# Dagster vs Prefect

| Attribute | Dagster | Prefect |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 70 (68% (medium)) | 70 (76% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 98 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 286 | 767 |
| adoption.github_stars | 16,269 | 23,966 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 2,028,283 | 2,710,819 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"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. It is indexed under Data Engineering Tools.","source":"https://dagster.io/pricing","question":"What is Dagster?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Dagster offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $0.01. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://dagster.io/pricing","question":"Is Dagster free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Dagster supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://dagster.io/pricing","question":"What platforms does Dagster support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Dagster can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://dagster.io/pricing","question":"Can Dagster be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 14 integrations for Dagster, including dbt, Snowflake, Spark, Databricks, Azure, AWS, Airbyte and Tableau, plus 6 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://dagster.io/pricing","question":"What does Dagster integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR for Dagster. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Dagster not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://dagster.io/security","question":"What security certifications does Dagster have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. Dagster 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/dagster-io/dagster","question":"Is Dagster open source?","confidence":0.95},{"answer":"Dagster is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://dagster.io/pricing","question":"Where is Dagster available?","confidence":0.75}]` | `[{"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,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | 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":false,"role":"orchestrator","lineage":true,"paradigm":"batch","dbt_native":true,"data_quality":true,"elt_pushdown":false,"python_first":true,"managed_cloud":true,"connector_count":"28+","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 | 28 | 6 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"dbt"},{"name":"Snowflake"},{"name":"Spark"},{"name":"Databricks"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Airbyte"},{"name":"Tableau"},{"name":"Soda"},{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"Microsoft Teams"},{"name":"PagerDuty"},{"name":"Datadog"},{"name":"Python"},{"name":"dbt Cloud","native":true,"category":"transformation","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Fivetran","native":true,"category":"ingestion","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"AWS S3","category":"storage","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"AWS Redshift","category":"data_warehouse"},{"name":"AWS EMR","category":"compute"},{"name":"AWS Glue","category":"transformation"},{"name":"AWS Athena","category":"analytics"},{"name":"AWS CloudWatch","category":"monitoring","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Salesforce","category":"crm","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Looker","category":"analytics"},{"name":"Power BI","category":"analytics"},{"name":"Sigma","category":"analytics"},{"name":"Clickhouse","category":"storage"},{"name":"Ray","category":"compute"},{"name":"lakeFS","category":"data_management"},{"name":"OpenMetadata","category":"metadata"},{"name":"Cube","category":"semantic_layer"},{"name":"SFTP","category":"file_transfer"},{"name":"Microsoft SharePoint","category":"collaboration"},{"name":"Slurm","category":"compute"},{"name":"AWS Secrets Manager","category":"security"},{"name":"AWS SSM Parameter Store","category":"configuration"},{"name":"AWS ECR","category":"container_registry"},{"name":"Airflow","native":true,"category":"orchestration","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Singer","native":true,"category":"ingestion","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 | Python | Python |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Solo","summary":"$10/month + $0.04/credit + $0.01/minute serverless compute","features":["Core and asset-based orchestration","Local development (dg CLI)","Partitions and backfills","Branch deployments","Asset checks","dbt integration","Asset lineage","Email and Slack alerts"],"minSeats":1,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":10,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"credit"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.04,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"minute"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.01,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Personal projects and simple pipelines","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"1","deployments":"1","code_locations":"1"}},{"free":false,"name":"Starter","summary":"$100/month + $0.035/credit","features":["All Solo features","Workflow-based orchestration","Freshness policies","Data column lineage","BI tool integration","Cost tracking for BigQuery and Snowflake","Catalog search","SAML SSO","Granular RBAC","PagerDuty and Datadog integration"],"minSeats":1,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":100,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"credit"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.035,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Small teams running production pipelines","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"up to 3","code_locations":"5"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"Custom pricing; contact sales","features":["All Starter features","Custom serverless compute","Cost tracking and insights","Personalized onboarding support","Private Slack channel","Uptime SLAs","Custom security questionnaires","AI proactive monitoring","SCIM provisioning (Okta, Entra ID)","Audit logs","Hybrid deployments (Kubernetes, ECS, Docker, Azure)","EU data residency","SIEM log export"],"description":"Building and scaling an enterprise data platform","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"deployments":"Unlimited","code_locations":"Unlimited"}}],"summary":"From $10/month. Free 30-day trial. Subscription plus metered usage model.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://dagster.io/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T15:14:18.877Z","freeTrialDays":30,"startingPrice":{"amount":10,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"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 | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | high |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":10,"currency":"USD"}` | `{"amount":100,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 7 | 1 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.26","date":"2026-10-09T23:08:50Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.25","date":"2026-10-01T18:17:43Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.24","date":"2026-09-21T23:53:17Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.23","date":"2026-09-16T21:25:17Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.22","date":"2026-09-11T16:59:11Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.22"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.21","date":"2026-09-03T20:03:16Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.21"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.20","date":"2026-08-27T16:50:54Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.20"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.19","date":"2026-08-21T15:53:20Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.18","date":"2026-08-14T19:59:51Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.17","date":"2026-08-07T19:12:58Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.16","date":"2026-07-30T17:24:09Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.15","date":"2026-07-23T15:59:52Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.14","date":"2026-07-16T18:39:10Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.13","date":"2026-07-09T17:39:15Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.12","date":"2026-07-02T16:27:40Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.11","date":"2026-06-25T18:23:24Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.10","date":"2026-06-18T19:23:58Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.9","date":"2026-06-11T19:16:52Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.8","date":"2026-06-04T18:11:04Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/dagster-io/dagster/releases/tag/1.13.7","date":"2026-05-28T17:18:25Z","type":"stable","version":"1.13.7"}]` | `[{"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","level":"Type II","status":"active"}]` | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | yes |
| security.scorecard | 5.1 | 6.9 |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |
| security.trust_center | https://dagster.io/security | https://www.prefect.io/security |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":3,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=dagster&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"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 | Dagster | Prefect |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool role | Orchestrator | Orchestrator |
| Processing paradigm | Batch | Batch |
| **Connectivity** |  |  |
| Connector count | 28+ | 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 2026-10-16T19:09:04.902Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*