# Apache Pulsar vs Trigger.dev

| Attribute | Apache Pulsar | Trigger.dev |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 60.2 (38% (low)) | 59.8 (73% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 316 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 15,343 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A distributed messaging system built for cloud deployments that enables applications to reliably publish and consume messages—either individually or as continuous streams—with sub-10-millisecond latency, supporting millions of independent topics and large-scale streaming workloads. It is indexed under Message Queues.","source":"https://pulsar.apache.org","question":"What is Apache Pulsar?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache Pulsar 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://pulsar.apache.org","question":"Is Apache Pulsar free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache Pulsar supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://pulsar.apache.org","question":"What platforms does Apache Pulsar support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache Pulsar can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://pulsar.apache.org","question":"Can Apache Pulsar be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 27 integrations for Apache Pulsar, including Kafka, RabbitMQ, MongoDB, Cassandra, Elasticsearch, HBase, HDFS and InfluxDB, plus 19 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://pulsar.apache.org","question":"What does Apache Pulsar integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache Pulsar 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/pulsar","question":"Is Apache Pulsar open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"A managed platform for creating AI workflows in TypeScript, featuring automatic retries, task queuing, durable execution with checkpointing, real-time streaming, comprehensive observability, and elastic scaling. Supports both cloud deployment and self-hosting via Docker or Kubernetes. It is indexed under Message Queues.","source":"https://trigger.dev/","question":"What is Trigger.dev?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Trigger.dev offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $10 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://trigger.dev/pricing","question":"Is Trigger.dev free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Trigger.dev. 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://trigger.dev/","question":"What platforms does Trigger.dev support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Trigger.dev can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://trigger.dev/","question":"Can Trigger.dev be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 6 integrations for Trigger.dev, including Prisma, OpenAI, Resend, Vercel, GitHub and Slack. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://trigger.dev/","question":"What does Trigger.dev integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR for Trigger.dev. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Trigger.dev not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://trigger.dev/security","question":"What security certifications does Trigger.dev have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A message broker supporting both pub-sub and queue-based messaging patterns. It provides durable storage with strong ordering guarantees, horizontally scales to millions of topics and messages per second, and supports geo-replication for distributed deployments. | A managed platform for creating AI workflows in TypeScript, featuring automatic retries, task queuing, durable execution with checkpointing, real-time streaming, comprehensive observability, and elastic scaling. Supports both cloud deployment and self-hosting via Docker or Kubernetes. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","ordering":"per_partition","paradigm":"pubsub","protocol":"pulsar://","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":true,"kafka_compatible":true,"stream_processing":true,"delivery_guarantee":"exactly_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` | `{"hosting":"cloud","ordering":"fifo","paradigm":"job_queue","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":false,"geo_replication":false,"kafka_compatible":false,"managed_offering":true,"dead_letter_queue":false,"stream_processing":true,"delivery_guarantee":"at_least_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` |
| integrations.count | 35 | 3 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"Cassandra"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"HBase"},{"name":"HDFS"},{"name":"InfluxDB"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"Solr"},{"name":"DynamoDB"},{"name":"Kinesis"},{"name":"Azure Data Explorer"},{"name":"ClickHouse"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"MariaDB"},{"name":"SQLite"},{"name":"Debezium MySQL"},{"name":"Debezium PostgreSQL"},{"name":"Debezium MongoDB"},{"name":"Debezium Oracle"},{"name":"Debezium Microsoft SQL Server"},{"name":"Canal"},{"name":"Aerospike"},{"name":"Alluxio"},{"name":"NSQ"},{"name":"Netty"},{"name":"HTTP"},{"name":"File"},{"name":"Kafka Connect Adaptor","native":true,"direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"MySQL","native":true}]` | `[{"name":"Prisma"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Resend"},{"name":"Vercel"},{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Slack","native":true,"category":"chat","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"WhatsApp","native":true,"category":"communication","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Java | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://pulsar.apache.org","retrievedAt":"2026-10-14T22:35:49.214Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"Free","features":["Dev and Prod environments","Community support","1 day log retention"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"team_members":"5","concurrent_tasks":"20","log_retention_days":"1"}},{"free":false,"name":"Hobby","summary":"$10/month","features":["Dev, Preview and Prod environments","Community support","7 day log retention"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":10,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"team_members":"5","concurrent_tasks":"50","log_retention_days":"7"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"From $50/month","features":["Dev, Preview and Prod environments","Dedicated Slack support","30 day log retention"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":50,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"50 concurrent tasks","amount":10,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"seat","amount":20,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"branch","amount":10,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"dashboard","amount":10,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"1000 events","amount":10,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"branches":"20","dashboards":"5","team_members":"25","concurrent_tasks":"200","events_per_month":"1000","log_retention_days":"30"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing","features":["All Pro plan features","Custom log retention","Priority support","Role-based access control (RBAC)","SOC 2 report","Penetration test report","Single sign-on (SSO)"],"contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"HIPAA BAA (Business Associate Agreement)"}],"summary":"Free tier available. From $10/month for Hobby tier; Pro starts at $50/month with usage-based overage pricing.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://trigger.dev/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:33:58.046Z","startingPrice":{"amount":10,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 3 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v5.0.0","date":"2026-10-05T19:22:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.5","date":"2026-10-05T19:23:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.14","date":"2026-10-05T19:23:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v5.0.0-M2","date":"2026-09-16T23:33:14Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v5.0.0-M2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.4","date":"2026-08-03T09:19:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.13","date":"2026-08-03T09:19:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.3","date":"2026-07-06T08:46:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.12","date":"2026-07-06T08:46:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v5.0.0-M1","date":"2026-06-23T14:11:26Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v5.0.0-M1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.2","date":"2026-06-08T18:16:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.11","date":"2026-06-08T18:16:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.1","date":"2026-04-27T13:04:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.10","date":"2026-04-27T13:04:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v3.0.17","date":"2026-04-27T13:03:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.0","date":"2026-03-31T21:12:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.1.3","date":"2026-02-19T19:48:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.9","date":"2026-02-19T19:48:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v3.0.16","date":"2026-02-16T09:24:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.1.2","date":"2025-11-17T07:58:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.8","date":"2025-11-17T07:58:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.8"}]` | - |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.1 | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.trust_center | https://pulsar.apache.org/docs/5.0.x/security-athenz/ | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=org.apache.pulsar%3Apulsar-client-admin&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (Message Queues)

| Capability | Apache Pulsar | Trigger.dev |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Messaging paradigm | Pub/sub | Job / task queue |
| **Correctness** |  |  |
| Delivery guarantee | Exactly-once | At-least-once |
| Ordering guarantee | Per-partition | FIFO |
| **Durability** |  |  |
| Durable replayable log | ✓ | ✓ |
| Message replay / rewind | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | pulsar:// | - |
| Kafka-protocol compatible | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Partitioned horizontal scaling | ✓ | ✓ |
| Geo / cross-region replication | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Consumption** |  |  |
| Consumer groups / competing consumers | ✓ | ✗ |
| Dead-letter queue | - | ✗ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Managed cloud offering exists | - | ✓ |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Cloud only |
| **Processing** |  |  |
| Built-in stream processing | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:03:56.381Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*