---
title: "River Pricing, Features & Alternatives (2026)"
description: "River review: Background Jobs & Workflows tool — Free tier, plans, pros & cons, and the best River alternatives compared for startups in 2026."
source: https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/river
retrieved: 2026-09-21
---

![River logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=riverqueue.com&sz=128)

[Background Jobs & Workflows](https://appstackbuilder.com/categories/background%5Fjobs)Free tier

# River: Pricing, Features & Alternatives

River is an open-source background job queue for Go that stores jobs in PostgreSQL, enabling transactional enqueue alongside your application data. It offers strong typing, retries, periodic jobs, and a UI. The core is free and open-source; River Pro adds workflow and sequencing features.

Category

Background Jobs & Workflows

Pricing

Free tier available

Free tier

Yes

Best for

Background Jobs & Workflows — queue, postgres

[Visit River official site](https://riverqueue.com/)

## River Pricing Plans (2026)

| Plan               | Price            | Highlights                                                     |
| ------------------ | ---------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Open SourcePopular | $0 (self-hosted) | Open-source · Postgres-backed · Transactional enqueue          |
| River Pro          | Paid (license)   | Workflows & sequences · Advanced features · Commercial support |

Pricing summary: Free. Always confirm current pricing on the official site.

## Key River Features

* ✓Open-source
* ✓Postgres-backed
* ✓Transactional enqueue
* ✓Periodic jobs

### ✓ Pros

* +Idiomatic Go with strong typing
* +Transactional enqueue on Postgres
* +No separate broker needed
* +Active development

### ✗ Cons

* −Go only
* −Newer than incumbents
* −Postgres required

## Best River Alternatives

[Compare all ](https://appstackbuilder.com/tool-alternatives/river)

[![Temporal logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=temporal.io&sz=128)TemporalFree · paid from $100/mo](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/temporal)[![Inngest logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=inngest.com&sz=128)InngestFree · paid from $75/mo](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/inngest)[![Sidekiq logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=sidekiq.org&sz=128)SidekiqFree · paid from $99/mo](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/sidekiq)[![Trigger.dev logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=trigger.dev&sz=128)Trigger.devFree · paid from $50/mo](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/trigger-dev)[![BullMQ logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=bullmq.io&sz=128)BullMQFree](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/bullmq)[![Graphile Worker logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=graphile.org&sz=128)Graphile WorkerFree](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/graphile-worker)

## River Compared

[River vs Inngest](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/inngest-vs-river)[River vs Sidekiq](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/river-vs-sidekiq)[River vs Trigger.dev](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/river-vs-trigger-dev)[River vs BullMQ](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/bullmq-vs-river)[River vs Temporal](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/river-vs-temporal)[River vs Graphile Worker](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/graphile-worker-vs-river)

## River FAQ

What is River used for?⌄

River is a background jobs & workflows tool. Fast, robust background job queue for Go, built on Postgres with transactional enqueueing.

Is River free?⌄

Yes — River has a free tier you can start with, and paid plans for more usage and features.

How much does River cost?⌄

River is free to use, with usage-based pricing on some features.

What are the best River alternatives?⌄

Popular River alternatives include Temporal, Inngest, Sidekiq, Trigger.dev, BullMQ. Compare pricing and features on our River alternatives page.

## Not sure if River fits your stack?

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