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Devbox vs direnv: catalog facts
Devbox	direnv
Free The Devbox tool is free and open source; Jetify sells separate cloud services.	Free Free and open source under the MIT licence.
macOS, Linux, Command line	macOS, Linux, Command line
Access to Nix packages without learning the Nix language No Docker or virtual machines required	Per-project environment without cluttering your shell profile Every .envrc must be explicitly approved before it is executed
Depends on Nix under the hood Company website also promotes paid cloud products	Executing files found in a directory is inherently risky if approvals are careless Needs a hook added to each shell
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: Apache-2.0	License: MIT
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.