# dlt vs Prefect

| Attribute | dlt | Prefect |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 66.1 (49% (low)) | 69.8 (76% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 52 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 23 | 767 |
| adoption.github_stars | 5,779 | 23,691 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 2,710,819 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A hosted service combining the open-source dlt Python library with managed infrastructure, observability, data quality testing, and team collaboration features for building and running data pipelines. | A workflow orchestration platform that enables teams to build resilient automated processes using Python, with features like automatic retries, state tracking, and run observability. Supports flexible deployment options ranging from managed cloud infrastructure to self-hosted environments on Kubernetes or user-provided compute. |
| features.capabilities | `{"cdc":true,"role":"elt","lineage":true,"paradigm":"both","data_quality":true,"elt_pushdown":true,"python_first":true,"managed_cloud":true,"connector_count":"5,000+","self_hosted_oss":true,"incremental_runs":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 | 5 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Salesforce"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"HubSpot"},{"name":"Snowflake"},{"name":"Databricks"},{"name":"BigQuery"},{"name":"MotherDuck"},{"name":"DuckDB"},{"name":"SQLite"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"Amazon S3"},{"name":"Google Cloud Storage"},{"name":"Microsoft Azure"},{"name":"SFTP"},{"name":"Parquet"},{"name":"Apache Delta"},{"name":"Apache Iceberg"},{"name":"DuckLake"},{"name":"Pydantic Logfire"},{"name":"Arize"},{"name":"Langfuse"},{"name":"LangChain"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Apache Airflow"},{"name":"Dagster"},{"name":"AWS Lambda"},{"name":"Marimo"},{"name":"Hugging Face"}]` | `[{"name":"Pydantic AI"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"AWS Secrets Manager"},{"name":"HashiCorp Vault"},{"name":"dbt"}]` |
| language.primary | Python | Python |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"DE","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"dlt","summary":"Free, Apache 2.0 licensed","features":["Apache 2.0 open-source license","Code-first ingestion library","Reliable ingestion and loading","Limited verified OSS connectors","AI help and community support","Self-managed runtime","Unlimited pipelines and notebooks"],"description":"Open-source Python library for data ingestion","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"dltHub","summary":"$1,190/month base + $0.80–$1.00/credit for usage beyond 500 credits/month. 5% discount on annual commitment.","features":["Everything in dlt, plus:","Managed runtime","Hosted Marimo notebooks","AI Workbench (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor)","Data quality metrics and checks","Observability dashboard","Collaboration workflows for teams","Role-based access control (RBAC)","Audit logs","Source-available capabilities (AI workbench, CDC, Iceberg, transformations)","Eligible for volume discounts"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":1190,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"credit"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.8,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Managed runtime and collaboration platform","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"credits":"500/month"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing. Contact sales.","features":["Custom credits and volume pricing","Enterprise security and governance controls","Role-based access control (RBAC) and audit logs","SLA and tailored support options","Custom onboarding and architecture guidance"],"description":"Custom pricing and governance for security-focused organizations","contactSales":true}],"summary":"From $1,190/month with 500 included credits. Free open-source tier. 14-day free trial with $30 credits.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://dlthub.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T22:25:32.490Z","freeTrialDays":14,"startingPrice":{"amount":0.8,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Hobby","summary":"Free forever","features":["workflow scheduling","workflow observability","logging & alerting"],"minSeats":2,"description":"Starter tier for individual workflows","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"2","deployments":"5","run_retention":"7 days","serverless_compute":"500 min/mo"}},{"free":false,"name":"Starter","summary":"$100/mo","features":["bring your own compute","webhooks","API access"],"minSeats":3,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":100,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For teams bringing their own compute infrastructure","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"3","deployments":"20","serverless_compute":"75 hours/mo","api_requests_per_min":"1250"}},{"free":false,"name":"Team","summary":"$100/user/mo","features":["service accounts","audit logging","team collaboration"],"minSeats":4,"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"seat","amount":100,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Multi-user collaboration with governance features","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"4-8","deployments":"100","serverless_compute":"225 hours/mo","audit_log_retention_hours":"24"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing","features":["SSO (SAML/OIDC)","RBAC with object-level ACLs","multiple workspaces","directory sync (SCIM)","IP allowlisting","PrivateLink private networking"],"minSeats":5,"description":"Custom deployment with advanced security and compliance","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"deployments":"unlimited","serverless_compute":"custom"}}],"summary":"Free tier. Starter from $100/mo. Team at $100/user/mo. Enterprise custom pricing.