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Language-agnostic background job server · by Contributed Systems

Faktory

Standalone job server from the author of Sidekiq that any language can push jobs to and fetch jobs from, with retries and a web UI; AGPL with a paid Enterprise edition.

Visit contribsys.com ↗ Alternatives Open source Open source Self-hostable
Faktory homepage
§1

Overview

Faktory is a work server written in Go by Mike Perham, the author of Sidekiq, first released in 2017. Instead of each language having its own Redis-based queue library, Faktory runs as a separate server: clients push jobs as JSON with a type and arguments, and workers in any language fetch them, then acknowledge or fail them.

Jobs are reserved with a timeout (30 minutes by default); jobs that fail or are not acknowledged in time are requeued, and failures follow a retry schedule with exponential backoff. A web UI shows queues, retries, scheduled and dead jobs. The server can be installed from packages or run in Docker or on AWS ECS.

The open-source edition is AGPL-licensed. Faktory Enterprise, from $299 a month, adds cron jobs, unique jobs, expiring jobs, a Redis gateway, statsd metrics, queue throttling, batches and workflows, job status tracking and white labelling, with email support.

§2

Pricing and plans

Plan Price What you get
Faktory OSS Free AGPL; scheduled jobs, web UI, polyglot workers, error handling, Docker
Faktory Enterprise From $299/mo Cron, unique and expiring jobs, Redis gateway, statsd metrics, throttling, batches, job status, white labelling, email support

Enterprise is payable by card or invoice and includes a commercial licence instead of the AGPL. No hosted Faktory service is offered; you run the server yourself.

Source: contribsys.com/faktory/ · prices as published, excluding tax.

§3

What it does

Polyglot workers
Any language with a Faktory client can push and process the same jobs.
Reservation and retries
Jobs not acknowledged within the reservation timeout are requeued; failures retry with exponential backoff.
Scheduled jobs
Jobs can be scheduled to run at a future time in the free edition.
Web UI
Built-in dashboard for monitoring and managing queues and jobs.
Enterprise workflows
Batches, job status, cron, unique jobs and throttling in the paid edition.
§4

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • One job server shared by services in different languages
  • From the author of Sidekiq, with a similar model
  • Single binary that is simple to run

Limitations

  • Cron, unique jobs, batches and throttling are Enterprise-only
  • AGPL licence for the free edition
  • Enterprise starts at $299/month
  • Official clients are fewer than for Sidekiq or BullMQ; several languages rely on community clients
  • No hosted version; you operate the server
§5

Who it suits

Good for

  • Polyglot teams sharing a job system across Ruby, Go, Python and Node.js
  • Self-hosters who want a Sidekiq-like model outside Ruby

Look elsewhere if

  • Single-language apps where a native library is simpler
  • Teams needing free cron or workflow features
§6

Alternatives to Faktory

Tool From Free option Stages
BullMQ Redis-based job queue library
$139/mo Open source
Oban SQL-backed job processing library for Elixir (and Python)
$135/mo Open source
River Postgres-backed job queue for Go
$125/mo Open source
Sidekiq Redis-based background job library for Ruby
$99/mo Open source
Inngest Durable execution and event-driven workflow platform
$99/mo Free tier
DBOS Postgres-backed durable workflow library
$99/mo Open source

All background jobs, queues and workflows →

§7

Questions

Is Faktory free?

The open-source edition is free under the AGPL; Enterprise starts at $299 a month.

How is Faktory different from Sidekiq?

Sidekiq is a Ruby library on Redis; Faktory is a standalone server that workers in any language can use.

Does Faktory support cron jobs?

Cron jobs are a Faktory Enterprise feature.

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