Akuity runs Argo CD for teams that want to scale GitOps with less operational work. Built by Argo CD’s creators, it adds managed operations, release promotion, shared visibility, AI assistance, and support.
Argo CD OSS is a Kubernetes delivery engine. Your team operates it, handles upgrades and recovery, and connects the tools it needs around it.
Why Akuity over self-managed Argo CD
Give platform engineers their time back
Akuity operates the hosted control plane, so your team can spend less time maintaining Argo CD and more time improving delivery.
Choose Akuity if
Argo CD upgrades, patching, and performance work compete with your platform roadmap.
Your applications, clusters, or teams are growing faster than your operating capacity.
You want managed agent connectivity for private clusters across networks or regions.
You need shared visibility, incident investigation, and an accountable support partner.
You want managed release promotion alongside Argo CD.
When Argo CD OSS fits better
Argo CD OSS fits teams that want to operate it themselves and have the capacity to do so.
It already includes SSO, RBAC, ApplicationSets, and application health views.
There is no license fee; your team owns infrastructure, maintenance, and recovery.
SIDE BY SIDE
Detailed feature comparison
Compares Akuity SaaS with self-managed Argo CD OSS. Enterprise also offers self-hosting, where you manage the infrastructure. Features and support depend on your plan.
Category
Akuity Platform
Akuity SaaS or Self-managed
Self-managed Argo CD OSS
Core GitOps
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Upstream Argo CD UI, API, CLI, Applications, and ApplicationSets.
Same core Argo CD model and workflows.
Argo CD SSO, RBAC, and AppProjects, plus Akuity organization roles.
Native SSO, RBAC, and AppProjects; you configure them.
Architecture & connectivity
Application Controllers run in workload clusters, with a central UI.
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You configure sharding, per-cluster instances, or argocd-agent for local reconciliation.
Agents connect outbound. No inbound Kubernetes API access from Akuity.
Central controllers need cluster API access. Argocd-agent supports workload-initiated connections.
Operations & support
Akuity runs the hosted control plane. You manage workload clusters and applications.
You run the control plane and manage its infrastructure, capacity, and recovery.
Select an Argo CD version; Akuity applies the update. Enterprise adds CVE response commitments.
You test releases, apply upgrades, and deploy security patches.
Optional State Replication keeps core local Argo CD functions running during disconnection; enable it at cluster creation.
HA manifests and backup/restore tools are available; you operate and test them.
Select an Argo CD version; Akuity applies the update. Enterprise adds CVE response commitments.
You test releases, apply upgrades, and deploy security patches.
Visibility & AI
Fleet dashboards and timelines connect resource health, changes, and events.
Application health, logs, events, and metrics; you assemble broader fleet dashboards.
Organization and instance audit logs, filtering, and archive downloads.
Argo CD logs and Kubernetes events; you collect and retain a central audit history.
Built-in investigation and remediation using live context, runbooks, and configurable tool policies.
Integrate and govern separate AI tools, or investigate manually.
MCP (Early Access) connects compatible AI clients to permitted platform, Argo CD, and Kargo operations, within organization guardrails.
Choose and operate a separate MCP server or custom API integration.
Release promotion
Managed Kargo tracks and verifies releases across environments, with Enterprise controls.
Argo CD provides sync and rollout controls. Add Kargo OSS or other promotion tooling separately.
Proven at scale
140+
40,000+
Spend less time managing Argo CD. More time delivering.
Akuity is the stronger choice when operating Argo CD competes with your platform roadmap. Keep the Argo CD workflows your team knows and add managed operations, promotion, visibility, and support.
Evaluate it with a representative workload. Compare sync performance, onboarding effort, and maintenance time. Include subscription, workload-cluster, and migration costs alongside the cost of running OSS.
Frequently asked questions
Is Akuity a replacement for Argo CD?
No. Akuity runs Argo CD with a distributed architecture. You keep its UI, API, CLI, and application model, and gain managed operations and platform capabilities.
How much work is involved in migrating?
What does our team still manage?
Can Akuity connect to private clusters?
Can we host Akuity ourselves?
What are we paying for if Argo CD is open source?
Sources and technical details
