Swarmia vs Plandek
Swarmia and Plandek both turn engineering data into delivery metrics, but they sell it differently. Swarmia is Finnish, prints a per-developer price of $45 on Standard, and costs nothing for companies with up to nine developers. Plandek is British, quotes a sliding $25 to $55 per contributor each month, and keeps only 180 days of data history. Swarmia reads more clearly for a team that wants a free start and published rates. Plandek suits a buyer who values a large metric catalogue and EU-hosted data.
Sebastiaan SmitsFounderVendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
Choose Swarmia ifyou want every price visible before any sales call and start free with a team of up to nine developers. You also want AI tool cost tracking for GitHub Copilot, Cursor and Claude Code.
Choose Plandek ifyou want 500+ configurable metrics and an application hosted in the European Union, and you can live with 180 days of history. You also want a free one-off AI benchmark before any commitment.
Swarmia and Plandek side by side
| Swarmia | Plandek | |
|---|---|---|
| Our engineering analytics software rank | #1 of 13 | #2 of 13 |
| Established in | Finland | United Kingdom |
| List price, 9 November 2026 | Free up to 9 developers; Standard $45 and Enterprise $55 per developer per month, billed annually | $25 to $55 per contributor per month depending on term and licences; AI Impact Report free once |
| Free tier | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | Yes | — |
| Built for | Teams wanting published prices, a no-cost start and AI tool cost tracking | Teams that want a very large metric catalogue from a UK-based company |
| Not for | Organisations that must run the whole analytics stack on their own servers | Buyers who need multi-year history or want to trial the platform first |
Both are reviewed in full in our engineering analytics software ranking: Swarmia and Plandek.
Where they differ
Swarmia 3 · Plandek 2 · open 1- 01
Nine developers for nothing
Swarmia is free for companies with up to 9 developers, and the free tier carries all Standard features except HRIS integrations and Swarmia AI. Plandek has no free Platform tier and no Platform trial on its pricing page. Its free item is the AI Impact Report, a one-off snapshot with no commitment. A small team can run real dashboards on Swarmia without paying, so Swarmia wins the start.
Edge: Swarmia
- 02
Quoted sliding scale or a fixed number
Swarmia Standard costs $45 per developer per month and Enterprise $55, billed annually, the currency marked only with a dollar sign. Plandek's Platform runs from $25 to $55 per contributor per month, and the page says the rate moves with contract length and licence count. The low end is cheaper at Plandek, but you only learn your own rate by asking. Swarmia's number is fixed and visible.
Depends on the buyer
- 03
A 180-day memory
Plandek's pricing page states up to 180 days of data history and retention, alongside unlimited dashboards and code repositories and near real-time updates. That is the main constraint on year-over-year trend work. Swarmia's pricing page states no history cap and no other usage caps, though how far back its data reaches is not shown. For long trends Swarmia looks safer, with that check left to you.
Edge: Swarmia
- 04
Counting what you actually bill
Swarmia bills only developers added to teams, so product managers who sit outside a team are not charged. Plandek bills per contributor per month, and who counts as a contributor is not defined. Add-on plans at Swarmia run $5 for AI adoption and cost, $9 for developer surveys, $18 for software capitalization and $23 for productivity and AI impact, though Standard includes the features of all four.
Edge: Swarmia
- 05
Metrics catalogue and assistants
Plandek advertises 500+ configurable engineering metrics, AIRadar for early-warning signals across AI tools, the Dekka AI Delivery Assistant and ProductivityRadar, and gives each customer a dedicated domain expert. Swarmia offers an MCP link to Claude, Cursor and other MCP-compatible tools, Swarmia AI for plain-language questions, recurring developer surveys with a team heatmap and Slack or Microsoft Teams notices. Plandek has more metrics, Swarmia more everyday workflow.
Edge: Plandek
- 06
Where the data lives and who runs it
Plandek's privacy policy says the application is hosted in the European Union, on Google Cloud EU multi-region, with Auth0 on AWS in Ireland and Frankfurt. Swarmia states SOC 2 Type 2 compliance and biannual security audits but names no hosting location, and neither vendor describes a self-hosted option. Swarmia Oy is Finnish, based in Helsinki. Plandek Ltd. is registered in the United Kingdom, with offices in London and North Carolina.
Edge: Plandek
When neither fits
If your rules require the whole analytics stack on your own servers, neither product is documented for it. Apache DevLake is an open-source route, and Hatica is another delivery analytics option to compare.
Swarmia or Plandek: questions
3 answersDoes Swarmia stay free when a team grows past nine developers?
The pricing page says it is free for companies with up to 9 developers. Above that, Standard is listed at $45 per developer per month billed annually. A partial discount for the tenth developer is not described.
Why can two Plandek customers pay different rates?
The pricing page gives a range of $25 to $55 per contributor per month and says the price varies with contract duration and the number of licences. A personalised quote is requested from Plandek. Where on the range a buyer lands is not stated.
Can I test Plandek's Platform before paying?
The pricing page names no Platform trial. It offers the AI Impact Report free, as a one-off snapshot benchmarked against 2,500+ teams. Swarmia lists trials on three of its plans, with no credit card needed and no length stated.
Sources
Checked 9 November 2026- Swarmia pricing page: Standard and Enterprise per-developer rates, add-on prices, free tier for up to 9 developers, billing of team members only.
- Swarmia product page: AI adoption tracking for Copilot, Cursor and Claude Code, recurring surveys with heatmap.
- Swarmia terms: Swarmia Oy incorporated under Finnish law with its base in Helsinki.
- Plandek pricing page: $25 to $55 contributor range, 180-day history, 500+ metrics, free AI Impact Report.
- Plandek privacy policy: EU application hosting on Google Cloud and UK registration with offices in London and North Carolina.