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Spacelift vs Atlantis Comparison

Last updated:

Spacelift

4.7(185 reviews)

Starting at Free free

  • Mid-Market
  • Enterprise

Spacelift is a CI/CD and collaboration platform for infrastructure-as-code — providing a managed orchestration layer for Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi, Ansible, and Kubernetes. It handles the operational challenges of IaC…

Atlantis

4.5(290 reviews)

Starting at Free free

  • Small Business
  • Mid-Market

Atlantis is an open-source Terraform pull request automation tool that runs Terraform plan and apply operations from GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket pull requests. When a PR is opened touching Terraform files, Atlantis aut…

Spacelift leads on user satisfaction with a 4.7-star rating across 185 reviews.

Spacelift vs Atlantis — at a glance

FeatureSpaceliftAtlantis
Rating4.7 / 54.5 / 5
Reviews185290
Starting priceFree freeFree free
Free trial No No
Free version No No
Best forMid-Market, EnterpriseSmall Business, Mid-Market, Enterprise
CategoryCloud Management PlatformCloud Management Platform
PlatformsCloud, On-PremiseOn-Premise, Linux, Cloud
APIAvailableAvailable
Support modesSlack Community, Help Center, Email Support, Enterprise SupportGitHub Issues, Community Slack, Documentation

Key differences between Spacelift and Atlantis

  • Pricing: Spacelift starts at Free free, while Atlantis starts at Free free.
  • Target audience: Spacelift is built for Mid-Market and Enterprise, while Atlantis targets Small Business and Mid-Market.
  • User satisfaction: Spacelift scores higher with a 4.7-star average.
  • Deployment: Spacelift supports Cloud, On-Premise; Atlantis supports On-Premise, Linux, Cloud.

Spacelift vs Atlantis — find the better fit before you commit.

01

Which tool fits your team best

02

Which is actually cheaper for your team size

03

Where each product wins, per real buyers

Most Cloud Management Platform tools look identical on paper. This comparison cuts to the differences that matter — pricing structure, team fit, and what real buyers found after signing up.

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Biggest differences

Start here before you go deeper into features.

Spacelift

Best for

Mid-Market, Enterprise

Atlantis

Best for

Small Business, Mid-Market, Enterprise

Spacelift typically suits Mid-Market and Enterprise. Atlantis tends to fit Small Business and Mid-Market better. The right choice depends on your team size, workflow, and whether a free trial matters.

Description

Spacelift is a CI/CD and collaboration platform for infrastructure-as-code — providing a managed orchestration layer for Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi, Ansible, and Kubernetes. It handles the ... Read More about Spacelift

Atlantis is an open-source Terraform pull request automation tool that runs Terraform plan and apply operations from GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket pull requests. When a PR is opened ... Read More about Atlantis

Entry Level Pricing

  • Starts from Free , up to 2 users
  • Starts from Free

Free Trial Availability

  • No free trial
  • No free trial

SpotScore

What's this? ↗

9.4/10

9.0/10

User Ratings

Based on verified Spotsaas reviews
Get pricing help
Get pricing help

Where each option fits best

See where each product is strongest, which teams it fits, and what causes buyers to keep looking — before you commit.

Based on buyer reviews and verified product data collected by Spotsaas.

Strengths

Key strengths

Spacelift

  • Safe Parallel IaC at Scale: Run dozens of Terraform stacks concurrently with proper state locking and dependency ordering — eliminating the serialized, manual apply process that slows platform teams.
  • Catch Drift Before It Causes Incidents: Automated drift detection alerts teams when infrastructure diverges from code — preventing the configuration drift that causes midnight incidents.
  • Governance Without Bureaucracy: OPA policies enforce infrastructure standards automatically (tagging, sizing, approval requirements) without manual review of every Terraform plan.

Atlantis

  • Terraform Review in the Code Review: Plan output in PR comments means reviewers see infrastructure changes alongside code changes — keeping IaC review in the existing GitHub workflow.
  • Zero State Corruption: Workspace locking serializes applies — only one apply runs per workspace at a time, preventing the concurrent-apply state corruption that plagues team Terraform.
  • Audit Trail in Git: Every plan and apply is tied to a PR, commit, and GitHub user — complete audit history of who changed what infrastructure and when.
Best fit

Best fit

Spacelift

  • Platform engineering teams managing 50+ Terraform stacks who need safe, parallel execution with proper dependency management
  • Organizations enforcing infrastructure governance policies (required tags, approval gates, cost limits) across multiple engineering teams
  • DevOps teams replacing custom Terraform CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins + Atlantis) with a managed orchestration platform

Atlantis

  • DevOps teams implementing Terraform PR workflows without the operational overhead of Terraform Cloud or managed platforms
  • Engineering teams preventing concurrent Terraform state corruption through workspace locking in multi-engineer environments
  • Platform teams providing developers self-service infrastructure deployment via PR-comment-driven apply without giving direct Terraform access

Software Demo

Demo

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How do Spacelift and Atlantis Compare on Features?

Total Features

4 Features

3 Features

Unique Features

No unique features

No unique features

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Compare Spacelift and Atlantis on pricing

Review starting price, plan structure, and free-trial access side by side so you can see which option fits your budget and buying process.

