Hangfire
hangfire.io
What it is
Hangfire runs background jobs in.NET and.NET Core applications without requiring a Windows Service or a separate process. It supports fire-and-forget, delayed and recurring jobs, as well as continuations, and stores jobs persistently. SQL Server and Redis are officially supported storage options, with other community-driven implementations also available. A built-in web dashboard shows processing activity and each job's state. Hangfire describes its processing as at-least-once, with automatic retries after unhandled exceptions or application termination. It can run across multiple machines and coordinates their work automatically. Listed integrations include ASP.NET, ASP.NET Core, console applications, Windows Services, WCF, Nancy and ServiceStack. Hangfire Core is open source under LGPLv3 and free for commercial use. The Open plan is free. Startup costs $500 a year, Business $1,500 a year, and Enterprise $4,500 a year, all billed per organization annually. Pro adds batches and batch continuations; Ace adds throttling features for concurrency and rate limits. Dashboard access is local by default, so remote access needs authorization configuration.
Spec sheet
- What it does
- Hangfire runs .NET and .NET Core methods as durable background jobs without requiring a separate Windows Service or process.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Purpose
- Hangfire performs background processing in .NET and .NET Core applications without requiring a Windows Service or separate process.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- API
- The public API includes BackgroundJobClient, IBackgroundJobClient, JobStorage and extension methods for creating and changing jobs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · api.hangfire.io
- Integrations
- The documentation lists integrations with ASP.NET, ASP.NET Core, console applications, Windows Services, WCF, Nancy, and ServiceStack.Read 4 Oct 2026 · docs.hangfire.io
- License
- Hangfire Core is open source under LGPLv3 and free for commercial use.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Headquarters
- Ahtri 12, Tallinn, Harju County 15551, EstoniaRead 28 Sep 2026 · hangfire.io
- At-least-once processing
- The product promises at-least-once processing and retries interrupted jobs after process termination.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Automatic retries
- Transient failures are retried automatically and retry counts can be controlled with AutomaticRetryAttribute.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Batches
- Hangfire Pro adds atomic batches of jobs and batch continuations.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Cancellation
- Jobs can receive cancellation tokens so application shutdowns can be handled gracefully.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Community extensions
- The extension directory lists community storage and IoC projects but disclaims official support, quality and security responsibility for them.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Company legal facts
- The Estonian Business Register lists Hangfire OÜ as a private limited company registered March 1, 2022, with €10,000 capital and an Ahtri 12, Tallinn address.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ariregister.rik.ee
- Company ownership
- A company announcement says Hangfire became owned by Estonian private company Hangfire OÜ from March 8, 2022 and remained owned by Sergey Odinokov.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Company size
- The Estonian registry data reports three employees for Hangfire OÜ in its 2025 annual-report figures.Read 15 Oct 2026 · corpinfo.ee
- Continuations
- A continuation can run after its parent job finishes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Dashboard
- A built-in web dashboard shows job states and processing activity.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Dashboard security
- Dashboard access is local-only by default and authorization must be configured before allowing remote requests because job arguments and method names are exposed.Read 15 Oct 2026 · docs.hangfire.io
- Delayed jobs
- Jobs can be persisted and scheduled to run after a specified time interval.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Distributed processing
- Multiple Hangfire servers can run on the same or different machines with automatic synchronization and distributed locking.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Documentation depth
- The documentation includes getting-started guides, installation, ASP.NET Core setup, dashboard authorization, storage configuration and deployment guidance.Read 15 Oct 2026 · docs.hangfire.io
- Extensibility
- Developers can replace storage, states, job creation, job performance, state changes and job activation components.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Fire-and-forget jobs
- Jobs can be queued for execution once and almost immediately after creation.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- GitHub activity
- The public repository showed about 10.2k stars, 1.8k forks and 891 issues when opened.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
- IoC integration
- Dependency injection is supported through job activators and packages such as Hangfire.Ninject and Hangfire.Autofac.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Job types
- Its job types include fire-and-forget, delayed, and recurring jobs, plus continuations.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Licence
- Hangfire Core is open source under LGPLv3, with commercial licensing available for private forks and modifications.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Limit: database locking
