Dagster vs Kestra
On the evidence we track, Dagster leads this comparison with a composite score of 70/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for data engineering tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
Dagster
LeaderA unified orchestration and observability platform that manages data pipelines through assets, tracks dependencies and lineage, enforces data quality, and integrates with existing tools like dbt, Snowflake, and Spark. Supports both self-hosted open-source and managed cloud deployment.
Kestra
An open-source platform designed for orchestrating complex, long-running workflows across data pipelines, AI systems, and infrastructure operations. Supports multiple languages and deployment models (cloud, self-hosted, air-gapped), with built-in reliability features like retries, backfills, and comprehensive observability.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
Dagster
LeaderFrom $120/month. 30-day free trial. Subscription with metered credits (asset materializations and ops executed); serverless compute charged separately.
- Solo$120/month with 7.5k credits/month included; overages at $0.040/credit
- 1 User
- 1 Code location
- 1 Deployment
- Core orchestration
- Asset-based orchestration
- +6 more
- Starter$1200/month with 30k credits/month included; overages at $0.035/credit
- Up to 3 Users
- 5 Code locations
- 1 Deployment
- Catalog search
- Column-level lineage
- +8 more
- Pro/EnterpriseContact sales
- Unlimited code locations
- Unlimited deployments
- Custom serverless compute pricing
- Cost tracking and insights
- Personalized onboarding support
- +8 more
Kestra
Free open-source tier; managed and self-hosted enterprise options available
- Open SourceFree
- Workflow design & execution
- Scheduling & event triggers
- Real-time processing
- Embedded code editor
- Git integration & versioning
- +1 more
- Kestra CloudManaged cloud orchestration
- Fully managed hosting
- Built-in security and governance
- Role-based access control
- Audit logs
- Asset lineage
- +2 more
- EnterpriseContact sales
- Annual subscription model
- Customer success program with SLA
- 24-hour response time
- Audit logs and governance
- Multi-tenancy support
- +2 more
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
- dbt
- Spark
- Airbyte
- Slack
- PagerDuty
- Python
Dagster
Leader- Snowflake
- Databricks
- Azure
- AWS
- Tableau
- Soda
- Microsoft Teams
- Datadog
Kestra
- Ansible
- Dremio
- Arrow Flight SQL
- Git
- GitHub
- GitHub Actions
- Kubernetes
- Docker
- Terraform
- S3
- Azure Data Lake Storage
- Postgres
- JDBC databases
- HTTP APIs
- Polars
- Bash
- Node.js
- Go
- Apache Kafka
- Apache Spark
- PostgreSQL
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- Google Gemini
- +15 more
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.