Earthly is a build tool designed to create consistent, reproducible builds across local machines and CI environments. It uses a Docker-inspired syntax to define build steps, making it easier to share logic between development and pipelines.
Pricing
Earthly’s core CLI is open source and free to use. Earthly Cloud adds hosted caching, orchestration, and team features through plans that generally include a free tier with limited build minutes and paid tiers based on usage and support needs.
Key Features
- Reproducible builds that behave consistently across local and CI environments
- Docker-like syntax with familiar concepts such as FROM, RUN, COPY, and TARGET
- Built-in caching for faster repeated builds and dependency reuse
- Parallel execution of independent targets to reduce total build time
- Earthly Cloud integration for hosted caching, orchestration, and team workflows
Pros
- Strong focus on reproducible builds reduces 'works on my machine' issues
- Familiar Docker-style syntax lowers the learning curve for many teams
- Caching and parallelism can significantly improve CI performance
- Works well for mixed projects using Docker, Makefiles, scripts, and multiple languages
- Open-source CLI provides flexibility without forcing a paid platform dependency
Cons
- May feel unnecessary for teams already satisfied with simple Makefiles or basic CI scripts
- YAML-based build definitions can become verbose for very complex pipelines
- Earthly Cloud features introduce another platform and pricing consideration for hosted workflows
Use Cases
- Standardizing CI pipelines across multiple repositories
- Building Docker images and application artifacts reproducibly
- Running multi-language builds with shared caching and parallel targets
Verdict
Earthly is strongest when teams need consistent builds across local development and CI without maintaining separate scripts. Its Docker-inspired syntax, caching, and parallel execution make it practical for modern polyglot projects, especially those already comfortable with containers. It may be overkill for very simple projects, but it is a solid choice for teams that want reproducible pipelines and faster shared builds.
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