Pricing Option

      Starting From

      • Free , up to 2 users
      • Free

      Pricing Plans

      • Free

        Free

        • All features

        • Community support

        • Cloud workers

      • Cloud

        $499

        paid

        • Unlimited users

        • Priority workers

        • SLA

        Show more +

      • Enterprise

        Custom

        paid

        • Self-hosted workers

        • SSO

        • Custom SLA

        Show more +

      • Open Source

        Free

        • Full features

        • Apache 2.0

        • Self-hosted

        Show more +

      Other Details

      Organization Types supported

      • Small Business
      • Large Enterprises
      • Medium Business
      • Freelancers
      • Individuals
      • Small Business
      • Large Enterprises
      • Medium Business
      • Freelancers
      • Individuals

      Platforms Supported

      • Browser Based (Cloud)
      • Installed - Windows
      • Installed - Mac
      • Browser Based (Cloud)
      • Mobile - Android
      • Browser Based (Cloud)
      • Installed - Windows
      • Installed - Mac
      • Browser Based (Cloud)
      • Mobile - Android

      Modes of support

      • 24/7 (Live rep)
      • Business Hours
      • Online
      • 24/7 (Live rep)
      • Business Hours
      • Online

      API Support

      • Available
      • Available
      Get help choosing
      Get help choosing

      Spacelift User Reviews & Rating Comparison

      User Ratings

      4.7

      (based on 185 reviews)

      4.5

      (based on 290 reviews)

      Rating Distribution

      0

      0

      0

      0

      0

      0

      0

      0

      0

      0

      Spotsaas Editor’s POV generated by AI

      Buyer sentiment

      Buyer sentiment is very strong across 185 reviews, with consistently positive feedback.

      What buyers like

      • Stack dependency management automatically runs dependent stacks in order when upstream infrastructure changes — eliminating the manual coordination that breaks IaC at scale.
      • Drift detection surfaces when live infrastructure has diverged from Terraform state — the most dangerous condition in IaC that most teams discover only when something breaks.
      • OPA policy-as-code gates enable infrastructure governance: requiring approvals for production changes, blocking certain resource types, enforcing tagging standards automatically.

      Common complaints

      • Pricing jumps from free (2 users) to $499/month — there is no mid-tier for small teams that have outgrown free but are not yet mid-market scale.
      • Primarily optimized for Terraform and OpenTofu — teams using CloudFormation or CDK will find less native support.

      Buyer sentiment

      Buyer sentiment is very strong across 290 reviews, with consistently positive feedback.

      What buyers like

      • Free and open-source (Apache 2.0) with thousands of production deployments — the most battle-tested Terraform PR automation workflow available.
      • PR-comment-driven workflow (`atlantis plan`, `atlantis apply`) is simple, auditable, and requires no new UI to learn — all workflow happens in the existing code review process.
      • Workspace locking prevents concurrent applies to the same Terraform workspace — the most common cause of Terraform state corruption in team environments.

      Common complaints

      • Self-hosted only — requires a server to run Atlantis and webhook configuration for each repository, with ongoing maintenance responsibility.
      • Does not scale as cleanly as managed platforms for very large numbers of stacks — teams with 100+ stacks often outgrow Atlantis and move to Spacelift or Terraform Cloud.

      Pros and Cons

      • Stack dependency management automatically runs dependent stacks in order when upstream infrastructure changes — eliminating the manual coordination that breaks IaC at scale.

      • Drift detection surfaces when live infrastructure has diverged from Terraform state — the most dangerous condition in IaC that most teams discover only when something breaks.

      • OPA policy-as-code gates enable infrastructure governance: requiring approvals for production changes, blocking certain resource types, enforcing tagging standards automatically.

      • Pricing jumps from free (2 users) to $499/month — there is no mid-tier for small teams that have outgrown free but are not yet mid-market scale.

      • Primarily optimized for Terraform and OpenTofu — teams using CloudFormation or CDK will find less native support.

      • Free and open-source (Apache 2.0) with thousands of production deployments — the most battle-tested Terraform PR automation workflow available.

      • PR-comment-driven workflow (`atlantis plan`, `atlantis apply`) is simple, auditable, and requires no new UI to learn — all workflow happens in the existing code review process.

      • Workspace locking prevents concurrent applies to the same Terraform workspace — the most common cause of Terraform state corruption in team environments.

      • Self-hosted only — requires a server to run Atlantis and webhook configuration for each repository, with ongoing maintenance responsibility.

      • Does not scale as cleanly as managed platforms for very large numbers of stacks — teams with 100+ stacks often outgrow Atlantis and move to Spacelift or Terraform Cloud.

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      Disclaimer: This research has been collated from a variety of authoritative sources. We welcome your feedback at [email protected].

      Frequently asked questions

      Which is better, Spacelift or Atlantis?
      Spacelift edges out the other on user ratings (4.7 vs 4.5). That said, the best pick depends on your use case — use the comparison tables above to evaluate each dimension.
      Do Spacelift and Atlantis offer a free trial?
      Neither Spacelift nor Atlantis currently lists a free trial.
      What is the starting price of Spacelift vs Atlantis?
      Spacelift starts at Free free. Atlantis starts at Free free.