# Apache Flink vs Prefect

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Prefect

| Attribute | Apache Flink | Prefect |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 57.4 (55% (medium)) | 70 (76% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 98 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 2,391 | 767 |
| adoption.github_stars | 26,406 | 23,966 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 26,298 | 2,710,819 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A framework that processes real-time streams and batch data at scale, enabling stateful computations with low latency and high throughput across distributed clusters. It is indexed under Data Engineering Tools.","source":"https://flink.apache.org","question":"What is Apache Flink?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache Flink 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://flink.apache.org","question":"Is Apache Flink free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache Flink supports Windows, macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://flink.apache.org","question":"What platforms does Apache Flink support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache Flink can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://flink.apache.org","question":"Can Apache Flink be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 17 integrations for Apache Flink, including Kafka, Cassandra, Elasticsearch, MongoDB, OpenSearch, RabbitMQ, Google Cloud Pub/Sub and Apache Pulsar, plus 9 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://flink.apache.org","question":"What does Apache Flink integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache Flink 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/flink","question":"Is Apache Flink open source?","confidence":0.99}]` | `[{"answer":"A workflow orchestration platform where you define workflows as plain Python functions, and Prefect handles scheduling, retries, caching, and recovery automatically. You can run workflows on Prefect's managed cloud infrastructure or deploy workers to your own infrastructure. It is indexed under Data Engineering Tools.","source":"https://www.prefect.io/pricing","question":"What is Prefect?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Prefect is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. A commercial or hosted edition starts at $100 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.prefect.io/pricing","question":"Is Prefect free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Prefect supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.prefect.io/pricing","question":"What platforms does Prefect support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Prefect can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.prefect.io/pricing","question":"Can Prefect be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 12 integrations for Prefect, including Pydantic AI, OpenAI, AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, dbt, Slack, Snowflake and Redis, plus 4 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.prefect.io/pricing","question":"What does Prefect integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR for Prefect. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Prefect not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.prefect.io/security","question":"What security certifications does Prefect have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. Prefect 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/PrefectHQ/prefect","question":"Is Prefect open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A distributed processing engine and framework that handles both continuous data streams and bounded datasets using in-memory computation, designed to run at scale across cluster environments with state management and high throughput. | A Python-native workflow automation platform that handles scheduling, retries, caching, and recovery for data pipelines and AI agent workflows, with both cloud-managed and self-hosted execution options. |
| features.capabilities | `{"cdc":true,"role":"engine","paradigm":"both","managed_cloud":true,"connector_count":"17+","self_hosted_oss":true,"incremental_runs":true,"distributed_executor":true}` | `{"role":"orchestrator","lineage":true,"paradigm":"batch","dbt_native":true,"python_first":true,"managed_cloud":true,"connector_count":"Not specified","self_hosted_oss":true,"incremental_runs":true,"distributed_executor":true}` |
| integrations.count | 16 | 6 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"Cassandra"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"OpenSearch"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"Google Cloud Pub/Sub"},{"name":"Apache Pulsar"},{"name":"JDBC"},{"name":"Apache HBase"},{"name":"Apache Hive"},{"name":"Amazon Kinesis"},{"name":"Amazon Firehose"},{"name":"Amazon DynamoDB"},{"name":"Apache Kudu"},{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"HTTP"},{"name":"AWS","native":true},{"name":"Google Cloud PubSub","native":true},{"name":"HBase","native":true},{"name":"Hive","native":true},{"name":"Kudu","native":true},{"name":"Pulsar","native":true},{"name":"YARN","native":true},{"name":"HDFS","native":true},{"name":"CDC","direction":"inbound"}]` | `[{"name":"Pydantic AI"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"AWS Secrets Manager"},{"name":"HashiCorp Vault"},{"name":"dbt"},{"name":"Slack","native":true,"category":"chat"},{"name":"Snowflake","native":true},{"name":"Redis","native":true},{"name":"Kubernetes","native":true},{"name":"Amazon ECS","native":true},{"name":"Docker","native":true},{"name":"Google Cloud Run","native":true},{"name":"GitHub","native":true},{"name":"AWS","native":true}]` |
| language.primary | Java | Python |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://flink.apache.org","retrievedAt":"2026-09-14T09:27:44.802Z"}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Hobby","features":["Workflow scheduling","Up to 5 deployments","500 minutes of Prefect Serverless","Workflow observability","Logging & alerting","7 days run retention"],"minSeats":2,"description":"Deploy workflows instantly. Scale when ready.","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Starter","features":["All Hobby features","Up to 20 deployments","75 hours of Prefect Serverless","Bring your own compute","Webhooks","1,250 API requests/min"],"minSeats":3,"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":100,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Team","features":["All Starter features","Up to 100 deployments","225 hours of Prefect Serverless","Service accounts","24 hour audit log"],"minSeats":4,"contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","features":["All Team features","SSO (SAML/OIDC)","RBAC + ACLs","Multiple workspaces","Directory Sync (SCIM)","IP allowlisting & PrivateLink","Unlimited deployments"],"minSeats":5,"contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free Hobby tier. Starter from $100/month. Team per-user monthly pricing. Enterprise custom quote.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.prefect.io/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-10-05T11:05:17.530Z","startingPrice":{"amount":100,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | high |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":100,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 1 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.8.dev3","date":"2026-10-02T08:19:49Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.8.dev3"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.8.dev2","date":"2026-10-01T08:21:27Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.8.dev2"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.8.dev1","date":"2026-09-30T08:20:43Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.8.dev1"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.7","date":"2026-09-26T23:41:44Z","type":"stable","version":"3.8.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.7.dev7","date":"2026-09-26T08:18:02Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.7.dev7"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.7.dev6","date":"2026-09-23T08:19:42Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.7.dev6"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.7.dev5","date":"2026-09-22T08:19:45Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.7.dev5"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.7.dev4","date":"2026-09-19T08:16:49Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.7.dev4"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.7.dev3","date":"2026-09-18T08:18:58Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.7.dev3"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.7.dev2","date":"2026-09-16T08:19:54Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.7.dev2"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.7.dev1","date":"2026-09-15T08:20:02Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.7.dev1"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.6","date":"2026-09-14T14:18:53Z","type":"stable","version":"3.8.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.6.dev5","date":"2026-09-12T08:16:39Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.6.dev5"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.6.dev4","date":"2026-09-11T08:19:03Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.6.dev4"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.6.dev3","date":"2026-09-10T08:19:23Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.6.dev3"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.6.dev2","date":"2026-09-09T08:19:24Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.6.dev2"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.6.dev1","date":"2026-09-05T08:16:23Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.6.dev1"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.5","date":"2026-09-03T21:25:46Z","type":"stable","version":"3.8.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.5.dev6","date":"2026-09-03T08:19:56Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.5.dev6"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/2.20.26","date":"2026-09-02T18:17:41Z","type":"stable","version":"2.20.26"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.9 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 5.7 | 6.9 |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.trust_center | - | https://www.prefect.io/security |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=org.apache.flink%3Aflink-java&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":8,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=prefect&per_page=100","last_12m":6,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` |

## Capabilities (Data Engineering Tools)

| Capability | Apache Flink | Prefect |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool role | Processing engine | Orchestrator |
| Processing paradigm | Batch + streaming | Batch |
| **Connectivity** |  |  |
| Connector count | 17+ | Not specified |
| 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 2026-10-16T19:16:06.469Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*