Overview
Windmill is a developer platform for internal software: each script becomes an API endpoint, a queued job and an auto-generated form. Scripts can be chained into flows with branches, loops, retries, approval steps and error handlers, and triggered by schedules, webhooks, HTTP routes, Kafka, Postgres, SQS, email and more. Jobs run on Windmill's own worker groups, which you can size, isolate and autoscale.
It is written in Rust with Postgres as its only required dependency and is released under AGPLv3. The self-hosted Community Edition has unlimited executions but caps workspaces at 3, users at 50 (10 with SSO) and job-detail retention at 30 days.
Windmill Cloud has a free tier of 1,000 executions a month, where a long job counts once per second of runtime beyond the first; once reached, jobs stop until the next month. The Team plan is $10 per seat per month, each seat carrying 10,000 executions. Self-hosted Enterprise is priced by seats and compute units, adding audit logs, SAML and SCIM, Git sync for all users, and priority support.
It overlaps with background-job libraries (queues, cron, retries) but is closer to an internal-tools and automation platform, so it fits operations and data teams better than in-app job processing.
Pricing and plans
Free tier · no card
Self-hosted Community Edition: unlimited executions, up to 50 users (10 with SSO), 3 workspaces. Cloud free workspaces: 1,000 executions a month
At the limit Stops at the limit On a free cloud workspace, reaching 1,000 executions in the month stops further jobs from running until the next month.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Community Edition (self-host) | $0 | Unlimited executions, 3 workspaces, 50 users, 10 SSO users, 30-day job detail retention |
| Cloud Free | $0 | 1,000 executions a month per workspace and per user |
| Cloud Team | $10 per seat/mo | Each seat includes 10,000 executions; extra 10,000 executions add a billed seat |
| Pro (self-host) | From $120/mo | Main Enterprise features for companies under 10 employees and $250k revenue |
| Enterprise (self-host) | From $20/developer + $50/compute unit per month | Audit logs, SAML/SCIM, unlimited retention, 24/7 support with 3h response; example: 1 developer + 3 compute units = $170/mo |
What it does
- Scripts in 20+ languages
- Python, TypeScript (Bun, Node, Deno), Go, Bash, SQL, Rust, PHP, C#, Java, Ruby, R and Docker images, with automatic dependency handling.
- Flows
- Multi-step workflows with branches, loops, retries, approval steps and restarts from any node.
- Triggers
- Cron schedules, webhooks, HTTP routes, email, WebSocket, Postgres, Kafka, NATS, SQS, MQTT and cloud event triggers.
- Worker groups
- Route jobs to dedicated worker groups by tag, with concurrency limits and autoscaling when self-hosted.
- Auto-generated UIs and apps
- Script parameters become forms; full-code React or Svelte apps can call scripts as backends.
- Local development and Git sync
- CLI and VS Code extension sync the workspace to a Git repository.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Unlimited executions when self-hosted for free
- Runs almost any language, not just one SDK
- Built-in UI, logs and permissions for every job
- Only needs Postgres to self-host
Limitations
- Community Edition limits: 3 workspaces, 50 users, 10 SSO users, 30-day job retention
- Cloud free tier is only 1,000 executions a month and long jobs count per second
- AGPLv3 licence; commercial licence needed for Enterprise features
- Audit logs, SAML/SCIM and Git sync beyond two users need a paid plan
- Oriented to internal tools rather than jobs embedded in your app's code
Who it suits
Good for
- Internal automations, ops scripts and scheduled data jobs
- Teams mixing Python, TypeScript, SQL and Bash
- Self-hosters wanting a UI over cron and job queues
Look elsewhere if
- Jobs that must live inside your application codebase and deploy with it
- Heavy cloud usage on a free budget
Alternatives to Windmill
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hangfire Background job library for .NET | $500/yr | ||
| DBOS Postgres-backed durable workflow library | $99/mo | ||
| Sidekiq Redis-based background job library for Ruby | $99/mo | ||
| Oban SQL-backed job processing library for Elixir (and Python) | $135/mo | ||
| BullMQ Redis-based job queue library | $139/mo | ||
| Amazon SQS Managed message queue | Usage-based | Free tier |
Questions
Is Windmill free?
Self-hosted Community Edition is free with unlimited executions; the cloud free tier allows 1,000 executions a month.
How much does Windmill Cloud cost?
The Team plan is $10 per seat per month, with 10,000 executions per seat.
What counts as a Windmill execution?
One job counts as one execution plus one more for each additional second it runs.
What licence is Windmill under?
AGPLv3, with a commercial licence for Enterprise Edition features.
Is Windmill a Temporal alternative?
It describes itself as a simplified Temporal plus Retool: it offers durable flows and a job queue, with UIs, but fewer low-level workflow primitives.
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