Dagster review (2026): is it worth $10 a month?
Asset-based data orchestration platform, now part of Prefect
Black Friday: is there a Dagster sale?
Dagster report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for Python data pipelines built around assets
Dagster orchestrates data pipelines written in Python, organised around the tables and files they produce. There's no free hosted plan, credits are billed on top of the monthly fee, cost tracking sits on Pro, and the site now says Dagster is part of Prefect, so plans may shift.
Who Dagster is for
- Fits if your team writes Python and thinks of pipelines as tables and files
- Works for data teams that want a hosted console but can self-host the core later
Who Dagster is not for
- Skip it if you can't write Python, as pipelines are code
- Tight if you're not paying: no free hosted plan, only a 30-day trial
- Watch out: credits are charged per asset and per op on top of $10 or $100 a month
- Watch out: the site says Dagster is now part of Prefect, so plans and branding may change
Why Dagster gets a 2.0
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneySolo is $10 a month and Starter $100, but every asset and op also costs a credit ($0.040 or $0.035), so the bill isn't just the headline. The category's middle is $19.99.
- CFree plan and trial30-day trial with everything on, and the core framework can be self-hosted for nothing. There's no free hosted plan, so after a month you pay or run it yourself.
- CFeaturesOrchestration, catalog, data quality checks and cost insights. Cost tracking, project-level roles and several alert types are Pro only.
- DEase of useNo store rating on record. You define pipelines as Python code and run or host a code location, which is a developer's setup, not a click-through one.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb console with integrations for dbt, Snowflake, Databricks, AWS and Airbyte. No desktop or phone apps.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Dagster's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/dagster#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/dagster.svg" alt="Dagster: 2.0 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Dagster stands among automation tools
Dagster's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 26 of the 134 other automation tools we grade, and level with 27.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 39 of 134) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $10 a month, against a middle price of $22.17 for the category: 10 of the 65 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 10 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 135 automation tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Dagster’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 22 of 134, level with 82
- CFree plan and trialAbove 38 of 134, level with 61
- CFeaturesAbove 2 of 134, level with 83
- DEase of useAbove 0 of 134, level with 26
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 39 of 134, level with 95
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 80 automation tools. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
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
Keep Dagster, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Dagster you would be making connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 81 of the 134 other automation tools grade higher. It costs $120 a year. Dagster is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could not
- Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change.
- Connections that pull numbers from dozens of other services.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
What this rests on. Dagster’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Dagster?
Dagster is an orchestration platform for data pipelines built around assets: the tables, files and models a pipeline produces. Its core framework is open source and can be self-hosted, and Dagster+ is the hosted product with a catalog, data quality checks and cost insights. The site says Dagster is now part of Prefect.
Worth knowing
- Usage is billed in credits: one per asset materialized and one per op executed, on top of the monthly fee.
- There is no free hosted plan; the trial lasts 30 days, though the core framework can be self-hosted.
- Cost tracking, role scoping by project and several alert types are limited to the Pro plan.
- The site says Dagster is now part of Prefect, so plans and branding may change.
Key features
- Asset-based orchestration
- Pipelines are modeled as assets with dependencies, alongside workflow-based orchestration for work that is not tied to a data asset.
- Data catalog and lineage
- Asset metadata, asset-level lineage and, on Starter and above, catalog search; column lineage is listed on the comparison table.
- Data quality checks
- Asset checks, freshness policies and dbt test integration surface the health of each asset.
- Insights and alerts
- Pipeline metrics with a 30-day lookback and alerts by email, Slack or Teams; cost tracking for BigQuery and Snowflake is a Pro feature.
- Hybrid or Serverless compute
- Run on Dagster Serverless, billed at $0.010 a minute, or on your own infrastructure in Hybrid mode with no compute charge from Dagster.
- Open-source core
- The core orchestration framework is open source on GitHub and can be self-hosted; Dagster+ adds branch deployments, RBAC and cost insights.
Dagster pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Dagster is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $10 per month plus $0.040 per credit (Solo).
- Starts at
- $10 per month plus $0.040 per credit (Solo)
- Free plan
- None
- Free trial
- 30-day free trial with access to everything Dagster offers
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Solo | $10per month, plus $0.040 per credit | 1 user, 1 code location and 1 deployment for personal projects. Serverless compute is $0.010 a minute. |
| Starter | $100per month, plus $0.035 per credit | Up to 3 users, 5 code locations, 1 deployment and catalog search. Serverless compute is $0.010 a minute. |
| Pro | Custom | Unlimited code locations and deployments, cost tracking and insights, uptime SLAs and a private Slack channel. Sold through sales. |
Read from dagster.io on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Dagster before you buy.
Works with
- dbt
- Snowflake
- Databricks
- AWS S3
- AWS Glue
- Airbyte
- ClickHouse
- Anthropic
Dagster alternatives
- Dagster vs Prefect
Free plan · from $100/mo
- Dagster vs Astronomer
Free trial · from $0.35
- Dagster vs Kestra
Free plan
- Dagster vs Windmill
Free plan · from $10/mo
Common questions
Does Dagster have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Dagster is listed for Web.
Does Dagster have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Dagster is listed for Web.
Is Dagster open source?
Yes. Dagster is open source, according to its own site. It can also be run on a server of your own.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.