Restate review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Durable execution runtime for backends and AI agents
Black Friday: is there a Restate sale?
Restate report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for durable workflows that survive crashes
Restate is durable execution for backend code, priced by durable actions. The free plan gives 100,000 actions a month and 1 day of history with no overage option; Starter is $75 for 5 million, and multi-AZ and HIPAA are extra.
Who Restate is for
- 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
Who Restate is not for
- 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
Why Restate 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 moneyStarter 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.
- BFree plan and trialFree plan: 100k durable actions a month, no card, though only 1 day of history and no overage option.
- CFeaturesDurable workflows and agents. Throughput is rate-limited per plan; multi-AZ redundancy and a HIPAA BAA cost extra.
- DEase of useNo store rating on record. It's a code-level service for backend developers.
- CPlatforms and integrationsWeb console on the listing, with no integrations named.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Restate'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/restate#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/restate.svg" alt="Restate: 2.0 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Restate stands among automation tools
Restate'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 free plan and trial (B, above 100 of 134) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $75 a month, against a middle price of $22.17 for the category: 50 of the 65 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 1.7 out of 4. 57 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. Restate’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 22 of 134, level with 82
- BFree plan and trialAbove 100 of 134, level with 23
- CFeaturesAbove 2 of 134, level with 83
- DEase of useAbove 0 of 134, level with 26
- CPlatforms and integrationsAbove 8 of 134, level with 30
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 Restate, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Restate 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 $900 a year. Restate 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.
- An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it.
- What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: single sign-on, SCIM and HIPAA.
What this rests on. Restate’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 Restate?
Restate is a durable execution runtime that keeps functions, workflows and agent loops running across failures by journaling each step. It is open source and can be run on your own servers, or used as Restate Cloud, a managed service billed by durable actions, with a bring-your-own-cloud option.
Worth knowing
- 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
- 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.
Restate pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Restate has a free plan, and paid plans start at $75 per month for 5M actions.
- Starts at
- $75 per month for 5M actions
- Free plan
- 100k durable actions a month with community support, no credit card required.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100k actions a month, 10 actions per second, 1 GB virtual object storage, 1-day history, community support. |
| Starter | $75per 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 | $300per 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 | $1,000per 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. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom volume, up to hundreds of thousands of actions per second, 99.99% SLA, 24/7 P0 support, legal review. |
Read from restate.dev on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Restate before you buy.
Ways to pay less
- StartupsStartup 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.
Stated on restate.dev
Restate alternatives
- Restate vs Hatchet
Free plan · from $0
- Restate vs Inngest
Free plan · from $99/mo
- Restate vs Trigger.dev
Free plan · from $10/mo
- Restate vs Camunda
Free plan
- Restate vs Prefect
Free plan · from $100/mo
Common questions
Does Restate have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Restate is listed for Web.
Does Restate have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Restate is listed for Web.
Is Restate open source?
Yes. Restate 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.