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Comparison Guide

Akuity vs. Harness

Akuity is the better platform for teams who want GitOps as their delivery operating model. Built by the

creators of Argo CD and Kargo, it re-architects Argo CD for fleet scale, runs the control plane for you, and

promotes across Kubernetes, Terraform, VMs, and serverless in one GitOps workflow.

Akuity is the better platform for teams who want GitOps as their delivery operating model. Built by the creators of Argo CD and Kargo, it re-architects Argo CD for fleet scale, runs the control plane for you, and promotes across Kubernetes, Terraform, VMs, and serverless in one GitOps workflow.

Harness is a broad DevOps suite where GitOps is one module — governance and pipelines layered on Argo

CD components you still operate.

Harness is a broad DevOps suite where GitOps is one module governance and pipelines layered on Argo CD components you still operate.

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Harness is a broad DevOps suite where GitOps is one module governance and pipelines layered on Argo CD components you still operate.

Why Akuity

Why Akuity over Harness

A re-architected foundation,

not a layer on top

Akuity is Argo CD, re-architected: Akuity hosts the control plane and runs the

Application Controller in each cluster, handling upgrades, scaling, HA, and DR.

You operate delivery, not Argo CD.

Akuity is Argo CD, re-architected: Akuity hosts the control plane and runs the Application Controller in each cluster, handling upgrades, scaling, HA, and DR. You operate delivery, not Argo CD.

Akuity is Argo CD, re-architected: Akuity hosts the control plane and runs the Application Controller in each cluster, handling upgrades, scaling, HA, and DR.

You operate delivery, not Argo CD.

Harness layers a control plane on top of your Argo CD. Either way the

components run in your environment, and operating them stays with you.

Harness layers a control plane on top of your Argo CD. Either way the components run in your environment, and operating them stays with you.

Argo CD stays Argo CD

Akuity is native Argo CD — same resources, UI, API, and CLI. Nothing new to

learn; manifests and skills stay portable.

Akuity is native Argo CD — same resources, UI, API, and CLI. Nothing new to learn; manifests and skills stay portable.

Harness supports all ApplicationSet generators — so this is about fidelity, not

support. Apps become Harness services and projects, and the model grows

Harness-specific over time.

Harness supports all ApplicationSet generators — so this is about fidelity, not support. Apps become Harness services and projects, and the model grows Harness-specific over time.

Architecture built for fleet scale

Architecture built for

fleet scale

Architecture built for fleet scale

With Akuity, the controller runs in each cluster and the agent reaches out, so

nothing needs to be exposed and there's no management cluster to operate.

Tested at 50,000 apps across 1,000 clusters on one control plane.

With Akuity, the controller runs in each cluster and the agent reaches out, so nothing needs to be exposed and there's no management cluster to operate.

Tested at 50,000 apps across 1,000 clusters on one control plane.

Harness runs standard Argo CD components in your environment, so

reconciliation at scale still depends on how you tune and shard them. Multi-region

means a control cluster per region — a footprint you size and operate.

Harness runs standard Argo CD components in your environment, so reconciliation at scale still depends on how you tune and shard them. Multi-region means a control cluster per region — a footprint you size and operate.

Promotion as a first-class

GitOps concern

Promotion as a first-class

GitOps concern

Akuity separates deployment from promotion. Kargo moves changes across

stages with approvals, verification, and Git write-back — one declarative GitOps

workflow across Kubernetes, Terraform, VMs, and serverless, not CI scripts.

Akuity separates deployment from promotion. Kargo moves changes across stages with approvals, verification, and Git write-back — one declarative GitOps workflow across Kubernetes, Terraform, VMs, and serverless, not CI scripts.

Harness promotes through PR and CD pipelines. Strong when Harness pipelines

are your standard, but promotion lives in the pipeline model, not a portable GitOps

workflow.

Harness promotes through PR and CD pipelines. Strong when Harness pipelines are your standard, but promotion lives in the pipeline model, not a portable GitOps workflow.

Operations and intelligence

inside the workflow

Akuity reduces day-two work: Akuity Intelligence opens incidents on degraded

apps, correlates logs, metrics, and events in one timeline, and runs approved

runbooks automatically or human-in-the-loop.

Akuity reduces day-two work: Akuity Intelligence opens incidents on degraded apps, correlates logs, metrics, and events in one timeline, and runs approved runbooks automatically or human-in-the-loop.

Harness provides dashboards, continuous verification, and rollback workflows —

real, but tied to pipeline runs rather than GitOps-native incident detection and

remediation.

Harness provides dashboards, continuous verification, and rollback workflows — real, but tied to pipeline runs rather than GitOps-native incident detection and

remediation.

Cost that does not scale with

seats or clusters

Cost that does not scale with seats or clusters

Akuity is usage-based: priced by applications, Kargo stages, and AI tokens, with

unlimited users and target clusters. Cost tracks what you deploy, not seats or

clusters.

