Trigger.dev vs Windmill
Trigger.dev and Windmill are both workflow automation tools. Trigger.dev is aimed at developers and small businesses, while Windmill is aimed at developers. Both have a free plan.
Open-source platform for durable background jobs and AI agents
Open-source developer platform for scripts, flows and apps
| Pricing | Open source · $10 | Open source · $10 |
| Starting price | $10/mo | $10/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Built for | Developers, Small businesses, Enterprise | Developers |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | GB · 2022 | FR · 2022 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Trigger.dev if
TypeScript teams that need reliable long-running jobs and AI agents with retries, queues and observability built in.
- Apache-2.0 open source with a self-hosting option
- Waiting time on waitpoints is not billed
- Generous observability for each run
Look elsewhere if: Non-developers or teams working mainly in Python or other languages (Windmill, Pipedream).
Choose Windmill if
Developers wanting code-first automation.
- Very fast engine
- Code-first
- Open source
Look elsewhere if: No-code users.
Trigger.dev vs Windmill pricing
Trigger.dev
- Free$0$5 usage included, 20 concurrent runs, 1-day log retention
- Hobby$10/mo$10 usage included, 50 concurrent runs, 7-day logs
- Pro$50/mo$50 usage included, 200+ concurrent runs, 25+ seats
- EnterpriseCustomRBAC, SSO, SOC 2 report, priority support
Windmill
- Community Edition$0Self-hosted, unlimited executions, max 10 users with SSO
- Cloud Team$10/seat/moManaged cloud; per seat (from page structured data)
- Enterprise (self-hosted)from $120/mo$20/dev/mo + $50/worker/mo compute; audit logs, SAML
- Enterprise (cloud)CustomBased on seats and compute units
Trigger.dev · Key features
- Durable TypeScript tasks with no timeouts, retries and checkpointing
- Queues and concurrency controls with per-key overrides
- Cron schedules and waitpoints for human approval up to 90 days
- Realtime run updates and LLM streaming to the frontend
- Verified, deduplicated webhooks that trigger up to 25 agents
- Slack and Linear integrations for chat-driven agents
Cons
- TypeScript and JavaScript SDK only
- Webhooks are still in public beta
- Usage-based compute makes bills harder to predict
Windmill · Key features
- Scripts to workflows
- Schedules and triggers
- Auto-generated UIs
- App builder
- Multi-language
- Self-hosting
Cons
- Developer-oriented
- Smaller community
- Learning curve
Trigger.dev vs Windmill: FAQ
Do Trigger.dev and Windmill have a free plan?
Yes, both Trigger.dev and Windmill have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.
Which is better for small businesses, Trigger.dev or Windmill?
Trigger.dev lists small businesses as a core audience, while Windmill is aimed more at developers.