Apache Airflow vs Celery
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted automation & workflows options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Apache Airflow
Programmatically author, schedule and monitor workflows
VS
Celery
Distributed task queue for Python with scheduling support
| Feature | Apache Airflow | Celery |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Automation & Workflows | Automation & Workflows |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | bare-metal, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 46,409 | ★ 28,774 |
| First released | 2015 | 2009 |
| Replaces | AWS Step Functions, Azure Data Factory | AWS Batch, AWS SQS |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Apache Airflow or Celery better?
Neither is universally better. Apache Airflow has the larger community, while Celery is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Apache Airflow and Celery free and open-source?
Yes. Apache Airflow is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Celery under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Apache Airflow and Celery with Docker?
Apache Airflow: yes. Celery: check the project docs for container support.