Prefect vs Restate (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Prefect grades higher than Restate: 2.4 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Prefect grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Prefect
Python workflow orchestration with an open-source core and a cloud
Restate
Durable execution runtime for backends and AI agents
Which one is for you
Pick Prefect if
- Fits if you write Python and want scheduling, retries and run history
- Makes sense if you want an open-source core you can self-host
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you don't write code, as workflows are Python functions
- Tight if you grow past Hobby: 2 users, 5 deployments and 7 days of run history
- Pricey if you need Team: it starts at 4 users at $100 each, so $400 a month
- Watch out: SSO, SCIM, RBAC and an uptime SLA are Enterprise only
- Watch out: there is no free trial of paid plans, the Hobby plan stands in for it
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
| 2.4GPAPrefectFair | 2.0GPARestateFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CThe open-source version is free to host yourself, which needs a server. Paid Cloud starts at $100 a month for 3 users, against a $19.99 middle for automation tools. | 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 | BA free Hobby plan: 2 users, 5 deployments, 500 minutes a month of serverless compute and 7 days of run retention. One person can live on that. | BFree plan: 100k durable actions a month, no card, though only 1 day of history and no overage option. |
| Features | BFlows, scheduling, remote runs, managed compute, alerting and automations. SSO, SCIM and an SLA are Enterprise only, which the listing treats as plan gating. | 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 Python and set up work pools, or self-host the server. | DNo store rating on record. It's a code-level service for backend developers. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, an API and integrations with AWS, Databricks, dbt, Docker, Kubernetes, Slack, Snowflake and GitHub. No desktop or phone app. | CWeb console on the listing, with no integrations named. |
| Best for | Python teams scheduling and tracking workflows | 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: Prefect and Restate. How we grade
Price against what you get
Prefect starts at $100 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Restate starts at $75 a month and scores 1.7.
Prefect scores higher, and starts $25 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other automation tools on the chart, 18 score higher than Prefect for less, and 57 score higher than Restate for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
At a glance
| Prefect | Restate | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $100 per month, billed monthly (Starter, 3 users) | $75 per month for 5M actions |
| Free plan | Hobby plan: 2 users, up to 5 deployments, 500 minutes a month of Prefect Serverless and 7 days of run retention. | 100k durable actions a month with community support, no credit card required. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Prefect Technologies, Inc. | Restate |
| Price read from | prefect.io | restate.dev |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Prefect
- The Hobby plan stops at 2 users, 5 deployments and 7 days of run retention.
- Team starts at 4 users at $100 per user per month, so the cheapest Team bill is $400 a month.
- SSO, SCIM, object-level RBAC and an uptime SLA are Enterprise-only; Starter and Team have no SLA.
- The pricing page says it offers no free trial of paid plans; the Hobby plan serves that purpose.
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
Prefect
- Flows from plain Python
- Adding a decorator to a Python function makes it a flow with retries, state tracking and artifacts, without a separate DAG definition language.
- Scheduling and deployments
- Flows are packaged as deployments that can be scheduled, triggered by webhooks or events, and run remotely on work pools you configure.
- Prefect Serverless
- Managed compute run by Prefect, so flows can run without hosting your own infrastructure. Each paid plan includes a monthly allowance of it.
- Observability and automations
- Run logs, alerting and event-driven automations that send notifications or trigger runs when something in a workflow changes state.
- Open-source core
- The orchestration framework is open source and can be self-hosted; Prefect Cloud is the hosted version with more governance and scale features.
- Security and compliance
- Prefect states SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and GDPR alignment, with hybrid and VPC deployment options on higher plans.
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
Prefect
Hobby$0
2 users, 5 deployments, 500 min/mo of Prefect Serverless, logging and alerting, 7-day run retention.
Starter$100
per month for up to 3 users, billed monthly
20 deployments, 75 hours/mo of Prefect Serverless, bring your own compute, webhooks and 1,250 API requests/min.
Team$100
per user / month, for 4 to 8 users, billed monthly
100 deployments, 225 hours/mo of Prefect Serverless, service accounts, 24-hour audit log, email support.
EnterpriseCustom
SSO (SAML/OIDC), RBAC and ACLs, SCIM, multiple workspaces, unlimited deployments and a 99.9% uptime SLA. Annual billing; sold through sales.
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
Prefect
- Startups
Prefect Startup Program
The pricing page says eligible startups get credits toward the Team plan through the Prefect Startup Program; qualification is by application.
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, Prefect or Restate?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Restate is cheaper to start with: $75 a month, against $100 a month for Prefect. Prefect starts at $100 per month, billed monthly (Starter, 3 users), and Restate starts at $75 per month for 5M actions.
Which has a free plan, Prefect or Restate?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Prefect 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.