vioscaleAI
Comparison

Dagster vs dbt Core

No clear leader: Dagster (70.0) and dbt Core (65.7) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Dagster full profile →dbt Core full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Dagster70
dbt Core66
Score
vioscaleAI score
Dagster70 / 100medium · 68%
dbt Core66 / 100medium · 73%
Pricing
Free tier
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
Model
Dagsterfreemium
dbt Coreopen_source
Price level
Dagsterlow
dbt Corefree
Starting price
Dagster$10
dbt Core–
Transparent
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
Integrations
Count
Dagster28
dbt Core6
Security
Certifications
DagsterSOC 2 Type II
dbt Core–
Disclosure policy
Dagster✓
dbt Core–
Gdpr
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
Hipaa
Dagster✓
dbt Core–
Iso27001
Dagster–
dbt Core✓
Scorecard
Dagster5.1
dbt Core6
Soc2
Dagster✓
dbt Core–
Trust center
Dagsterhttps://dagster.io/security
dbt Core–
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
Dagster–
dbt Core✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Dagster286
dbt Core553
Github stars
Dagster16,269
dbt Core14,028
Package downloads weekly
Dagster2,028,283
dbt Core21,005,917
Activity
Commits last 30d
Dagster100
dbt Core100
Release
Cadence days
Dagster7
dbt Core2
History
Dagster20 items
dbt Core20 items
License
Spdx
DagsterApache-2.0
dbt CoreApache-2.0
Language
Primary
DagsterPython
dbt CoreRust
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
Dagster8 items
dbt Core8 items

Capabilities

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

Core
Tool role
DagsterOrchestrator
dbt CoreTransformation
Processing paradigm
DagsterBatch
dbt CoreBatch
Connectivity
Connector count
Dagster28+
dbt Core6+ named integrations with broader ecosystem
CDC / log-based replication
Dagster✗
dbt Core-
Transformation
In-warehouse transformation (push-down)
Dagster✗
dbt Core-
dbt-native orchestration
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
Deployment
Self-hosted / open-source available
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
Managed cloud available
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
Governance
Data lineage / asset catalog
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
Authoring
Python-first authoring
Dagster✓
dbt Core-
Execution
Incremental / partition-aware runs
Dagster✓
dbt Core-
Quality
Built-in data quality / tests
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
Scale
Horizontal scale (distributed executor)
Dagster✓
dbt Core-

What each one is

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

Dagster

An orchestration and observability platform that models data assets, manages their dependencies, and integrates lineage tracking, quality monitoring, and data cataloging for managing pipelines from development to production.

Independently observed

dbt Core

A data transformation framework that applies software engineering principles—such as version control, testing, and modularity—to SQL-based analytics workflows.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

Dagster

from $10/moHybridFree tier30-day trial

From $10/month. Free 30-day trial. Subscription plus metered usage model.

  • Solo$10/month + $0.04/credit + $0.01/minute serverless compute
    • Core and asset-based orchestration
    • Local development (dg CLI)
    • Partitions and backfills
    • Branch deployments
    • Asset checks
    • +3 more
  • Starter$100/month + $0.035/credit
    • All Solo features
    • Workflow-based orchestration
    • Freshness policies
    • Data column lineage
    • BI tool integration
    • +5 more
  • ProContact sales
    • All Starter features
    • Custom serverless compute
    • Cost tracking and insights
    • Personalized onboarding support
    • Private Slack channel
    • +8 more
as of verify ↗

dbt Core

from $100/moHybridFree tier14-day trial

Free Developer tier, $100/seat/month for Starter, custom pricing for Enterprise

  • DeveloperFree
    • Browser-based IDE
    • Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
    • Job scheduling
    • Keep on the latest dbt release
  • Starter$100/seat/month
    • All Developer features
    • dbt Catalog basic
    • dbt Semantic Layer basic
    • dbt Copilot code generation
    • API access
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • All Starter features
    • dbt Catalog advanced
    • dbt Semantic Layer advanced
    • dbt Copilot
    • dbt Canvas
    • +2 more
  • Enterprise+Contact sales
    • All Enterprise features
    • PrivateLink
    • IP Restrictions
    • Rollback
    • Hybrid projects
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
macOS
Dagster✗
dbt Core✓
Windows
Dagster✗
dbt Core✓
Linux
Dagster✗
dbt Core✓
CLI
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
Self-hosted
Dagster✓
dbt Core✓
On-premise
Dagster✓
dbt Core✗
Hybrid
Dagster✓
dbt Core✗

Integrations

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

In common (4)
  • Snowflake
  • Databricks
  • Tableau
  • Fivetran

Dagster

39 total - 35 not shared
  • dbt
  • Spark
  • Azure
  • AWS
  • Airbyte
  • Soda
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • PagerDuty
  • Datadog
  • Python
  • dbt Cloud
  • AWS S3
  • AWS Redshift
  • AWS EMR
  • AWS Glue
  • AWS Athena
  • AWS CloudWatch
  • Salesforce
  • Looker
  • Power BI
  • Sigma
  • Clickhouse
  • Ray
  • +11 more
Independently observed

dbt Core

6 total - 2 not shared
  • OpenAI
  • Azure AI
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Dagster or dbt Core: 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.