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Developer Tools · head to head

Ona (formerly Gitpod) vs Nile

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
Visit Ona (formerly Gitpod)Full review
Nile logo

Nile

Databases

PostgreSQL database platform built for multi-tenant SaaS applications

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit NileFull review

The short version

  • Free plans on both; paid from $20/mo and $15/mo.
  • Only Ona (formerly Gitpod) lists ephemeral environments; only Nile lists multi-tenant virtualization.
  • Where Nile falls short: limited to B2B SaaS use cases, not optimized for single-tenant applications.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Ona (formerly Gitpod) and Nile differ
AttributeOna (formerly Gitpod)Nile
Pricing modelPer month by compute unitPay-per-use with committed pricing
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWSWeb, API
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDatabases

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

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 Nile

  • Multi-tenant virtualization
  • Serverless compute
  • Vector embeddings
  • Tenant branching
  • Schema migration
  • Tenant dashboards
  • Global deployment
  • PostgreSQL compatible

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 Nile
  • Running several coding agents in parallel against real databases and services instead of on a laptopnot Nile
  • Keeping source code off contractor and offshore laptops by moving the whole environment into a controlled accountnot Nile
  • Reproducing a hard-to-configure toolchain for a short-lived project without polluting anyone machinenot Nile

Nile

  • Multi-tenant SaaS applications with per-customer isolationnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Serverless workloads needing cost-efficient auto-scalingnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • RAG applications leveraging vector embeddingsnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Applications requiring per-tenant analytics dashboardsnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Cross-customer analytics using shared data tablesnot 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

Nile

  • Limited to B2B SaaS use cases, not optimized for single-tenant applications
  • Query token abstraction makes pricing less transparent than traditional compute pricing
  • Free plan limited to 50M query tokens and 1GB storage for development
  • Serverless startup latency may impact performance-sensitive applications
  • Per-million token overages require careful monitoring to avoid surprise costs

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/mo
    • 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
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Single-tenant deployment in your own AWS or GCP account
    • SAML and OIDC single sign-on
    • Dedicated account management and forward deployed engineers

Nile

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 50M query tokens included
    • 1 GB storage
    • 500 connections
  • Pro$15/mo
    • 150M query tokens included
    • 5 GB storage
    • 10,000 connections
  • Scale$350/mo
    • 500M query tokens included
    • 50 GB storage
    • 100,000 connections
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Custom resource allocation
    • Large-scale workloads supporting millions of tenants
    • Designated support

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.
  • You also want agent sessions.
Ona (formerly Gitpod) review

Choose Nile if

  • You need multi-tenant virtualization.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want serverless compute.
Nile review

Questions people ask

Is Ona (formerly Gitpod) or Nile better?
Neither clearly leads. Ona (formerly Gitpod) starts at Free and Nile at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ona (formerly Gitpod) or Nile?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) starts at Free and Nile at Free.
Does Ona (formerly Gitpod) or Nile run on more platforms?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS. Nile runs on Web, API.
Can I use Ona (formerly Gitpod) for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
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 Nile is typically brought in for.
What can Ona (formerly Gitpod) do that Nile cannot?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) covers Ephemeral environments, Agent sessions, Bring your own cloud, Devcontainer standard. Nile covers Multi-tenant virtualization, Serverless compute, Vector embeddings, Tenant branching.

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.

Nile: What are query tokens and how are they calculated?

Query tokens are abstract units of CPU and memory used when queries execute on Nile's serverless compute. The platform uses this abstraction to enable fair, predictable pay-per-use pricing.

Source
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.

Nile: Do all Nile plans include multi-tenant isolation?

Yes. All plans including the free tier include unlimited databases, tenants, and vector embeddings with built-in data isolation.

Source
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.

Nile: What is included in the Pro plan?

The Pro plan ($15/month) includes 150M query tokens, 5GB storage, 10,000 connections, and a 99.95% SLA. SAML and MFA authentication features are available on Pro and above.

Source
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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