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Trigger.dev 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?
TR Trigger.dev Open-source background jobs and workflows for code VS Windmill Developer platform for scripts, flows and apps
FeatureTrigger.devWindmill
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score95 · Excellent95 · Excellent
CategoryAutomation & WorkflowsAutomation & Workflows
LicenseApache-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptRust
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, kubernetes
GitHub stars★ 16,387★ 18,022
First released20222022
ReplacesZapierZapier, Retool

What are Trigger.dev and Windmill?

Trigger.dev

Trigger.dev is an open-source platform for writing long-running background jobs and workflows directly in code with no timeouts. It targets developers building reliable async tasks. It is deployed via Docker.

  • Background jobs written in code
  • No execution timeouts
  • Built-in retries and observability
  • Scheduling and webhooks

Read the full Trigger.dev guide →

Windmill

Windmill is a developer platform that turns scripts into workflows, APIs, and internal apps with scheduling and approvals. It targets engineers automating internal tooling. It is deployed via Docker with PostgreSQL.

  • Scripts in Python, TypeScript and more
  • Auto-generated UIs for scripts
  • Flows with branching and retries
  • Fast Rust execution engine

Read the full Windmill guide →

Trigger.dev vs Windmill: key differences

Trigger.dev is written in TypeScript, while Windmill is built with Rust. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Trigger.dev versus AGPL-3.0 for Windmill.

Why pick each one

Choose Trigger.dev if…

  • Code-first and developer friendly
  • Reliable long-running tasks
  • Good observability

Watch out for

  • Aimed at developers only
  • Requires Postgres and Redis
Trigger.dev details

Choose Windmill if…

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

Watch out for

  • More technical than no-code tools
  • Requires Postgres
Windmill details

Frequently asked questions

Is Trigger.dev 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 Trigger.dev and Windmill free and open-source?

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

Can I run Trigger.dev and Windmill with Docker?

Trigger.dev: yes. Windmill: yes.

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