- The same independent account reported that Hangfire database locks caused significant performance problems on a Galera cluster and led the team to remove it.Read 15 Oct 2026 · bogdanbujdea.dev
- Limit: extension support
- The official extension directory warns that community extensions can affect execution and access stored data without official support or security guarantees.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Limit: LGPL complexity
- GitHub users repeatedly described LGPL compliance as confusing or unacceptable for some closed-source corporate environments.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Limit: paid trial
- Hangfire Pro has no free trial; the maker instead offers a 30-day full-refund period.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Limit: SQL polling
- The maker says default SQL Server storage uses polling and recommends MSMQ or Redis extensions when lower latency is needed.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Multiple queues
- Workers can consume multiple named queues with configurable priority order.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Paid extensions
- Hangfire Pro includes batches and batch continuations, while Hangfire Ace includes throttling features for concurrency and rate limits.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Persistence
- Jobs are stored persistently; SQL Server and Redis are officially supported, alongside community-driven storage implementations.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Persistent storage
- Official storage options are SQL Server, Redis and In-Memory, while additional storage adapters are community supplied.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Praise: product quality
- A GitHub issue commenter said they loved Hangfire while asking for a less restrictive licence.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Praise: setup and dashboard
- Independent developer Bogdan Bujdea praised the short setup, built-in dashboard and flexibility of recurring jobs, continuations and batches.Read 15 Oct 2026 · bogdanbujdea.dev
- Recurring jobs
- Recurring work is scheduled with CRON expressions, including daily and more complex schedules.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Release news
- Release 1.8.25 on August 28, 2026 added updated translations and a SQL Server option to disable fetch semaphores.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Reliability
- Hangfire says it processes jobs with at-least-once semantics and automatically retries them after unhandled exceptions or application termination.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- SDK and distribution
- Official packages are distributed through NuGet, including Hangfire.Core, Hangfire.AspNet, Hangfire.AspNetCore, Hangfire.InMemory, Hangfire.NetCore and Hangfire.SqlServer.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Security and privacy
- The privacy policy says Hangfire takes reasonable security measures and describes GDPR data-subject rights for EEA users.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Storage limitation
- Hangfire.Throttling is officially supported with Hangfire.SqlServer, Hangfire.Pro.Redis, and Hangfire.InMemory storage.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Support model
- The free plan provides Stack Overflow and GitHub Issues support; paid Business and Enterprise plans add email/helpdesk support.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
- Supported application types
- Documentation covers ASP.NET, ASP.NET Core, console applications, Windows Services, WCF, Nancy and ServiceStack.Read 15 Oct 2026 · docs.hangfire.io
- System requirements
- The documentation lists .NET Framework 4.5.1 or later, .NET Core 1.0 or later or .NET Standard 1.3 compatibility, plus persistent storage.Read 15 Oct 2026 · docs.hangfire.io
- Trial and refund
- There is no free trial for Hangfire Pro, but purchases have a 30-day refund period.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
Plans and prices
Open Free Always and forever Hangfire Core LGPL 3.0 · commercial use · SQL Server 2008 R2+ or In-Memory · community support Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
Startup $500 a year per organization / year Core LGPL plus Pro EULA · SQL Server, Redis 2.6.12+, or In-Memory · perpetual license · private NuGet feed · no dedicated support Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
Business $1,500 a year per organization / year Core, Pro and Ace under EULA · SQL Server, Redis or In-Memory · source access · email/helpdesk and technical support Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
Enterprise $4,500 a year per organization / year Core, Pro and Ace · royalty-free EULA · custom terms · source access · priority support · invoice or purchase order Read 15 Oct 2026 · hangfire.io
Strong points and limits
Strong points
- Core is free for commercial use under LGPLv3.
- Supports fire-and-forget, delayed and recurring jobs.
- Persistent storage supports SQL Server and Redis.
- Automatically retries jobs after specified failures.
- Runs across machines with automatic coordination.
Limits
- No free trial for Hangfire Pro.
- Remote dashboard access requires authorization configuration.
- Throttling storage support is limited to specified backends.
Who it suits
Hangfire suits developers building .NET or .NET Core applications that need persistent background jobs, scheduling or distributed processing. It is self-hosted and supports Linux and Windows.
Verdict
Hangfire provides persistent background processing with scheduling, retries and a dashboard. The free Core plan is distinct from paid Pro and Ace features, and dashboard access needs configuration for remote use.
Where Specifiction places it
- Task Queue Software#2 of 379.1
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