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.prefect.io/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T15:26:09.793Z","startingPrice":{"amount":100,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | low | high |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 12 | 1 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.30.0","date":"2026-08-11T13:23:00Z","type":"stable","version":"1.30.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.29.1","date":"2026-07-24T11:32:31Z","type":"stable","version":"1.29.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.29.0","date":"2026-07-13T09:31:54Z","type":"stable","version":"1.29.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.28.2","date":"2026-07-10T12:29:18Z","type":"stable","version":"1.28.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.28.1","date":"2026-06-19T19:48:03Z","type":"stable","version":"1.28.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.28.0","date":"2026-06-15T16:14:02Z","type":"stable","version":"1.28.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.27.2","date":"2026-05-29T17:13:29Z","type":"stable","version":"1.27.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.27.0","date":"2026-05-19T12:55:55Z","type":"stable","version":"1.27.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.26.0","date":"2026-04-28T18:49:52Z","type":"stable","version":"1.26.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.25.0","date":"2026-04-15T07:41:56Z","type":"stable","version":"1.25.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.24.0","date":"2026-03-19T11:59:54Z","type":"stable","version":"1.24.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.23.0","date":"2026-03-06T14:47:17Z","type":"stable","version":"1.23.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.22.2","date":"2026-03-01T18:44:08Z","type":"stable","version":"1.22.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.22.1","date":"2026-02-23T20:59:59Z","type":"stable","version":"1.22.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.22.0","date":"2026-02-17T16:55:47Z","type":"stable","version":"1.22.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.21.0","date":"2026-01-20T12:11:39Z","type":"stable","version":"1.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.20.0","date":"2025-12-09T23:13:14Z","type":"stable","version":"1.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.19.1","date":"2025-12-02T22:02:07Z","type":"stable","version":"1.19.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.19.0","date":"2025-12-01T15:52:25Z","type":"stable","version":"1.19.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.18.2","date":"2025-11-03T16:04:35Z","type":"stable","version":"1.18.2"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.4","date":"2026-08-25T17:15:13Z","type":"stable","version":"3.8.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.4.dev7","date":"2026-08-25T08:17:08Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.4.dev7"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.4.dev6","date":"2026-08-22T08:08:27Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.4.dev6"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.4.dev5","date":"2026-08-21T08:15:17Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.4.dev5"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.4.dev4","date":"2026-08-20T08:14:17Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.4.dev4"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.4.dev3","date":"2026-08-19T08:12:16Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.4.dev3"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.4.dev2","date":"2026-08-18T08:12:04Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.4.dev2"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.4.dev1","date":"2026-08-14T08:31:14Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.4.dev1"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.3","date":"2026-08-13T18:53:23Z","type":"stable","version":"3.8.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.3.dev3","date":"2026-08-13T08:33:56Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.3.dev3"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.3.dev2","date":"2026-08-12T08:32:30Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.3.dev2"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.3.dev1","date":"2026-08-11T08:23:35Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.3.dev1"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.2","date":"2026-08-07T21:15:48Z","type":"stable","version":"3.8.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.2.dev6","date":"2026-08-07T08:27:11Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.2.dev6"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.2.dev5","date":"2026-08-06T08:59:18Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.2.dev5"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.2.dev4","date":"2026-08-05T08:58:55Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.2.dev4"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.2.dev3","date":"2026-08-04T09:00:27Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.2.dev3"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.2.dev2","date":"2026-08-03T09:13:20Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.2.dev2"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.2.dev1","date":"2026-08-01T08:49:58Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.8.2.dev1"},{"url":"https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/releases/tag/3.8.1","date":"2026-07-30T21:15:25Z","type":"stable","version":"3.8.1"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | - | 6.9 |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=dlt&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"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 | dlt | Prefect |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool role | ELT / ingestion | Orchestrator |
| Processing paradigm | Batch + streaming | Batch |
| **Connectivity** |  |  |
| Connector count | 5,000+ | 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: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:53:52.308Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*