Inngest vs Windmill

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?
FeatureInngestWindmill
CategoryAutomation & WorkflowsAutomation & Workflows
LicenseApache-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageGoRust
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, kubernetes
GitHub stars★ 5,701★ 17,474
First released20212022
ReplacesZapier, AWS Step FunctionsZapier, Retool

Why pick each one

Choose Inngest if…

  • Good developer experience
  • Reliable step execution
Inngest details

Choose Windmill if…

  • Great for developer automation
  • Fast and scalable
  • Code-first approach
Windmill details

Frequently asked questions

Is Inngest or Windmill better?

Neither is universally better. Windmill has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Inngest and Windmill free and open-source?

Yes. Inngest is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Windmill under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Inngest and Windmill with Docker?

Inngest: yes. Windmill: yes.

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