Apache DolphinScheduler vs Dagu
Apache DolphinScheduler
dolphinscheduler.apache.org
Dagu
dagu.shSide by side
| Figure | Apache DolphinScheduler | Dagu |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $50/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 4 |
| Spec score · Workload Automation Software | 8.9 (#3) | 8.3 (#11) |
| Community support | The project directs users and developers to GitHub issues plus users and dev mailing lists for support and discussion. | Documentation, GitHub Issues, and Discord are available to everyone, with community support described as best effort. |
| Deployment | The maker documents standalone, cluster, and Kubernetes deployment; standalone is intended for quick evaluation rather than production. | Dagu runs as a single binary locally or across distributed workers and does not require an external database or message broker. |
| License | The source repositories identify the software as licensed under Apache License 2.0. | Dagu is open source under the GNU General Public License v3.0. |
| Scheduling | Workflows support cross-project and cross-workflow dependencies, pause and resume operations, and batch backfills in serial or parallel mode. | Dagu supports cron schedules with timezones, catchup windows, overlap policies, retry policies, zombie detection, lifecycle handlers, and notifications. |
| Support | The homepage directs users to documentation, quick starts, and a community mailing list for updates. | Team and Pro include standard support, Enterprise includes priority support, and support is handled directly by Dagu's maintainer. |
Plans
Apache DolphinScheduler
- Apache DolphinSchedulerFree
- Open sourceFree
In their own words
Apache DolphinScheduler
Apache DolphinScheduler is a free, open-source workflow orchestration platform for designing and running data workflows through visual directed-acyclic-graph interfaces or code. Workflows can be built with drag-and-drop tools or defined in Python, YAML, or the Open API. The project lists more than 30 task types, including Shell, SQL, Spark, Flink, Hive, Kubernetes, and HTTP. Scheduling supports cross-project and cross-workflow dependencies, pause and resume operations, and serial or parallel batch backfills. A decentralized multi-master, multi-worker design is described as increasing scheduling capacity with cluster size. Deployment options are standalone, cluster, and Kubernetes. Standalone is for evaluation, recommended for fewer than 20 workflows, and its in-memory H2 database is cleared when the service stops or restarts. Authentication includes password, LDAP, Casdoor SSO, and OAuth2, with administrator-managed resource controls. The security model assumes a trusted network.
Dagu
Dagu is a self-hosted workflow engine for defining DAG workflows in YAML and managing runs, logs and retries through a built-in web interface. It runs as a single binary locally or across distributed workers, without an external database or message broker. Workflows can run shell scripts, Docker containers, SSH commands, SQL queries, HTTP requests, chat completion steps and Agent Harness steps. Scheduling supports cron timezones, catchup windows, overlap and retry policies, zombie detection, lifecycle handlers and notifications. Built-in actions cover HTTP, mail, SSH, SFTP, Git, S3, Redis, LLM, browser, computer, SQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite and DuckDB. Dagu also supports MCP connections from clients including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Zed and Cline. The project is open source under GNU GPL v3.0. Its free Community plan includes unlimited servers and workers, with up to two API keys. Team is $50 a month and Pro is $150 a month; both add SSO, role-based access, audit logging, incident routing and standard support.