Inngest vs Windmill

Side-by-side — pricing, strengths, tradeoffs, and fit.

Inngest

Durable background jobs and workflows for serverless, with zero infra.

Windmill

Open-source developer platform turning scripts into workflows and internal apps.

At a glance

Open SourceFree TierEnterprise
● Established·From $20/mo
Open SourceFree TierEnterprise
● Established·From $0 self-hosted

Overview

One-liner

Durable background jobs and workflows for serverless, with zero infra.

One-liner

Open-source developer platform turning scripts into workflows and internal apps.

Maturity

Established

Maturity

Established

Open source

✓ Yes

Open source

✓ Yes

Pricing

Free tier

✓ Available

Free tier (generous monthly runs)

Free tier

✓ Available

Self-hosted free; cloud has paid plans

Starts at

$20/mo

Starts at

$0 self-hosted

Model

Usage-based

Model

Usage-based

Enterprise

✓ Available

Enterprise

✓ Available

Best for

✓ Best for

Background jobs for serverless/Next.jsDurable steps without queues
Event-driven workflowsTriggers, retries, and scheduling

✓ Best for

Script-based workflows and internal toolsTurn code into flows and UIs
Self-hosted automation platformOwn your execution engine

Not ideal for

✕ Not for

—

✕ Not for

—

Strengths

↑ Strengths

Durable jobs without managing queues
Great serverless/Next.js fit
Event-driven + scheduling

↑ Strengths

Scripts → workflows + UIs
Open source and fast
Flexible (jobs, crons, apps)

Weaknesses

↓ Weaknesses

Usage costs at high volume
Younger than Temporal

↓ Weaknesses

Self-hosting ops
Broad scope to learn
Full Inngest profile →Full Windmill profile →