Is Harness or Mode better?

Neither clearly leads. Harness starts at Free and Mode at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Harness or Mode?

Harness starts at Free and Mode at Free.

Does Harness or Mode run on more platforms?

Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.

Can I use Harness for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Harness best used for?

Harness is most often used for deploying apps to aws, azure, and google cloud with rollbacks, integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before production, automating cloud cost reduction and tracking unit-level expenses, enabling developers to provision infrastructure without operations bottlenecks. Of those, deploying apps to aws, azure, and google cloud with rollbacks and integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before production are not what Mode is typically brought in for.

What can Harness do that Mode cannot?

Mode covers SQL Editor, Python/R Notebooks, Interactive Reports, Version Control.

Developer Tools · head to head

Harness vs Mode

Harness

Developer Tools

Software delivery platform across CI, CD, security testing and cost management

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Visit Harness Full review

Mode

Business Intelligence

Collaborative analytics for data teams

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Visit Mode Full review

The short version

Mode is a collaborative analytics platform.
Harness is free; Mode starts at $65/mo.
Where Harness falls short: essentials and Enterprise pricing requires sales contact; no published rates.
Where Mode falls short: free tier limited to 4GB RAM and 1 CPU for SQL notebooks, insufficient for large datasets.
Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Harness and Mode actually diverge.

Attributes where Harness and Mode differ
Attribute	Harness	Mode
Pricing model	Freemium	Subscription
Category	Developer Tools	Business Intelligence

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

Not yet recorded: founded for Harness.

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 Harness

Nothing recorded that Mode does not also cover.

Only in Mode

SQL Editor
Python/R Notebooks
Interactive Reports
Version Control
Scheduling
Snowflake
Redshift
BigQuery

What people use each for

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

Harness

Deploying apps to AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud with rollbacksnot Mode
Integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before productionnot Mode
Automating cloud cost reduction and tracking unit-level expensesnot Mode
Enabling developers to provision infrastructure without operations bottlenecksnot Mode
Assessing deployment frequency and lead time productivity metricsnot Mode

Mode

Self-service analyticsnot Harness
Data explorationnot Harness
Ad-hoc reportingnot Harness
Collaborative analysisnot Harness
Embedded analyticsnot Harness

Where each one falls short

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

Harness

Essentials and Enterprise pricing requires sales contact; no published rates
DevOps Essentials has no on-premises deployment option
Internal Developer Portal requires minimum 20 developer licenses
Pipeline execution history retention 6 months (Essentials) vs 25 months as add-on (Enterprise)

Mode

Free tier limited to 4GB RAM and 1 CPU for SQL notebooks, insufficient for large datasets
Requires SQL knowledge for most analysis tasks, creating dependency on technical resources
Paid plan pricing not publicly listed; requires sales consultation
Recently acquired by ThoughtSpot in 2026, creating product direction uncertainty
Limited customization options for visual aspects and embedded analytics

Pricing, plan by plan

Harness

Free

FreeFree
- Starter platform for software delivery lifecycle
- Open source options available (Harness Open Source, Litmus Chaos)
EssentialsOn request
- Growing organizations with small to mid-size teams
- Packaged DevOps Essentials bundle
- Continuous software delivery capabilities
EnterpriseOn request
- Large-scale organizations
- Pick any modules based on needs
- Advanced features

Mode

Free

FreeFree
- SQL Editor
- Python/R Notebooks
- Basic Charts
Business$65/mo
- Advanced Visualizations
- Collaboration
- Integrations

Which should you pick?

Choose Harness if

You want to start without paying.

Harness review

Choose Mode if

You need sql editor.
You want to start without paying.
You also want python/r notebooks.

Mode review

Questions people ask

Is Harness or Mode better?: Neither clearly leads. Harness starts at Free and Mode at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Harness or Mode?: Harness starts at Free and Mode at Free.
Does Harness or Mode run on more platforms?: Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Harness for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Harness best used for?: Harness is most often used for deploying apps to aws, azure, and google cloud with rollbacks, integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before production, automating cloud cost reduction and tracking unit-level expenses, enabling developers to provision infrastructure without operations bottlenecks. Of those, deploying apps to aws, azure, and google cloud with rollbacks and integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before production are not what Mode is typically brought in for.
What can Harness do that Mode cannot?: Mode covers SQL Editor, Python/R Notebooks, Interactive Reports, Version Control.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Harness: Is there a free Harness plan?

Yes, Harness offers a free plan for individual developers and small teams with open source options including Harness Open Source and Litmus Chaos.

Source

Mode: What languages does Mode support for analysis?

Mode notebooks support SQL, Python (3.11 with pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, matplotlib), and R (4.2.0 with ggplot2, dplyr, tidyr). Both Python and R allow additional library installation at runtime.

Source

Harness: What are Harness's paid pricing tiers?

Harness offers Essentials for growing teams and Enterprise for large-scale organizations. Both require contacting sales for custom pricing. Pricing is based on modules and features selected.

Source

Mode: Can I integrate Mode notebook results into reports?

Yes. Mode allows adding notebook cell results directly to reports, with synchronized scheduling so reports re-run to keep data current.

Source

Harness: Can Harness be deployed on-premises?

Enterprise plans include self-managed platform deployment option. DevOps Essentials bundle does not offer on-premises deployment.

Source

Mode: Does Mode support collaborative analysis?

Yes. Mode notebooks provide moveable code blocks and markdown cells enabling exploratory analysis and team collaboration on data queries and visualizations.

Source

Harness vs Mode

Harness

Mode

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Harness

Only in Mode

What people use each for

Harness

Mode

Where each one falls short

Harness

Mode

Pricing, plan by plan

Harness

Mode

Which should you pick?

Choose Harness if

Choose Mode if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Harness

More on Mode

Keep looking

Other head to heads