# Apache Airflow vs Mage

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Apache Airflow

| Attribute | Apache Airflow | Mage |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 69 (66% (medium)) | 58.7 (74% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 189 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 47,054 | - |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 1,607,065 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"An open-source platform where you define workflows in Python, schedule their execution based on dependencies and timing, and monitor progress through a web interface. Widely used for data orchestration, ML operations, and infrastructure automation. It is indexed under Data Engineering Tools.","source":"https://airflow.apache.org","question":"What is Apache Airflow?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache Airflow is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://airflow.apache.org","question":"Is Apache Airflow free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache Airflow supports the web, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://airflow.apache.org","question":"What platforms does Apache Airflow support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache Airflow can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://airflow.apache.org","question":"Can Apache Airflow be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 56 integrations for Apache Airflow, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Databricks, Snowflake, dbt Cloud, Slack and Salesforce, plus 48 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://airflow.apache.org","question":"What does Apache Airflow integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache Airflow is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/apache/airflow","question":"Is Apache Airflow open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"Automates the full lifecycle of data pipelines—from design and validation to execution and monitoring. Provides AI-assisted workflow generation and automatic recovery for reliable data delivery. It is indexed under Data Engineering Tools.","source":"https://www.mage.ai","question":"What is Mage?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Mage is a paid product; published pricing starts at $0.50. It is sold across 2 plans (Mage Cloud and Mage Pro). There is no free tier. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.mage.ai/pricing","question":"How much does Mage cost?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Mage. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.mage.ai","question":"What platforms does Mage support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Mage can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.mage.ai","question":"Can Mage be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 14 integrations for Mage, including Apache Spark, PySpark, Kafka, Stripe, Salesforce, BigQuery, AWS EMR and Kubernetes, plus 6 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.mage.ai","question":"What does Mage integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 and GDPR for Mage. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Mage not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.mage.ai/stories/regulatory-compliance-reporting","question":"What security certifications does Mage have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | A platform combining AI orchestration, data validation, and automated issue resolution to manage and optimize production data workflows. |
| features.capabilities | `{"role":"orchestrator","lineage":true,"paradigm":"batch","dbt_native":true,"data_quality":true,"python_first":true,"managed_cloud":true,"connector_count":"100+","self_hosted_oss":true,"incremental_runs":true,"distributed_executor":true}` | `{"cdc":true,"role":"orchestrator","lineage":true,"paradigm":"both","dbt_native":true,"data_quality":true,"elt_pushdown":true,"python_first":true,"managed_cloud":true,"connector_count":"12+","self_hosted_oss":true,"incremental_runs":false,"distributed_executor":true}` |
| integrations.count | 54 | 5 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Amazon Web Services"},{"name":"Microsoft Azure"},{"name":"Google Cloud Platform"},{"name":"Databricks"},{"name":"Snowflake"},{"name":"dbt Cloud"},{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"Salesforce"},{"name":"Tableau"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Apache Spark"},{"name":"Apache Kafka"},{"name":"Apache Cassandra"},{"name":"Apache Flink"},{"name":"Apache Druid"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"Datadog"},{"name":"Jenkins"},{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Anthropic"},{"name":"Cohere"},{"name":"Pinecone"},{"name":"Weaviate"},{"name":"Qdrant"},{"name":"Oracle"},{"name":"Teradata"},{"name":"SQLite"},{"name":"Presto"},{"name":"Trino"},{"name":"ClickHouse"},{"name":"Neo4j"},{"name":"Airbyte"},{"name":"Informatica"},{"name":"Asana"},{"name":"Atlassian Jira"},{"name":"Discord"},{"name":"Telegram"},{"name":"Segment"},{"name":"PagerDuty"},{"name":"Opsgenie"},{"name":"Keycloak"},{"name":"Yandex"},{"name":"Zendesk"},{"name":"OpenLineage"},{"name":"New Relic","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Starrocks","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"OpenSearch","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"IBM Cognos TM1","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Marquez","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Nexla","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Vertica","native":true},{"name":"Microsoft SQL Server","native":true},{"name":"Influx DB","native":true},{"name":"Cloudant","native":true},{"name":"OpenFaaS","native":true}]` | `[{"name":"Apache Spark"},{"name":"PySpark"},{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"Stripe"},{"name":"Salesforce"},{"name":"BigQuery"},{"name":"AWS EMR"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"EHR systems"},{"name":"Billing platforms"},{"name":"Lab systems"},{"name":"Clinical