Akuity is usage-based: priced by applications, Kargo stages, and AI tokens, with unlimited users and target clusters. Cost tracks what you deploy, not seats or clusters.

Harness uses Developer 360 module licenses plus CD/GitOps service

consumption — active services, GitOps services, and service instances.

Harness uses Developer 360 module licenses plus CD/GitOps service consumption — active services, GitOps services, and service instances.

Portability instead of lock-in

Portability instead of

lock-in

Akuity keeps delivery close to open source — native Argo CD, open-source

Kargo, unchanged UI, API, and CLI. If you ever move, you move standard tooling,

not an Akuity format.

Akuity keeps delivery close to open source — native Argo CD, open-source Kargo, unchanged UI, API, and CLI. If you ever move, you move standard tooling, not an Akuity format.

Harness encodes delivery in its own model — services, environments,

expressions, pipelines, policies. The more that lives there, the higher the cost to

leave, and the more vendor-specific your delivery becomes.

Harness encodes delivery in its own model — services, environments, expressions, pipelines, policies. The more that lives there, the higher the cost to

leave, and the more vendor-specific your delivery becomes.

Choose Akuity if

GitOps is your delivery model, not one workflow buried

inside a bigger suite.

GitOps is your delivery model, not one workflow buried inside a bigger suite.

You'd rather not build and run the platform yourself.

Akuity handles upgrades, scaling, HA, and DR

You'd rather not build and run the platform yourself. Akuity handles upgrades, scaling, HA, and DR

You'd rather not build and run the platform yourself.

Akuity handles upgrades, scaling, HA, and DR

You're running a lot of clusters, apps, and teams, and it

has to stay fast and reliable at that size.

You're running a lot of clusters, apps, and teams, and it has to stay fast and reliable at that size.

You want to promote across Kubernetes, Terraform, VMs,

and serverless in one workflow instead of a pipeline per

target.

You want to promote across Kubernetes, Terraform, VMs, and serverless in one workflow instead of a pipeline per target.

You'd rather standardize on portable, open tooling than

get locked into a vendor's model.

You'd rather standardize on portable, open tooling than get locked into a vendor's model.

You want costs that track usage, not seat or cluster

counts.

You want costs that track usage, not seat or cluster counts.

You want costs that track usage,not seat or cluster counts.

When Harness fits better

Harness can be the better fit if you want one

vendor across many DevOps functions, not just

delivery, or if your teams would rather follow a

paved path than assemble best-of-breed tools.

That breadth comes at a cost, though: more to

license, more to operate, and your delivery

encoded in Harness's own model.

Harness can be the better fit if you want one vendor across many DevOps functions, not just delivery, or if your teams would rather follow a paved path than assemble best-of-breed tools. That breadth comes at a cost, though: more to license, more to operate, and your delivery encoded in Harness's own model.

Harness can be the better fit if you want one vendor across many DevOps functions, not just delivery, or if your teams would rather follow a paved path than assemble best-of-breed tools.

That breadth comes at a cost, though: more to license, more to operate, and your delivery encoded in Harness's own model.

For GitOps-native delivery — now across

Kubernetes, Terraform, VMs, and serverless —

without the lock-in, Akuity is the more focused

choice.

For GitOps-native delivery — now across Kubernetes, Terraform, VMs, and serverless — without the lock-in, Akuity is the more focused choice.

For GitOps-native delivery — now across

Kubernetes, Terraform, VMs, and serverless — without the lock-in, Akuity is the more focuse choice.

Side by side

Detailed feature comparison

The enterprise platform for Kubernetes GitOps — not a managed add-on to Argo CD

Akuity is the better choice for organizations making GitOps the operating model for Kubernetes. It re-architects

Argo CD for fleet scale, runs the control plane — upgrades, scaling, and HA/DR included — so platform teams stop

staffing and operating Argo CD, makes promotion a first-class GitOps concern with Kargo, and keeps users and

clusters unlimited.

Akuity is the better choice for organizations making GitOps the operating model for Kubernetes. It re-architects Argo CD for fleet scale, runs the control plane — upgrades, scaling, and HA/DR included — so platform teams stop

staffing and operating Argo CD, makes promotion a first-class GitOps concern with Kargo, and keeps users and clusters unlimited.

Akuity is the better choice for organizations making GitOps the operating model for Kubernetes. It re-architects

Argo CD for fleet scale, runs the control plane — upgrades, scaling, and HA/DR included — so platform teams stop

staffing and operating Argo CD, makes promotion a first-class GitOps concern with Kargo, and keeps users and

clusters unlimited.

