Apache Airflow vs Inngest
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted automation & workflows options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Apache Airflow | Inngest |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 90 · Excellent |
| Category | Automation & Workflows | Automation & Workflows |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 46,957 | ★ 5,879 |
| First released | 2015 | 2021 |
| Replaces | AWS Step Functions, Azure Data Factory | Zapier, AWS Step Functions |
What are Apache Airflow and Inngest?
Apache Airflow
Apache Airflow is a platform to author, schedule and monitor workflows as directed acyclic graphs of tasks. It is widely used for data engineering pipelines and complex job orchestration.
- Workflows defined as Python code
- Rich scheduling and dependency management
- Extensive operator and provider ecosystem
- Web UI for monitoring DAGs
Inngest
Inngest is an open-source platform for building event-driven workflows and reliable background jobs. It provides durable step functions, automatic retries and a local development server, and the execution engine can be self-hosted.
- Event-driven background jobs
- Durable step functions
- Local development server
- Self-hostable execution engine
Apache Airflow vs Inngest: key differences
Apache Airflow is written in Python, while Inngest is built with Go. Inngest is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Apache Airflow. Apache Airflow is the more established project (first released 2015), while Inngest arrived in 2021. Apache Airflow has the considerably larger community, at 46,957 GitHub stars versus 5,879.
Why pick each one
Choose Apache Airflow if…
- Industry standard for data pipelines
- Huge ecosystem
Watch out for
- Heavy to operate
- Steep learning curve
Choose Inngest if…
- Good developer experience
- Reliable step execution
Watch out for
- Some features tied to Inngest Cloud
Frequently asked questions
Is Apache Airflow or Inngest better?
Neither is universally better. Apache Airflow has the larger community, while Inngest is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Apache Airflow and Inngest free and open-source?
Yes. Apache Airflow is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Inngest under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Apache Airflow and Inngest with Docker?
Apache Airflow: yes. Inngest: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Apache Airflow or Inngest?
Inngest has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Apache Airflow. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.