • Visitor management

What people use each for

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

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

  • Giving a large engineering team identical, disposable environments so onboarding is a link rather than a two day setupnot HID Global
  • Running several coding agents in parallel against real databases and services instead of on a laptopnot HID Global
  • Keeping source code off contractor and offshore laptops by moving the whole environment into a controlled accountnot HID Global
  • Reproducing a hard-to-configure toolchain for a short-lived project without polluting anyone machinenot HID Global

HID Global

  • An enterprise moving from plastic badges to phone-based credentials without replacing every reader in the estatenot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • A government agency needing card issuance and PKI credentials under a national identity programmenot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • A hospital consolidating access control, visitor screening and clinician authentication onto one credentialnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • An organisation retiring cloneable legacy proximity cards after a physical penetration test found them trivially copiednot Ona (formerly Gitpod)

Where each one falls short

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

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

  • Acquisition risk has already materialised: the company closed a sale to OpenAI on 10 August 2026 and now sits inside the Codex team, so nothing public guarantees pricing, continuity or neutrality between model vendors beyond honouring existing commitments.
  • Two disruptive changes of direction inside a year, from development environments to agent orchestration and then from independence to acquisition, mean the product a browser IDE buyer originally chose no longer exists in that form.
  • The Gitpod Classic sunset on 15 October 2025 required manual conversion of configuration, hand-moved secrets, self-rescued workspace data and a brand new account, which is the clearest available precedent for how the vendor handles deprecation.
  • Community self-hosting is finished: the AGPL-3.0 repository is deprecated by its own README, and self-hosted now means a vendor-operated install in your AWS or GCP account, with no Azure, no on-premises and no air-gapped path.
  • Pricing is difficult to model because it runs on a compute unit currency where subscription credits expire at the end of the month, the mapping from units to actual compute is not published on the pricing page, and Enterprise is quotation only.

HID Global

  • Sales run through integrators, so the price you get depends on which partner quotes it and there is no published list to negotiate against.
  • Mobile credentials are charged per identity as an ongoing fee, which converts a one-off card cost into a recurring per-employee subscription that budgets rarely anticipate.
  • Large estates run mixed generations of readers, so a credential upgrade is a multi-year hardware programme and the software licence is a small fraction of the true cost.
  • Legacy credential technologies still widely deployed have documented cloning weaknesses, and HID commercial interest in selling the replacement does not remove your exposure in the interim.
  • The portfolio spans hardware, firmware and several acquired software products, so integration between HID own components is less consistent than the single-vendor pitch implies.

Pricing, plan by plan

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 3 parallel environments
    • Machines up to 4 vCPU, 16 GB memory and 80 GB disk
    • Ona Cloud multi-tenant only
  • Core$20/month
    • From 20 US dollars a month, up to 100 team members
    • Includes 80 to 2,200 recurring compute units a month depending on tier
    • Additional units from 10 US dollars per 40 units
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Single-tenant deployment in your own AWS or GCP account
    • SAML and OIDC single sign-on
    • Dedicated account management and forward deployed engineers

HID Global

On request
  • HID Access and Identity Products$undefined/year
    • Hardware, credentials and software quoted through channel partners
    • Credential costs charged per card or per mobile identity
    • Reader hardware and installation quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Ona (formerly Gitpod) if

  • You need ephemeral environments.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS, Google Cloud Platform.
  • You also want agent sessions.
Ona (formerly Gitpod) review

Choose HID Global if

  • You need physical access readers.
  • You work on Web, Windows, iOS, Android.
  • You also want mobile access.
HID Global review

Questions people ask

Is Ona (formerly Gitpod) or HID Global better?
Neither clearly leads. Ona (formerly Gitpod) starts at Free and HID Global at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ona (formerly Gitpod) or HID Global?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Ona (formerly Gitpod) and On request for HID Global.
Does Ona (formerly Gitpod) or HID Global run on more platforms?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS, Google Cloud Platform. HID Global runs on Web, Windows, iOS, Android.
Can I use Ona (formerly Gitpod) for free?
Yes. Ona (formerly Gitpod) has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. HID Global starts at On request.
What is Ona (formerly Gitpod) best used for?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) is most often used for giving a large engineering team identical, disposable environments so onboarding is a link rather than a two day setup, running several coding agents in parallel against real databases and services instead of on a laptop, keeping source code off contractor and offshore laptops by moving the whole environment into a controlled account, reproducing a hard-to-configure toolchain for a short-lived project without polluting anyone machine. Of those, giving a large engineering team identical, disposable environments so onboarding is a link rather than a two day setup and running several coding agents in parallel against real databases and services instead of on a laptop are not what HID Global is typically brought in for.
What can Ona (formerly Gitpod) do that HID Global cannot?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) covers Ephemeral environments, Agent sessions, Bring your own cloud, Devcontainer standard. HID Global covers Physical access readers, Mobile access, Seos credential technology, Card issuance.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ona (formerly Gitpod): Is Gitpod still called Gitpod?

No. It rebranded to Ona in September 2025, and gitpod.io now redirects to ona.com. The company was acquired by OpenAI in a deal that closed on 10 August 2026.

HID Global: Do we have to replace readers to use mobile credentials?

Often yes, at least in part. Reader capability determines which credential technologies work, and that hardware cost dominates the business case.

Ona (formerly Gitpod): Can I still self-host it for free?

No. The AGPL-3.0 self-hosted project is deprecated by its own README. What is offered now is a vendor-operated single-tenant install in your AWS or GCP account on the Enterprise plan.

HID Global: Are mobile credentials cheaper than cards?

Not necessarily. Cards are a one-off cost per employee, mobile identities are typically a recurring charge, so the crossover depends on staff turnover.

Ona (formerly Gitpod): What happened to Gitpod Classic?

Pay-as-you-go Classic was switched off on 15 October 2025. Migration required converting gitpod.yml to devcontainer.json, moving secrets by hand, downloading workspace data before the cutoff and creating a new account.

HID Global: Can we buy directly from HID?

Generally not for access control deployments. Products are sold and installed through channel partners, so partner selection is part of the buying decision.

Ona (formerly Gitpod): What does it cost?

Core starts at 20 US dollars a month and includes a monthly allowance of Ona Compute Units, with more from 10 dollars per 40 units. Subscription credits expire monthly. Enterprise is quoted.

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