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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Earthly – Build automation for the container era

Super simple build framework with fast, repeatable builds and an instantly familiar syntax – like Dockerfile and Makefile had a baby. - earthly/earthly

Earthly is a build automation tool designed for containerized environments. It simplifies the process of creating, testing, and deploying applications in container-based workflows. The tool targets developers and… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Earthly – Build automation for the container era launched in 2020; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1

    Turn your AGENTS.md, engineering standards, and process docs into deterministic enforcement in AI authoring loops and on PRs — in minutes, not quarters.

    2021 · earthly.dev · its alternatives →

  2. 2
    Earthly▲107

    Build anything via containers

    2020 · earthly.dev · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    Devbox is a command-line tool that lets you easily create isolated shells and containers. You start by defining the list of packages required by your development environment, and devbox uses that definition to create an isolated environment just for your application. In practice, Devbox works similar to a package manager like yarn – except the packages it manages are at the operating-system level (the sort of thing you would normally install with brew or apt-get). See it in action: https://youtu.be/WMBaXQZmDoA

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    Visually develop backend APIs and workflows with AI

    2024 · buildship.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5DC

    I've been frustrated with dependency hell and clutter on my VPS from dev, so I built Devbox: a lightweight, open-source CLI tool that spins up isolated development environments using Docker. Each project runs in its own container, but your code stays in simple flat folders on the host machine—no messing with volumes or sync issues. Environments are disposable, so you can nuke and recreate them without losing your work. Key features: - Instant setup: `devbox init my-project` and you're in a fresh env with `devbox shell`. - Configurable via JSON: Define packages, services, and more in a…

    2025 · devbox.ar0.eu · its alternatives →

  6. 6
    Solid▲639

    AI that builds real web apps

    2025 · trysolid.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Learn the core transferable skills of setting up Linux virtual servers and Docker containers. Provision web servers, application servers, workers, and databases.

    2021 · deploymentfromscratch.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8
    BuildShip▲420

    Low-code visual backend builder, powered by AI

    2023 · buildship.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9
    buildpipe▲116

    Compose, run and automate multi step AI developer workflows

    May 2026 · buildpipe.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10
    Keystone▲125

    We kept hitting the same wall: you clone some arbitrary repo and just want it to run without any configuration work. So we built Keystone, an open source tool that spins up a Modal sandbox, runs Claude Code inside it, and produces a working .devcontainer/ config (Dockerfile, devcontainer.json, test runner) for any git repo. We build on the dev container standard, so the output works with VS Code and GitHub Codespaces out of the box. Main use cases: reproducible dev/CI environments, self-describing repos, and safely sandboxed coding agents. Our goal is to encourage all repos to…

    Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11
    n8n.cloud▲405

    Powerful workflow automation tool

    2020 · n8n.io · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    Docker based portable Workstation. Contribute to mikadosoftware/workstation development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2019 · github.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Create with AI or code, deploy instantly on production infrastructure. One platform to build and ship.

    2015 · netlify.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    The sns tool is used to manage the full life cycle of your Simplenetes clusters. It integrates with the Simplenetes Podcompiler project podc to compile pods. - simplenetes-io/simplenetes

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15HM

    A developer's machine accumulates tools fast. A Rust CLI you compiled last year, a Python formatter installed via `uv`, a language server pulled from npm, a terminal emulator from a curl script, a Go binary built from source. Each came from a different package manager, each with its own install incantation you half-remember. I wanted a way to declare what I need without adopting a complex system like Nix or Ansible just for a single laptop. The result was a plain old Makefile. I wrote a short post on using Make (along with a tiny bash script and fzf) to create a searchable, single-command…

    Mar 2026 · thottingal.in · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    Build, deploy and manage your applications on any cloud or your own servers.

    2015 · blog.cloud66.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17
    Termdock▲111

    Terminal-centric AI development environment

    Nov 2025 · termdock.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    A dependency map of your code that shows where to refactor

    2025 · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    Docker configuration for building Linux From Scratch system - reinterpretcat/lfs

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20
    Garden▲95

    Automation platform for Kubernetes development & testing

    2020 · docs.garden.io · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    :whale: Containerize your development workflow. Contribute to binci/binci development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2015 · github.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    Digger is enterprise-ready, self-hostable infrastructure tooling. Terraform CI/CD, drift detection, PR automation, and state management. Open source DevOps for cloud-native teams.

    2021 · diggerdev.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23
    zero▲94

    One command to deploy Docker containers to your own server

    Apr 2026 · shipzero.sh · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    An offline CLI for turning life goals into quests. Contribute to skorotkiewicz/earth-game development by creating an account on GitHub.

    Jul 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →