Hatchet vs Trigger.dev: Which is Better in 2026?
Choosing between Hatchet and Trigger.dev? Both are popular background jobs & workflows tools. Below we compare them on pricing, free tiers, features, and pros & cons so you can pick the right fit for your stack.
Hatchet is for: Teams orchestrating background tasks and AI agent workflows who want an open-source engine that runs on Postgres.
Trigger.dev is for: TypeScript teams running long background tasks and AI agent jobs who want managed workers billed per second of compute.
Quick verdict
There’s no single winner; pick on your constraint. Choose Hatchet if you want an open-source task engine you can self-host on the Postgres you already run. Choose Trigger.dev if you write jobs in TypeScript and want them to run on managed machines rather than inside your web server.
Hatchet vs Trigger.dev — Side by Side
| Hatchet | Trigger.dev | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Background Jobs & Workflows | Background Jobs & Workflows |
| What it is | Task orchestration engine | Managed background job platform |
| Languages | Python, TypeScript, Go, Ruby | TypeScript |
| What it runs on | Hatchet Cloud or self-hosted on Postgres | Trigger.dev managed workers or self-hosted |
| How you pay | Per task run and event; no plan fee | Monthly plan with usage credit; per-second compute |
| Free access | 1M task runs a month with a card on file | $5 of compute credit a month |
| Pricing | Free | Free · paid from $10/mo |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Free tier | ||
| Rating | 4.4 | 4.6 |
| Best for | Background Jobs & Workflows — Postgres-backed, AI task orchestration, open source | Background Jobs & Workflows — TypeScript jobs, long-running tasks, AI agents |
Pros & Cons
- Simple Postgres-based architecture
- Easy to self-host
- Built for AI task orchestration
- Fine-grained concurrency control
- Younger project, smaller community
- Fewer integrations than incumbents
- Open-source and self-hostable
- Write jobs in plain TypeScript
- No execution timeouts
- Strong AI-agent/workflow tooling
- TypeScript/Node only
- Self-hosting adds operational work
Key Features Compared
Hatchet
- Open source under the MIT license; self-hosting needs only PostgreSQL for basic use
- Hatchet Cloud is pay-as-you-go with no plan fee
- With a card on file: 1M task runs and 1M events a month included, then $30 per 1M task runs and $5 per 1M events
- Card-on-file plan includes 100 workers, 50 users and 7-day retention
- Without a card, lower limits apply and tasks are dropped once a free limit is reached
- SDKs for Python, TypeScript, Go and Ruby
Trigger.dev
- Free: $5 of compute credit a month, 20 concurrent runs, 10 schedules and 1-day log retention
- Hobby $10 a month with $10 of credit and 50 concurrent runs
- Pro $50 a month with $50 of credit, 200 concurrent runs, 25 team members and 30-day logs
- Compute billed per second from $0.0000169 on the smallest machine, plus $0.25 per 10,000 runs
- Runs in the dev environment are not charged
- Open source under Apache-2.0, with Docker and Kubernetes self-hosting guides
Choose Hatchet if…
- You want an open-source task engine you can self-host on the Postgres you already run.
- You need concurrency and rate limits per tenant or per key.
- You want managed hosting with no monthly plan fee.
Choose Trigger.dev if…
- You write jobs in TypeScript and want them to run on managed machines rather than inside your web server.
- Your tasks run for minutes or hours, such as AI agent steps or media processing.
- You want to self-host the same open-source platform later.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hatchet better than Trigger.dev?⌄
There’s no single winner; pick on your constraint. Choose Hatchet if you want an open-source task engine you can self-host on the Postgres you already run. Choose Trigger.dev if you write jobs in TypeScript and want them to run on managed machines rather than inside your web server.
What is the difference between Hatchet and Trigger.dev?⌄
What it is — Hatchet: Task orchestration engine. Trigger.dev: Managed background job platform. Languages — Hatchet: Python, TypeScript, Go, Ruby. Trigger.dev: TypeScript. What it runs on — Hatchet: Hatchet Cloud or self-hosted on Postgres. Trigger.dev: Trigger.dev managed workers or self-hosted. How you pay — Hatchet: Per task run and event; no plan fee. Trigger.dev: Monthly plan with usage credit; per-second compute. Free access — Hatchet: 1M task runs a month with a card on file. Trigger.dev: $5 of compute credit a month.
Hatchet vs Trigger.dev: which is cheaper?⌄
Hatchet pricing: Free. Trigger.dev pricing: Free · paid from $10/mo. Confirm current pricing on each tool's official site, as plans change.
Which is rated higher, Hatchet or Trigger.dev?⌄
In our catalog, Hatchet rates 4.4 out of 5 and Trigger.dev rates 4.6 out of 5, so Trigger.dev has a slight edge on reviews.
When should I skip both Hatchet and Trigger.dev?⌄
Skip Hatchet if you want a library rather than a separate engine. Graphile Worker and River run inside your app on Postgres. Skip Trigger.dev if your team writes Python or Go. Inngest and Hatchet have SDKs for both.
Sources · tool facts checked November 2026
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