Hatchet vs Restate (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Hatchet grades higher than Restate: 2.2 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Hatchet grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Hatchet
Open-source task queue and durable workflow engine
Restate
Durable execution runtime for backends and AI agents
Which one is for you
Pick Hatchet if
- Fits if you're replacing a queue like Celery with durable workflows
- Works for engineers who want to start free and self-host later
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't write code, as tasks are defined in an SDK
- Tight if you won't add a card, because the free tier is 2,000 runs a day with 1-day retention
- Watch out: on the free tier, new tasks are dropped past the limit
- Watch out: failed runs count as runs, and SSO and audit logs need Custom
Pick Restate if
- Fits if you're a backend team who need workflows to survive restarts
- Works for people who want to start free and self-host the open source server
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't write backend code
- Tight if you pass 100k actions a month, because the free plan has no overage
- Pricey if you want multi-AZ or a HIPAA BAA, extra at $200 to $500 and $300
- Watch out: the page doesn't say if the monthly prices are annual billing
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAHatchetFair | 2.0GPARestateFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BStarts at $0, then $30 per million runs and $5 per million events, with 1 million of each free a month when a card is on file. | CStarter is $75 a month for 5M actions, Business $300 for 20M and Premium $1,000 for 50M. The page doesn't say whether billing is monthly or annual. |
| Free plan and trial | BWith a card on file: 1M runs and 1M events a month free. Without one, 2,000 runs and events a day and 1 day of retention. | BFree plan: 100k durable actions a month, no card, though only 1 day of history and no overage option. |
| Features | CTask queues and workflows. SSO, RBAC, audit logs and a HIPAA BAA are listed only on Custom. | CDurable workflows and agents. Throughput is rate-limited per plan; multi-AZ redundancy and a HIPAA BAA cost extra. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. You write the tasks in code and run workers. | DNo store rating on record. It's a code-level service for backend developers. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb dashboard only, and no integrations list on the listing. | CWeb console on the listing, with no integrations named. |
| Best for | background task queues for engineering teams | durable workflows that survive crashes |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Hatchet and Restate. How we grade
Where they differ
- Hatchet also covers job scheduling.
At a glance
| Hatchet | Restate | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $0, then $30 per million runs and $5 per million events | $75 per month for 5M actions |
| Free plan | Pay-as-you-go: 1M runs and 1M events free every month, 100 workers, 10 tenants and 50 users with a card on file. | 100k durable actions a month with community support, no credit card required. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Hatchet Technologies, Inc. | Restate |
| Price read from | hatchet.run | restate.dev |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Hatchet
- Without a card on file the free tier is limited to 2,000 task runs and 2,000 events a day, with 1-day retention.
- If a limit is passed on the free tier, new tasks are dropped and creation errors appear.
- Retries are not billed, but failed runs count as runs.
- SSO, RBAC, audit logs and HIPAA BAA are listed only on the Custom plan.
Restate
- Throughput is rate-limited per plan, with burst headroom, and actions past the allotment are billed as overage.
- Multi-AZ redundancy and a HIPAA BAA cost extra: $200 to $500 and $300 respectively.
- The Free plan has no overage option and keeps only 1 day of history.
- The pricing page does not say whether the monthly prices are billed monthly or annually.
Key features
Hatchet
- Durable execution
- Workflows and agents are checkpointed so work resumes after a failure. A failed task can be retried automatically or replayed by hand.
- Background tasks and cron
- Runs background jobs at scale and creates dynamic cron schedules for recurring workflows.
- Webhooks and events
- Events and webhooks can trigger workflows, and events can satisfy wait conditions inside a running workflow.
- Observability
- Traces, logs, metrics and alerts are available for each run, with 7 days of retention on the paid-card pay-as-you-go tier.
- Self-hosting
- The pricing page says Hatchet is 100% open source under the MIT license, and the Custom plan covers self-hosted and hybrid setups.
Restate
- Durable actions
- The unit of billing is a durable action: a call, completion, step, sleep, awakeable, RPC, promise or state access. Each started 64KiB of payload adds one.
- Virtual objects
- Stateful virtual objects keep their data in Restate, with storage included per plan and extra billed at $0.50 per GB a month.
- Bring your own cloud
- BYOC runs the managed service inside your own cloud account and VPC, so data stays in your infrastructure.
- Self-hosting
- The Restate server is open source under a license that allows production use, and can be run for free.
- Security options
- A HIPAA BAA is available for $300 on the higher plans, and SAML SSO and SCIM are listed for the top tiers.
Plans
Hatchet
Pay-as-you-go$0
to start, then usage-based
1M runs and 1M events free each month, then $30 per million runs, $5 per million events and $0.10 per GB of durable streams.
CustomCustom
For 100M+ runs a month: dedicated capacity, SSO, RBAC, audit logs, HIPAA, SLAs, and self-hosted or BYOC support.
Restate
Free$0
100k actions a month, 10 actions per second, 1 GB virtual object storage, 1-day history, community support.
Starter$75
per month for 5M actions; billing basis not stated
50 actions per second, 5 GB storage, 3-day history, 99.9% SLA. Extra actions $25 per million.
Business$300
per month for 20M actions; billing basis not stated
200 actions per second, 20 GB storage, 7-day history, email support. Extra actions $25 per million.
Premium$1,000
per month for 50M actions; billing basis not stated
500 actions per second, 50 GB storage, 30-day history, dedicated Slack channel. Extra actions $15 per million.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom volume, up to hundreds of thousands of actions per second, 99.99% SLA, 24/7 P0 support, legal review.
Ways to pay less
Hatchet
No public discounts listed.
Restate
- Startups
Startup and high-volume discounts on request
The pricing FAQ says higher tiers include volume discounts and that startups should get in touch to ask about discounts.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Hatchet or Restate?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Hatchet starts at $0, then $30 per million runs and $5 per million events, and Restate starts at $75 per month for 5M actions.
Which has a free plan, Hatchet or Restate?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Hatchet and Restate have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.