Comparison

Dagster vs Meltano

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.

Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Dagster70
Meltano54
Score
Vioscale score
Dagster70 / 100medium · 68%
Meltano54 / 100low · 41%
Pricing
Free tier
Dagster
Meltano
Model
Dagsterfreemium
Meltanocommercial
Price level
Dagsterlow
Meltanolow
Transparent
Dagster
Meltano
Integrations
Count
Dagster14
Meltano8
Adoption
Dependent repos
Dagster286
Meltano42
Github stars
Dagster16,066
Meltano2,609
Package downloads weekly
Dagster2,176,853
Meltano
Activity
Commits last 30d
Dagster81
Meltano61
Release
Cadence days
Dagster7
Meltano3
History
Dagster20 items
Meltano20 items
License
Spdx
DagsterApache-2.0
MeltanoMIT
Language
Primary
DagsterPython
MeltanoPython

Capabilities

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

Core
Tool role
DagsterOrchestrator
MeltanoELT / ingestion
Processing paradigm
DagsterBatch
MeltanoBatch + streaming
Connectivity
Connector count
Dagster-
Meltano600+
CDC / log-based replication
Dagster
Meltano
Transformation
In-warehouse transformation (push-down)
Dagster
Meltano
dbt-native orchestration
Dagster
Meltano
Deployment
Self-hosted / open-source available
Dagster
Meltano
Managed cloud available
Dagster
Meltano
Governance
Data lineage / asset catalog
Dagster
Meltano-
Authoring
Python-first authoring
Dagster
Meltano-
Execution
Incremental / partition-aware runs
Dagster
Meltano
Quality
Built-in data quality / tests
Dagster
Meltano-
Scale
Horizontal scale (distributed executor)
Dagster
Meltano-

What each one is

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

Dagster

Leader

A 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.

Independently observed

Meltano

Meltano provides a code-first approach to data integration, offering 600+ pre-built connectors with compute-time pricing and integrated governance. It enables teams to combine data extraction, loading, and transformation workflows with native dbt support and orchestration capabilities.

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

Leader
from $0.01/moSubscription30-day trial

From $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
as of verify ↗

Meltano

HybridFree tier

Free open-source version. Managed cloud plans from Starter (200 compute hrs/mo) to Enterprise (unlimited). Pay for compute, not rows.

  • Starter-
    • 200 compute hours/mo
    • Managed infrastructure
    • 25 workspaces
    • Unlimited users
    • 600+ connectors
    • +5 more
  • Growth-
    • 2000 compute hours/mo
    • Everything in Starter
    • 100 workspaces
    • 8 hours of engineering on demand/mo
    • Shared account management
  • Scale-
    • 5000 compute hours/mo
    • Everything in Growth
    • Unlimited workspaces
    • 15 hours of engineering on demand/mo
    • Dedicated account management
    • +1 more
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • Unlimited compute hours/mo
    • Everything in Scale
    • Custom connectors
    • Custom hours of engineering on demand/mo
    • Custom SLA
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
Dagster
Meltano
Linux
Dagster
Meltano
CLI
Dagster
Meltano
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Dagster
Meltano
Self-hosted
Dagster
Meltano
Hybrid
Dagster
Meltano

Integrations

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

In common (2)
  • dbt
  • Snowflake

Dagster

Leader
14 total - 12 not shared
  • Spark
  • Databricks
  • Azure
  • AWS
  • Airbyte
  • Tableau
  • Soda
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • PagerDuty
  • Datadog
  • Python
Independently observed

Meltano

8 total - 6 not shared
  • Singer
  • Airflow
  • PostgreSQL
  • Great Expectations
  • Dagster
  • Superset
Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.