VS Code VS Earthly

Compare VS Code VS Earthly and see what are their differences

Rating: 5.0 · 1 review
Pricing: Open source

Rating: 0 reviews
Pricing: Open source

you.bot

One API for 80+ AI models — LLM, image, video & music — priced up to 80% below the official APIs. Pay only for successful calls; failed runs refunded; credits never expire. sponsored

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, VS Code seems to be a lot more popular than Earthly. While we know about 1221 links to VS Code, we've tracked only 52 mentions of Earthly.

social mentions: 1,221 vs 52
Text Editors popularity: 100% vs 0%
alternatives listed: 240+ vs 89

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

	VS Code	Earthly
Website	code.visualstudio.com	earthly.dev
Pricing	Open source	Open source
Company	Startup from the United States	—
Listed in	Text Editors IDE Software Development Developer Tools +1	Continuous Integration DevOps Tools Continuous Deployment Utilities +1

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

VS Code 8 features

Earthly 5 features

Cross-platform
VS Code works on Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent development experience across different operating systems.
Extensibility
A vast library of extensions allows users to add functionalities like debuggers, linters, and themes, making it highly customizable.
Integrated Git
Built-in Git integration makes it easy to manage version control tasks directly within the editor.
Performance
Lightweight compared to full-fledged IDEs, ensuring good performance even on systems with limited resources.
IntelliSense
Advanced code completion and refactoring tools help improve coding efficiency and reduce errors.
Community Support
A strong and active community provides extensive support, tutorials, and third-party extensions.
Debugging
Robust debugging tools for various languages and frameworks are available out of the box.
Free and Open-Source
VS Code is completely free to use and open-source, which is beneficial for both individual developers and organizations.

Possible disadvantages

Limited IDE Features
While extensible, it may lack some advanced features found in dedicated IDEs out of the box.
Extension Management
Managing and configuring a large number of extensions can become cumbersome and sometimes lead to performance issues.
Learning Curve
Although user-friendly, it has a steeper learning curve for beginners due to its numerous features and customization options.
Memory Usage
Despite being lightweight, it can consume a significant amount of memory when multiple extensions are installed.
Update Frequency
Frequent updates may sometimes introduce bugs or require users to adapt to new changes quickly.
Internet Dependency
Some features and extensions may require an internet connection to function optimally.
Telemetry
By default, VS Code collects usage data, which might be a concern for users sensitive about data privacy. However, this can be disabled.

Reproducible builds
Earthly allows developers to create reproducible builds, ensuring that the build process is consistent across different environments.
Simplified CI/CD
Earthly can integrate with existing CI/CD pipelines, providing a unified platform to define build and deployment processes, thereby reducing complexity and overhead.
Ease of Use
Earthly uses a simple and intuitive syntax, which makes it easy for developers to get started quickly without a steep learning curve.
Cross-platform builds
Earthly supports cross-platform builds, allowing developers to build applications for multiple environments from a single Earthfile.
Cache Optimization
Earthly leverages caching mechanisms to optimize build times, saving both time and computing resources during the build process.

Possible disadvantages

Learning Curve
Although simpler than some alternatives, there is still a learning curve associated with understanding and utilizing Earthly effectively.
Community & Ecosystem
Being relatively new, Earthly's community and ecosystem are not as expansive as more established tools, which can limit available resources and support.
Limited Integrations
Earthly may have fewer direct integrations with other tools and services compared to well-established CI/CD ecosystems like Jenkins or GitHub Actions.
Runtime Performance
For highly complex builds, the runtime performance might not match that of highly optimized, purpose-built CI/CD systems.
Vendor Lock-in
Relying heavily on Earthly for CI/CD processes might lead to a certain degree of vendor lock-in, making it challenging to switch to other tools if needed in the future.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

VS Code

Earthly

Overall verdict

Yes, VS Code is generally considered a good choice for developers due to its flexibility, efficiency, and strong community support. It is lightweight, fast, and user-friendly, catering to both novice and experienced developers.

Why this product is good

VS Code, developed by Microsoft, is a widely popular and versatile code editor. It offers a robust extension ecosystem, which allows developers to customize their workflow and coding environment extensively. Additionally, VS Code supports numerous programming languages right out of the box and provides features like IntelliSense, debugging, Git integration, and a built-in terminal, making it a powerful tool for developers.

