BuildShip vs Windmill

BuildShip

• Front-end and no-code app builders who need a backend API quickly
• Teams wiring AI models into workflows without managing API keys
• Developers who want visual flows but still edit the underlying code

Windmill

• Engineering teams that want internal tools and automations kept as code
• Organizations that must run workflows on their own infrastructure
• Replacing scattered cron jobs and scripts with one orchestrated platform

BuildShip

• There is no free plan: sign-up starts a 7-day trial, and the subscription begins automatically when it ends unless canceled.
• Nodes use 1 credit for their first 3 seconds and 1 per second after that. Executions stop when credits run out unless you top up at $10 per 100,000.
• Pricing is per workspace, and each additional workspace is billed separately.
• A custom domain ($80 a year) and No Cold Start ($29 a month) are paid add-ons, and self-hosting is listed under Enterprise.

Windmill

• Windmill is code-first: scripts and most flow steps are written in a programming language, so it suits engineers more than non-technical users.
• The free self-hosted edition stops at 3 workspaces, 50 users and 10 SSO users, has no audit logs and keeps run details for up to 30 days.
• Cloud Free covers 1,000 executions a month, and an execution is one job of under a second; each extra second of compute counts as another.
• Enterprise and Pro bill at least 2 compute units, and their instances report seat and memory use to Windmill through license telemetry.

BuildShip

Prompt-to-flow builder

Describe a flow in plain language and the AI builder generates its logic and nodes. It can also create a new node, modify an existing one or work from an uploaded API spec.

Visual editor with code access

Flows are edited and tested on a canvas of ready-made nodes with connected inputs and outputs. The code of every node and flow is open to edit, and custom scripts can be added.

Triggers for APIs, schedules and events

A flow can start from a REST API call, a cron schedule, a database event, a payment event from Stripe, an email, or a Telegram or WhatsApp bot message.

AI agents and Keyless Nodes

Each plan includes a set number of AI agents, 10 on Starter. Keyless Nodes run AI models from the credit balance without separate API keys, or you can bring your own keys.

Built-in database and storage

Each workspace has a built-in database with a set number of tables and file storage from 50 GB on Starter, alongside nodes for Firebase, Airtable and other data sources.

Hosted or exported

Flows deploy to BuildShip's cloud with logs, a status page and failure alerts, or export as JavaScript to run on your own infrastructure such as Vercel, GCP, AWS or Azure.

Windmill

Scripts in more than 20 languages

A function in TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust, Bash, SQL, PHP or another supported language becomes an API endpoint and a form. Imports are resolved and versions locked at each deploy.

Workflows as a graph or as code

Flows are drawn in a flow editor or written in Python or TypeScript and called as an API endpoint. Retries, approval steps and parallel branches are built in.

Internal apps

An app is a React or Svelte frontend whose backend is your existing scripts and workflows. It can be shared with teams, published publicly or embedded in another product.

AI agents and AI-assisted building

Agents run on any of 12 model providers or your own OpenAI-compatible endpoint, with scripts and MCP servers as their tools. Scripts and flows can also be generated with AI in the UI.

Forks, review and rollback

Changes are made in a fork of the workspace, reviewed as a diff, then deployed to staging and production. Each deployment keeps its version, so an earlier one can be redeployed.

Run history and observability

Every run keeps its inputs, logs and result, and a failure can alert a team on Slack, Teams or by email. Enterprise adds audit logs, queue metrics and OpenTelemetry tracing.

BuildShip

• Starter$19

  per workspace / month, billed yearly ($225); $25 monthly

  20,000 credits a month, 20 active flows, 10 agents, 3 team members, 10 database tables, 50 GB of storage and 7 days of logs.

• Pro$59

  per workspace / month, billed yearly ($711); $79 monthly

  100,000 credits a month, 150 flows, 50 agents, 10 team members, 50 database tables, 500 GB of storage, 14 days of logs and priority support.

• Business$449

  per workspace / month, billed yearly ($5,391); $599 monthly

  300,000 credits a month, 300 flows, 100 agents, 25 team members, 5 TB of storage, 30 days of logs, webhook alerts and a dedicated support channel.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom credits, self-hosting or your own cloud, Git-based version control, support SLAs, engineering consultation and compliance reports.

Windmill

• Free and Open-source$0

  Self-hosted Community Edition with unlimited executions, capped at 3 workspaces, 50 users, 4 groups and 10 SSO users. Community support on Discord.

• Free (Cloud)$0

  Windmill Cloud with 1,000 executions a month, sign-in with Google, GitHub or GitLab, and community support on Discord. No credit card required.

• Team (Cloud)$10

  per seat / month, billed by usage each month

  Set per workspace. A seat covers one developer or two operators and includes 10,000 executions a month. 10 seats at most, with audit logs kept for 7 days.

• Pro (self-hosted)From $48

  per month: $8 per seat plus compute units

  For individuals, seed-stage startups and companies under 10 employees and $250k in revenue. Capped at 10 compute units and 10 SSO users, with no audit logs.

• Enterprise (self-hosted)From $120

  per month: $20 per developer seat, $50 per compute unit

  Audit logs, SAML and SCIM, Git sync, autoscaling, a commercial license and 24/7 priority support with a 3-hour response time. Operators count as half a seat.

• Enterprise (Cloud)From $840

  per month: $40 per developer seat plus compute

  A dedicated Windmill Cloud instance with isolated workers and database, unlimited audit log retention and 24/7 priority support.

BuildShip

• Annual discount

  25% off with yearly billing

  The pricing toggle marks yearly billing as 25% off: Starter is $19 a month billed yearly ($225) against $25 billed monthly, and Pro is $59 against $79.

Windmill

• Annual discount

  16% off Enterprise and Pro with annual billing

  With the Annually option selected, the pricing page applies a 16% annual discount to Enterprise and Pro subscriptions, which comes to 10 months' price for the year.

• Nonprofit

  40% off Enterprise for nonprofits

  Windmill gives non-profits the regular Enterprise plan at a 40% discount: $12 per developer seat a month instead of $20 when self-hosted.

• Education

  40% off Enterprise for universities

  Universities get the same 40% discount on the regular Enterprise plan that Windmill gives non-profits.

• Startups

  Pro plan for seed-stage startups

  The self-hosted Pro plan, at $8 per seat against $20 on Enterprise, is open to individuals, seed-stage startups and businesses with fewer than 10 employees and $250k in revenue.