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Gearman

gearman.org

Free plan Open source WindowsmacOSLinuxAPISelf-hosted
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Spec score 8.8 #4 of 37 in Task Queue Software

What it is

Gearman is a free, self-hosted application framework for distributing work across machines or processes. A client submits jobs, a job server routes them, and a worker performs them, allowing parallel processing and load balancing. Jobs can run asynchronously in the background or receive priorities. Clients and workers may use different language interfaces when they understand the workload; listed interfaces include C, C#/.NET, Go, Java, Node.js, PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Lisp. Messages can reach 4 GB, with chunking for larger messages. Clients and workers can connect to multiple job servers and fail over when one dies. The C job server supports persistent queues. MySQL and PostgreSQL functions expose client calls to queries, triggers, and stored procedures, while the pure Perl API supports SSL. Gearman runs on Linux and Windows, offers API access, and is licensed under BSD. GearmanSharp is incomplete.

Spec sheet

What it does
Gearman distributes work to other machines or processes for parallel execution, load balancing, and cross-language function calls.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Security
The download page says the pure Perl Gearman client and worker API supports SSL.Read 7 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Support
The project directs users to its Google Groups mailing list and Matrix chat.Read 7 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Founded
2005Read 28 Sep 2026 · gearman.org
Architecture
A Gearman deployment has clients that submit jobs, a job server that routes them, and workers that execute them and return results.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Build requirements
The Ubuntu build guide lists GCC, autoconf, bison, flex, libtool, make, Boost, libcurl, libevent, memcached, UUID, SQLite, and MySQL development packages.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Command-line interface
The Ubuntu manpage documents command-line client and worker modes, background and priority options, multiple servers, timeouts, and worker counts.Read 15 Oct 2026 · manpages.ubuntu.com
Cross-language execution
Clients and workers can use different language APIs while communicating through the same Gearman protocol.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Cross-language work
Clients and workers can use different language interfaces as long as their applications understand the workload being sent.Read 7 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Database integration
MySQL and PostgreSQL UDF packages expose Gearman client calls to SQL queries, triggers, and stored procedures.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Database integrations
The download page lists MySQL and PostgreSQL user-defined functions that expose Gearman client calls to SQL queries, triggers, and stored procedures.Read 7 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Documentation depth
The documentation site includes getting started material, a manual, protocol specifications, generated gearmand documentation, libgearman references, install guides, SSL instructions, and changelogs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Fault tolerance
Multiple job servers can be configured so clients and workers fail over when one server becomes unavailable.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Homebrew packaging
Homebrew identifies gearman as the gearmand application, labels it BSD-3-Clause licensed, and provides bottles for macOS and Linux architectures.Read 15 Oct 2026 · formulae.brew.sh
HTTP integration
An HTTP protocol plugin maps GET and POST requests to Gearman jobs, but the documentation marks it experimental.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Installation methods
The getting-started guide covers RHEL/Fedora and Debian/Ubuntu packages, Windows installation, source tarballs, and Git checkout builds.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Job modes
Gearman supports background asynchronous jobs and prioritized jobs.Read 7 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Language APIs
Official downloads list C, C#/.NET, Go, Java, Lisp, Node.js, PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, Rust, database UDFs, and shell tooling.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Language support
The project lists client and worker interfaces for languages including C, C#/.NET, Go, Java, Node.js, PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, and Rust.Read 7 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Latest release
GitHub lists gearmand 2.1.0 as an August 2026 feature and bug-fix release improving thread safety, connection lifecycle reliability, OpenSSL diagnostics, health checks, and persistent-storage plugins.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Licence
The project describes itself as open source and BSD licensed; the C server and libgearman are specifically identified as BSD licensed.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Limit: configuration guidance
A project maintainer on the mailing list said Gearman had suffered prolonged silence and advised listing all job servers in every client and worker configuration for failover and distribution.Read 15 Oct 2026 · groups.google.com