Recommended for

Web developers looking for a comprehensive yet lightweight coding environment.
Software developers who need an editor with extensive language support and customization options.
Beginner programmers who would benefit from a feature-rich editor that can grow with their skills.
Developers interested in an open-source tool with continuous updates and community-driven enhancements.

Overall verdict

Yes, Earthly is considered good, especially for teams looking to streamline their build processes and enhance productivity. Its features and ease of use make it a valuable tool in modern software development workflows.

Why this product is good

Earthly (earthly.dev) is praised for its user-friendly approach to automating builds and CI/CD pipelines. It is particularly appreciated for its ability to run builds locally in the same environment as in continuous integration, thus ensuring consistency. Earthly also allows the reusability of build steps and has a minimal learning curve, especially for those familiar with Docker.

Recommended for

Development teams looking to simplify their build processes
Organizations seeking consistent build environments across local and CI systems
Developers familiar with Docker who want an easy transition
Projects with complex build dependencies that require reusable steps

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

VS Code 2 videos + Add

Earthly 3 videos + Add

My New Favorite Text Editor - Visual Studio Code

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100

VS Code

Earthly

100% 100%

Text Editors

0% 0%

Continuous Integration

100% 100%

IDE

0% 0%

DevOps Tools

100% 100%

User comments

Share your experience with using VS Code and Earthly. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

VS Code 5.0 · 1 review

Earthly no reviews yet

Choosing the Best SQL Server Tool in 2026
www.linkedin.com · Aug 2026

If you're a Windows DBA who mainly manages servers, SSMS is still hard to beat. SQL Server Data Tools makes the most sense for teams building database projects in Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code with the MSSQL...
Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
convesio.com · Nov 2023

Visual Studio Code, commonly known as VS Code, is a powerful and extensible code editor developed by Microsoft. With its rich ecosystem of extensions and features like IntelliSense, debugging, and Git integration, VS...
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
kinsta.com · Sep 2023

Finally, the Visual Studio Code website has numerous tabs for you to learn about the software. The documentation page walks you through steps like the setup and working with different languages. You’re also able to...

We have no reviews of Earthly yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

VS Code 1221 mentions

Earthly 52 mentions

I got tired of switching apps to work with PDFs, so I built a VS Code extension
VS Code is where I do most of my work, but whenever I needed to properly review a PDF, I kept switching to another app just to highlight a passage, leave a comment, or sign a document. - Source: dev.to / 2 days ago
API Workflow Automation Vercel: Connect Document Processing to Your Tech Stack
Your editor of choice works fine here. VS Code with the TypeScript extension catches type errors early, and WebStorm and Sublime Text are solid alternatives. Install jq if you want to inspect API responses from the terminal without... - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
How to Install Python 3.14 on Mac and Set Up VS Code (2026 Beginner Guide)
Download VS Code from code.visualstudio.com, unzip it, and drag it into Applications. Running it from the Downloads folder causes update problems later. - Source: dev.to / 14 days ago

CI/CD Is Your Code’s Nervous System, Your App Doesn’t Ship Without It
Earthly: Repeatable, Docker-friendly builds. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
DevOps in 2025: the future is automated, git-ified, and kinda scary but fun.
Earthly — CI/CD that runs like code, repeatably and fast. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
We're Leaving Kubernetes
Have folks seen success with https://earthly.dev/ as a tool in their dev cycle? - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago

Alternatives to VS Code and Earthly

When comparing VS Code and Earthly, you can also consider the following products.

Sublime Text
Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

Compare Sublime Text to VS Code or Earthly:

Sublime Text vs VS Code Sublime Text vs Earthly
Jenkins
Jenkins is an open-source continuous integration server with 300+ plugins to support all kinds of software development

Compare Jenkins to VS Code or Earthly:

Jenkins vs VS Code Jenkins vs Earthly
Vim
Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

Compare Vim to VS Code or Earthly:

Vim vs VS Code Vim vs Earthly
Travis CI
Simple, flexible, trustworthy CI/CD tools. Join hundreds of thousands who define tests and deployments in minutes, then scale up simply with parallel or multi-environment builds using Travis CI’s precision syntax—all with the developer in mind.

Compare Travis CI to VS Code or Earthly:

Travis CI vs VS Code Travis CI vs Earthly
Notepad++
A free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment.

Compare Notepad++ to VS Code or Earthly:

Notepad++ vs VS Code Notepad++ vs Earthly
Buildbot
Python-based continuous integration testing framework

Compare Buildbot to VS Code or Earthly:

Buildbot vs VS Code Buildbot vs Earthly