Modulo vs Factory.ai
A dimension-by-dimension comparison of agent governance platforms. No hype, no FUD - just the facts that matter for your buying decision.
Comparison table
| Dimension | Modulo | Factory.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting and data residency | Self-hosted only. Runs on your infrastructure - cloud, air-gapped, or behind a VPN. No telemetry by default. Every tier, including the free Community edition, runs entirely under your control. | Cloud SaaS by default. Enterprise tier adds on-prem/hybrid deployment with customer-managed encryption keys and data residency - but only at the custom-quoted Enterprise level, not at any self-serve tier. |
| Licensing model | Source-available under BUSL. The farnalabs/modulo repository is public and inspectable. The licence restricts the field of use but does not restrict internal use. Not OSI-approved open-source. | Proprietary closed-source. No public repository. You run a compiled binary; you cannot inspect the source. |
| Governance features | SSO/SAML, SCIM provisioning, team RBAC, immutable audit log with hash-chaining, HITL gates, eval-gated progressive autonomy, cost/budget controls, and capability scopes - all included in the single Team tier. | SSO/SAML, SCIM, Zero Data Retention, audit logging, model selection, autonomy-level controls, org-level deny lists, and network policy. These features exist only on the Business (capped at 150 seats) and Enterprise (unlimited) tiers - both custom-quoted, neither self-serve. |
| Pricing model | $8,000/year flat. Per organisation, per deployment. No per-seat, no per-run, no usage metering. The cost does not grow when you add engineers, reviewers, security stakeholders, or QA. | Per-user monthly. Pro $20/user/mo, Plus $100/user/mo, Max $200/user/mo. Teams tier $60/mo/team + $40/mo/seat, hard-capped at 10 seats. Business and Enterprise tiers are custom-quoted with no published price. |
| Pricing predictability | One number. No usage variable. No seat count to track. No surprise invoices when adoption grows. | Usage scales with headcount and agent consumption. The Teams tier costs $5,520/year at its 10-seat ceiling. Getting governance requires moving to Business or Enterprise - at a price you discover only through sales. |
| Support model | Community support only. The paid Team tier buys governance features and compliance evidence, not a helpdesk. Self-service purchase with an offline signed licence key. | Enterprise tier includes a dedicated account manager and SLA'd priority support. Lower tiers are self-serve. |
| Target buyer | DevX and Platform Engineering teams in organisations of 50-1,000 engineers who already use coding agents (Cursor, Copilot, Claude Code) and need governance before they can expand usage. | Engineering leadership at large enterprises with complex legacy codebases. Factory's customer logos include NVIDIA, Adobe, Morgan Stanley, and EY. |
The tier-matching trap
When prospects compare Factory's published pricing against Modulo's $8,000/year, they instinctively look at Factory's visible tiers: Pro at $20/user/mo, Plus at $100/user/mo, Max at $200/user/mo. These are the numbers on Factory's pricing page. Modulo's $8,000/year looks expensive next to $20/user/mo.
The comparison is wrong.
None of Factory's self-serve tiers - Pro, Plus, Max, or Teams - include SSO, audit logging, or admin controls. At any seat count, at any usage level, those tiers ship zero governance. The Teams tier, which is the first tier that bundles anything beyond individual agent usage, costs $60/mo per team plus $40/mo per seat, hard-capped at 10 seats. At its ceiling that is $5,520/year for a billing convenience with no governance layer at all.
To match what Modulo's Team plan unlocks - SSO, SCIM, audit logging, role-based access, HITL gates - a Factory buyer must move to Business or Enterprise. Both are custom-quoted. Neither publishes a price. Factory keeps its governance-tier pricing fully sales-gated.
The structural difference matters more than the number. Factory's pricing is usage-metered even before governance is added - the Plus and Max tiers are literally usage multipliers. The more your engineers rely on Factory's agents, the more it costs. Modulo's flat annual fee has the opposite shape: heavier usage is free upside, not a bill increase.
When Modulo is the better fit
- Governance at a predictable cost - SSO, SCIM, RBAC, audit logging, HITL gates, eval-gated autonomy, and cost controls for $8,000/year flat.
- Self-hosted or air-gapped at every tier, including the free Community edition.
- Source-available code you can inspect - BUSL-licensed with a public repository.
- Cost that does not grow with headcount - adding reviewers, security stakeholders, legal, and QA costs nothing extra.
- Governance features without an enterprise sales process - self-service, no sales call required.
When Factory is the better fit
- A fully managed experience - Factory handles infrastructure, model access, and runtime orchestration.
- Dedicated support and an SLA at the Enterprise tier.
- Established customer base at enterprise scale (NVIDIA, Adobe, Palo Alto Networks, Morgan Stanley, EY).
- Closed-source with a vendor SLA for compliance regimes that require it.
Try Modulo
Modulo is self-hosted. You can evaluate it without talking to anyone.
Questions? Open a discussion on GitHub.