Limit: documentation
The independent deployment report calls job-server documentation insufficient and says some socket keep-alive behavior was undocumented.Read 15 Oct 2026 · eastvisionsystems.com
Limit: duplicate work after failure
The independent report warns that a job can repeat database writes if it crashes after partially completing its database operations.Read 15 Oct 2026 · eastvisionsystems.com
Limit: network security configuration
A 2014 independent report said Gearman then lacked built-in access security and recommended firewall protection; current official documentation separately describes optional SSL configuration.Read 15 Oct 2026 · eastvisionsystems.com
Limit: operational complexity
A Gearman mailing-list user reported uneven worker utilization, queued jobs, stalled status reporting, high CPU use, and inconsistent multi-server statistics.Read 15 Oct 2026 · groups.google.com
Limit: PHP operations
A Reddit PHP discussion reports recurring queue errors, historical high-CPU extension bugs, and the operational burden of restarting large numbers of workers during updates.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com
Load balancing
The job server sends new work to available workers, allowing worker pools to scale across machines.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Message size
Gearman supports individual messages up to 4 GB and can split larger workloads into chunks.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Network protocol
The binary client and worker protocol uses TCP port 4730 by default, with a separate text-based administrative protocol.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Notable limit
The download page describes GearmanSharp as incomplete and says it does not yet implement the full protocol.Read 7 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Origin
Official history says Gearman began at Danga Interactive, the company behind LiveJournal, with the first Gearman blog post published in 2005.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Parallel processing
Gearman supports parallel and background task execution so application work can run outside the submitting process.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Persistent queues
The C job server page lists persistent queues among its supported features.Read 7 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
PHP SDK
The PHP manual documents GearmanClient and GearmanWorker classes for submitting jobs, adding servers, and registering worker functions.Read 15 Oct 2026 · php.net
Praise: reliability
An independent 2014 deployment report says workers ran for more than a month, recovered from network congestion, and handled failover as expected.Read 15 Oct 2026 · eastvisionsystems.com
Praise: scaling and features
The same independent report credits Gearman with persistent, background, and priority jobs, cross-language workers, parallel processing, and adding servers as demand grows.Read 15 Oct 2026 · eastvisionsystems.com
Priorities and asynchronous work
The system supports background jobs and high- and low-priority job submission.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Project news
The official news page records a July 1, 2016 move of Gearman development to GitHub.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Queue durability limit
The official server documentation says in-memory queues lose pending jobs after a crash or restart, while persistent queues apply only to background jobs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Recent release
The project’s GitHub releases page lists gearmand 2.1.0, released in August 2026, with reliability improvements and a client ping option.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com
Server capabilities
The gearmand server provides threading, persistent queues, and pluggable protocols, with libgearman bundled in the same package.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
TLS support
Gearmand can be built with SSL support and configured with server and client certificates; non-SSL binaries refuse an SSL startup option.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Windows installation
The Getting Started page includes a Windows installation link for Gearman.Read 7 Oct 2026 · gearman.org

Plans and prices

Gearman Free Open source · BSD license Read 7 Oct 2026 · gearman.org
Gearman open-source software Free self-hosted job server · client and worker APIs · BSD-licensed components Read 15 Oct 2026 · gearman.org

Every Gearman plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Parallel processing and load balancing
  • Background and prioritized jobs
  • Many client and worker language interfaces
  • Failover across multiple job servers
  • Messages up to 4096 MB

Limits

  • Self-hosted deployment required
  • GearmanSharp does not implement full protocol
  • No scheduled jobs

Who it suits

Gearman suits developers distributing jobs across processes or machines, including multilingual systems and self-hosted deployments. It supports Linux and Windows installations.

Verdict

Gearman provides a language-flexible job distribution architecture with failover and persistent-queue options. Its free BSD licensing fits teams prepared to operate their own infrastructure.

Where Specifiction places it

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