Harness is a capable, broad DevOps suite, and the right call when the goal is consolidating many DevOps

functions — CI, IaC, feature flags, security testing, cloud cost — into one vendor. But its GitOps module is a layer

on top of the Argo CD you still operate. For teams serious about GitOps-native delivery, Akuity is not a managed

add-on to Argo CD — it is the enterprise platform for it, built by the people who created Argo CD and Kargo.

Harness is a capable, broad DevOps suite, and the right call when the goal is consolidating many DevOps functions — CI, IaC, feature flags, security testing, cloud cost — into one vendor. But its GitOps module is a layer

on top of the Argo CD you still operate. For teams serious about GitOps-native delivery, Akuity is not a managed add-on to Argo CD — it is the enterprise platform for it, built by the people who created Argo CD and Kargo.

FAQ

Is Akuity only for Kubernetes?

No. Akuity began as the GitOps platform for Kubernetes, and as of

December 2025 its promotion layer (Kargo Enterprise) spans Kubernetes,

Terraform/OpenTofu, VMs, and serverless — one GitOps workflow with

shared approvals and audit across targets. Kubernetes and Argo CD remain

the core, but delivery is no longer Kubernetes-only.

No. Akuity began as the GitOps platform for Kubernetes, and as of December 2025 its promotion layer (Kargo Enterprise) spans Kubernetes, Terraform/OpenTofu, VMs, and serverless — one GitOps workflow with shared approvals and audit across targets. Kubernetes and Argo CD remain the core, but delivery is no longer Kubernetes-only.

Is Harness GitOps built on Argo CD?

Yes. Harness GitOps packages an agent with Argo CD components that run

in the customer environment, and can install them for you (standard setup)

or connect to an existing Argo CD installation (BYOA). It adds Harness

services, dashboards, and pipeline workflows around that foundation. Akuity

is also Argo CD, but re-architected: the control plane is hosted and the

Application Controller runs in each cluster.

Yes. Harness GitOps packages an agent with Argo CD components that run

in the customer environment, and can install them for you (standard setup) or connect to an existing Argo CD installation (BYOA). It adds Harness services, dashboards, and pipeline workflows around that foundation. Akuity is also Argo CD, but re-architected: the control plane is hosted and the Application Controller runs in each cluster.

Yes. Harness GitOps packages an agent with Argo CD components that run in the customer environment, and can install them for you (standard setup) or connect to an existing Argo CD installation (BYOA). It adds Harness services, dashboards, and pipeline workflows around that foundation. Akuity is also Argo CD, but re architected: the control plane is hosted and the

Application Controller runs in each cluster.

Can Akuity and Harness be used together?

Yes. A common split is Akuity for Kubernetes-native GitOps, Argo CD

operations, and Kargo promotions, with Harness where broad CI/CD or non-

Kubernetes workflows are the main requirement.

Yes. A common split is Akuity for Kubernetes-native GitOps, Argo CD operations, and Kargo promotions, with Harness where broad CI/CD or non-

Kubernetes workflows are the main requirement.

How hard is it to move to Akuity?

Not hard, because Akuity is upstream Argo CD — your manifests, repos, and

existing Argo CD setup carry over as-is, with no re-architecting and nothing

to rewrite. You connect your clusters with an outbound-only agent and

Akuity takes over the control plane. Teams have migrated off self-managed

Argo CD in hours rather than weeks; Mastery Logistics did it with no

downtime and immediately handed off the upgrade, scaling, and HA work

they'd been carrying.

Not hard, because Akuity is upstream Argo CD — your manifests, repos, and

existing Argo CD setup carry over as-is, with no re-architecting and nothing to rewrite. You connect your clusters with an outbound-only agent and Akuity takes over the control plane. Teams have migrated off self-managed Argo CD in hours rather than weeks; Mastery Logistics did it with no

downtime and immediately handed off the upgrade, scaling, and HA work they'd been carrying.

Not hard, because Akuity is upstream Argo CD — your manifests, repos, and existing Argo CD setup carry over as-is, with no re-architecting and nothing to rewrite. You connect your clusters with an outbound-only agent and

Akuity takes over the control plane. Teams have migrated off self-managed Argo CD in hours rather than weeks; Mastery Logistics did it with no downtime and immediately handed off the upgrade, scaling, and HA work they'd been carrying.

Do I have to give up the open-source Argo

CD experience?

Do I have to give up the open-source Argo CD experience?

No — that's the point. You get the same Argo CD resources, UI, API, and CLI

your team already knows, plus open-source Kargo for promotion. Nothing is

wrapped in a proprietary model, so your skills and manifests stay portable

and you're never locked in. Akuity runs and hardens that foundation for fleet

scale; it doesn't replace it.

No — that's the point. You get the same Argo CD resources, UI, API, and CLI your team already knows, plus open-source Kargo for promotion. Nothing is wrapped in a proprietary model, so your skills and manifests stay portable and you're never locked in. Akuity runs and hardens that foundation for fleet scale; it doesn't replace it.

replace it.