Depot
Prometheus
| Feature | Depot | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $20/mo | Free only |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | engineering-teams, ci-cd-pipelines, monorepo-teams, docker-heavy-teams | devops-engineers, sre-teams, kubernetes-users, infrastructure-teams |
| Founded | 2022 | 2012 |
| Fast Builds | ✓ | ✗ |
| Remote Caching | ✓ | ✗ |
| Github Actions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi Platform Builds | ✓ | ✗ |
| Buildkit Compatible | ✓ | ✗ |
| Build Analytics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Metrics Collection | ✗ | ✓ |
| Alerting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Promql | ✗ | ✓ |
| Service Discovery | ✗ | ✓ |
| Grafana Integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| Multi Dimensional Data | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Depot Pros
- Dramatically faster Docker builds
- Drop-in replacement for docker build
- Native layer caching
- GitHub Actions integration
✗ Depot Cons
- Only for container builds
- Costs scale with usage
- Newer platform
✓ Prometheus Pros
- Free and open-source
- Powerful query language
- Great Kubernetes integration
- Active community
✗ Prometheus Cons
- No built-in long-term storage
- Complex setup
- Steep learning curve
The Verdict
Depot is built for engineering teams and ci cd pipelines, with a focus on fast-builds and remote-caching. Prometheus targets devops engineers and sre teams and leads with metrics-collection and alerting.
Prometheus uses custom enterprise pricing, while Depot starts at $20/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.