MigrationPilot vs AtlasFree, Open-Source Migration Linting
Atlas (by Ariga) is a schema management tool. It documents 17 PostgreSQL checks, and every one but PG110 needs Atlas Pro. MigrationPilot is a dedicated migration linter with 112 rules, all of them free. It works alongside Atlas or any other migration tool.
Rule-by-Rule Coverage
Atlas documents 17 PostgreSQL checks. MigrationPilot has an equivalent for 13 of them, 5 of those auto-fixable. The remaining 4 have no MigrationPilot counterpart, and they are listed here rather than left out.
| Atlas Rule | MigrationPilot Equivalent | Auto-Fix |
|---|---|---|
| PG101 CREATE INDEX without CONCURRENTLY | MP001 require-concurrent-index-creation | Yes |
| PG102 DROP INDEX without CONCURRENTLY | MP009 require-drop-index-concurrently | Yes |
| PG103 CONCURRENTLY inside a transaction | MP025 ban-concurrent-in-transaction | Yes |
| PG104 ADD PRIMARY KEY takes ACCESS EXCLUSIVE | No direct equivalent | — |
| PG105 ADD UNIQUE takes ACCESS EXCLUSIVE | MP027 disallowed-unique-constraint | — |
| PG110 Non-optimal column alignment | MP061 suboptimal-column-order | — |
| PG301 Column type change rewrites the table | MP007 no-column-type-change | — |
| PG302 Volatile DEFAULT rewrites the table | MP003 volatile-default-table-rewrite | — |
| PG303 SET NOT NULL scans the whole table | MP002 require-check-not-null-pattern | — |
| PG304 PRIMARY KEY on nullable columns forces a scan | No direct equivalent | — |
| PG305 CHECK without NOT VALID | MP030 require-not-valid-check | Yes |
| PG306 FOREIGN KEY without NOT VALID | MP005 require-not-valid-foreign-key | Yes |
| PG307 SET LOGGED / UNLOGGED rewrites the table | MP047 ban-set-logged-unlogged | — |
| PG308 Trigger on an existing table blocks writes | MP090 warn-trigger-on-hot-table | — |
| PG309 STORED generated column rewrites the table | MP062 ban-add-generated-stored-column | — |
| PG310 Identity column rewrites the table | No direct equivalent | — |
| PG311 Access method change rewrites the table | No direct equivalent | — |
Feature Comparison
| Capability | Atlas (Free) | Atlas (Pro/Cloud) | MigrationPilot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Migration linting | PG110 only | 16 PG checks | 112 rules (all free) |
| Lock type analysis | No | No | Per-statement |
| Risk scoring | No | No | RED / YELLOW / GREEN (0-100) |
| Auto-fix | No | No | 20 rules |
| Safe alternative SQL | No | No | Per violation |
| Declarative schema | Yes (HCL) | Yes (HCL) | No (lint-only) |
| Schema versioning | Yes | Yes | No (works with any) |
| GitHub Action | Limited | Yes | Free (PR comments + annotations) |
| VS Code extension | HCL support | HCL support | SQL safety diagnostics |
| SARIF output | No | No | Yes (Code Scanning) |
| Schema drift detection | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-database | PG, MySQL, SQLite, etc. | PG, MySQL, SQLite, etc. | PostgreSQL only |
| Config presets | atlas.hcl | atlas.hcl | 5 built-in YAML presets |
| Framework detection | Atlas only | Atlas only | 14 frameworks |
| Production context | No | Cloud-based | Free (--database-url) |
| Air-gapped mode | No | No (requires cloud) | Yes (--offline) |
| Price | Free | Custom | Free (all 112 rules) |
| License | Apache 2.0 | Commercial | MIT |
99 Rules Atlas Does Not Have
Once you set aside the 13 checks both tools make, 99 MigrationPilot rules have nothing on the Atlas side to compare against. Some of them:
Require SET lock_timeout before any DDL
Multiple DDL in one transaction compounds lock duration
CONCURRENTLY inside a transaction causes a runtime error
UNIQUE constraint without USING INDEX scans full table under ACCESS EXCLUSIVE
DETACH PARTITION without CONCURRENTLY locks the parent table
Dropping PK breaks logical replication (Supabase, Neon, RDS)
Missing GIN index for JSONB column queries
ENABLE RLS without policy silently blocks all access
DISABLE TRIGGER breaks replication and audit logs
FK creation locks both parent and child tables
FK without DEFERRABLE can cause lock contention during bulk operations
Data changes mixed into schema migration files
Plus 87 more covering data safety, type choices, partitioning, pgvector, and replication. See all 112 rules.
Key Differentiators
Free Migration Linting
Atlas moved migration linting behind a Pro login in v0.38; the Community Edition keeps only basic analyzers, with every PostgreSQL lock-safety check Pro-only. MigrationPilot gives you all 112 rules for free under an MIT license, with no cloud account.
Far More Coverage
Atlas documents 17 PostgreSQL checks. MigrationPilot has 112 rules, covering lock safety, data types, partitioning, RLS, JSONB indexing, and logical replication.
Lock-Level Analysis
MigrationPilot tells you exactly which PostgreSQL lock each DDL statement acquires (SHARE, SHARE UPDATE EXCLUSIVE, ACCESS EXCLUSIVE) and whether it blocks reads or writes.
Auto-Fix
20 rules can be fixed automatically with --fix: missing CONCURRENTLY, lock_timeout, statement_timeout, NOT VALID, IF NOT EXISTS, and more. Atlas does not offer auto-fix.
Works Without Cloud
Atlas Pro requires an Ariga Cloud account. MigrationPilot runs entirely locally or in your own CI. The --offline flag ensures zero external calls.
Framework Agnostic
MigrationPilot works with any migration tool: Atlas, Flyway, Liquibase, Prisma, Django, Rails, Alembic, and 7 more. Auto-detect with npx migrationpilot detect.
When to Use Each Tool
Use Atlas when you need to...
- Define schemas declaratively with HCL
- Auto-generate migration files from schema diffs
- Manage schemas across multiple database engines
- Use cloud-hosted schema management (Ariga Cloud)
- Apply versioned migrations with built-in execution
Use MigrationPilot when you need to...
- Comprehensive PostgreSQL migration safety analysis
- Free linting without a cloud account or paid plan
- Auto-fix dangerous DDL patterns automatically
- Run entirely locally or air-gapped (no cloud dependency)
- Lint migrations from any framework, not just Atlas
Use both together
If you use Atlas for schema management, you can add MigrationPilot as a lint step in your CI pipeline. Atlas generates the migration SQL, MigrationPilot reviews it for safety. Keep Atlas for declarative schema management and execution. Add MigrationPilot for deep PostgreSQL safety analysis.
Get Started in 30 Seconds
Lint your Atlas migrations
# Analyze migration files generated by Atlas npx migrationpilot analyze migrations/*.sql
Add to GitHub Actions
- uses: mickelsamuel/migrationpilot@v1
with:
path: migrations/
fail-on: criticalAuto-fix common issues
npx migrationpilot analyze migrations/ --fix --dry-run112 rules. Free and open-source. No cloud required.
Migration linting should not require a paid plan. MigrationPilot gives you all 112 safety rules for free, 20 of them auto-fixable, plus lock analysis and risk scoring. MIT licensed.