Apache OpenWhisk vs Inngest
Apache OpenWhisk
openwhisk.apache.org
Inngest
inngest.comSide by side
| Figure | Apache OpenWhisk | Inngest |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $99/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 4 |
| Spec score · Serverless Platforms | 7.9 (#8) | 9.0 (#1) |
| Deployment | The site lists Kubernetes, OpenShift, and Compose as deployment options and says the community endorses Kubernetes deployments using Helm charts. | Inngest functions can run wherever an app is hosted, with platform guides for Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, Render, and DigitalOcean. |
| Integrations | Packages include integrations for Kafka, Cloudant, push notifications, Slack, RSS feeds, GitHub, JIRA, and custom data services. | The documentation describes integrations for Vercel and Netlify deployment syncs, Neon database events, and Datadog and Prometheus monitoring. |
| What it does | Apache OpenWhisk is an open-source, distributed serverless platform that runs functions in response to events at any scale. | Inngest runs durable, observable workflows and agents in existing application code, retrying failed steps and preserving their results. |
Plans
In their own words
Apache OpenWhisk
Apache OpenWhisk has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Inngest
Inngest runs asynchronous code as durable functions for event-driven workflows, background jobs, and agents. Its execution steps handle retries, retain state, and recover from failures; traces show activity from trigger to completion. Flow controls manage concurrency and fairness when users compete for resources. Developers can use open-source SDKs for TypeScript, Python, and Go, or the REST API. Functions can run wherever an app is hosted, with deployment guides for services including Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, Render, and DigitalOcean. Inngest also describes isolated sandboxes for testing changes and tools for scoring and comparing variants on production traffic. The Free plan includes 5 seats, 50k executions, 500k events ingested, and 24-hour trace history. Execution pauses when the free quota is reached until the account upgrades. Pro starts at $99/mo. Inngest states that it is SOC 2 Type II compliant, and that its US-based databases are encrypted at rest and application traffic uses TLS/SSL in transit.