vioscaleAI
Comparison

Apache Airflow vs Kestra

On the evidence we track, Apache Airflow leads this comparison with a composite score of 69/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Apache Airflow full profile →Kestra full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
★Apache Airflow69
Kestra59
Score
vioscaleAI score
Apache Airflow69 / 100medium · 66%
Kestra59 / 100medium · 54%
Pricing
Free tier
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Model
Apache Airflowopen_source
Kestrafreemium
Price level
Apache Airflowfree
Kestralow
Transparent
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✗
Integrations
Count
Apache Airflow54
Kestra2,000
Security
Certifications
Apache Airflow–
KestraSOC 2
Gdpr
Apache Airflow–
Kestra✓
Scorecard
Apache Airflow7.3
Kestra–
Soc2
Apache Airflow–
Kestra✓
Trust center
Vulnerabilities
Adoption
Dependent repos
Apache Airflow189
Kestra–
Github stars
Apache Airflow47,054
Kestra–
Package downloads weekly
Apache Airflow1,607,065
Kestra–
Activity
Commits last 30d
Apache Airflow100
Kestra–
Release
Cadence days
Apache Airflow14
Kestra–
History
Apache Airflow20 items
Kestra–
License
Spdx
Apache AirflowApache-2.0
Kestra–
Language
Primary
Apache AirflowPython
Kestra–
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
Apache Airflow6 items
Kestra7 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for data engineering tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Core
Tool role
Apache AirflowOrchestrator
KestraOrchestrator
Processing paradigm
Apache AirflowBatch
KestraBatch + streaming
Connectivity
Connector count
Apache Airflow100+
Kestra1900+
CDC / log-based replication
Apache Airflow-
Kestra✗
Transformation
In-warehouse transformation (push-down)
Apache Airflow-
Kestra✓
dbt-native orchestration
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Deployment
Self-hosted / open-source available
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Managed cloud available
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Governance
Data lineage / asset catalog
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Authoring
Python-first authoring
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Execution
Incremental / partition-aware runs
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Quality
Built-in data quality / tests
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Scale
Horizontal scale (distributed executor)
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Apache Airflow

Leader

Apache Airflow is a workflow orchestration platform that enables users to define data pipelines in Python and schedule their execution across distributed workers. It provides a web interface for visualization and monitoring, plus extensive integrations with cloud platforms and services.

Independently observed

Kestra

A language-agnostic platform that lets teams define and run business-critical workflows declaratively as code, with built-in scheduling, event-driven triggers, retries, failure handling, and full observability across cloud, on-premise, and air-gapped deployments.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Apache Airflow

Leader
Open source
as of verify ↗

Kestra

HybridFree tier
  • Open SourceFree
  • Kestra CloudManaged cloud with enterprise support
    • Fully Managed Platform (Hosting, Upgrades, Monitoring)
    • Built-in Security and Governance Features
    • Customer Success Program & Enterprise Support with SLA
    • Audit Logs
  • Kestra EnterpriseContact sales
    • Run anywhere Cloud, On-Prem, Air-Gapped
    • RBAC, audit logs, secrets management, asset lineage
    • AI Copilot (Any LLM Cloud or Self-Hosted)
    • Human-in-the-Loop Approvals
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
macOS
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✗
Linux
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✗
CLI
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Self-hosted
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
On-premise
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✓
Hybrid
Apache Airflow✓
Kestra✗
Air-gapped
Apache Airflow✗
Kestra✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (16)
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Slack
  • Salesforce
  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL
  • Kubernetes
  • Docker
  • Apache Spark
  • Apache Kafka
  • Elasticsearch
  • Datadog
  • GitHub
  • OpenAI
  • Anthropic
  • Airbyte
  • PagerDuty

Apache Airflow

Leader
61 total - 45 not shared
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Databricks
  • Snowflake
  • dbt Cloud
  • Tableau
  • MongoDB
  • Redis
  • Apache Cassandra
  • Apache Flink
  • Apache Druid
  • Jenkins
  • Cohere
  • Pinecone
  • Weaviate
  • Qdrant
  • Oracle
  • Teradata
  • SQLite
  • Presto
  • Trino
  • ClickHouse
  • Neo4j
  • Informatica
  • +21 more
Independently observed

Kestra

58 total - 42 not shared
  • Ansible
  • dbt
  • Spark
  • Dremio
  • Arrow Flight SQL
  • Git
  • GitHub Actions
  • Terraform
  • S3
  • Azure Data Lake Storage
  • Postgres
  • JDBC databases
  • HTTP APIs
  • Polars
  • Python
  • Bash
  • Node.js
  • Go
  • Google Gemini
  • Perplexity
  • Google Analytics
  • Facebook Ads
  • RabbitMQ
  • Yahoo Finance
  • +18 more
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Apache Airflow or Kestra: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.