systems"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"dbt","native":true,"category":"transformation"},{"name":"Slack","native":true,"category":"chat","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Python | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"linux":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://airflow.apache.org","retrievedAt":"2026-09-07T13:08:28.227Z"}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Starter","summary":"$29/month + $0.50 per CPU-hour. Includes 50 AI credits/month.","features":["Managed orchestration","Alerts","Monitoring"],"minSeats":1,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":29,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"cpu-hour"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.5,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"For solo builders and small projects transitioning from open-source to managed services.","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"ai_credits":"50/month","developer_seats":"1"}},{"free":false,"name":"Team","summary":"$100/month. Includes 250 shared AI credits/month.","features":["Advanced controls","Lineage","Deployment workflows"],"minSeats":10,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":100,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For teams running production workflows with collaboration and AI-assisted operations.","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"ai_credits":"250/month","developer_seats":"10"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing. Annual contract.","commitment":"annual","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"AI credits","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"credit"},"kind":"per_unit","amount":0.12,"currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"From $29/month (Starter). Free 7-day trial, no credit card required.","currency":"USD","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://www.mage.ai/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-10-07T15:25:20.415Z","freeTrialDays":7,"startingPrice":{"amount":29,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | no |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | mid |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":29,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 14 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.3.2","date":"2026-09-17T11:10:15Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.3.1","date":"2026-08-12T09:50:17Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/java-sdk/1.0.0-beta1","date":"2026-07-13T18:14:58Z","type":"prerelease","version":"java-sdk/1.0.0-beta1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.3.0","date":"2026-07-06T15:16:00Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/helm-chart/1.22.0","date":"2026-06-13T23:37:21Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart/1.22.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/airflow-ctl/0.1.5","date":"2026-06-03T20:29:33Z","type":"stable","version":"airflow-ctl/0.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.2.2","date":"2026-05-29T06:27:24Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/helm-chart/1.21.0","date":"2026-04-24T20:54:43Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart/1.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.2.1","date":"2026-04-22T09:27:57Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.2.0","date":"2026-04-07T14:51:49Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/helm-chart/1.20.0","date":"2026-03-22T22:34:36Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart/1.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/airflow-ctl/0.1.3","date":"2026-03-19T10:35:06Z","type":"stable","version":"airflow-ctl/0.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.1.8","date":"2026-03-11T22:16:16Z","type":"stable","version":"3.1.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/airflow-ctl/0.1.2","date":"2026-02-25T21:45:45Z","type":"stable","version":"airflow-ctl/0.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/helm-chart/1.19.0","date":"2026-02-17T19:54:34Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart/1.19.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.1.7","date":"2026-02-04T12:20:25Z","type":"stable","version":"3.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.1.6","date":"2026-01-13T11:08:29Z","type":"stable","version":"3.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/airflow-ctl/0.1.1","date":"2026-01-13T21:57:27Z","type":"stable","version":"airflow-ctl/0.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.1.5","date":"2025-12-10T09:11:07Z","type":"stable","version":"3.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/airflow/releases/tag/3.1.3","date":"2025-11-14T14:47:34Z","type":"stable","version":"3.1.3"}]` | - |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.3 | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=apache-airflow-providers-common-sql&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | - |

## Capabilities (Data Engineering Tools)

| Capability | Apache Airflow | Mage |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool role | Orchestrator | Orchestrator |
| Processing paradigm | Batch | Batch + streaming |
| **Connectivity** |  |  |
| Connector count | 100+ | 12+ |
| CDC / log-based replication | - | ✓ |
| **Transformation** |  |  |
| In-warehouse transformation (push-down) | - | ✓ |
| dbt-native orchestration | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Self-hosted / open-source available | ✓ | ✓ |
| Managed cloud available | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Governance** |  |  |
| Data lineage / asset catalog | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Authoring** |  |  |
| Python-first authoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Execution** |  |  |
| Incremental / partition-aware runs | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Quality** |  |  |
| Built-in data quality / tests | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Horizontal scale (distributed executor) | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:15:42.185Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*