AWS Step Functions vs Inngest
AWS Step Functions
aws.amazon.com
Inngest
inngest.comSide by side
| Figure | AWS Step Functions | Inngest |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 4 |
| Spec score · Process Orchestration Software | 7.9 (#11) | 9.1 (#3) |
| Spec score · Workflow Orchestration Software | 7.9 (#19) | 9.0 (#4) |
| Integrations | Service integrations connect workflows to over 200 AWS services, and AWS SDK integrations can invoke over 9,000 API actions from over 200 services. | The documentation describes integrations for Vercel and Netlify deployment syncs, Neon database events, and Datadog and Prometheus monitoring. |
| Security | Step Functions uses IAM to control access to AWS services and resources, and AWS requires TLS 1.2 while recommending TLS 1.3 for network clients. | Inngest states it is SOC 2 Type II compliant and offers a signed DPA to customers on paid plans. |
| What it does | AWS Step Functions is a visual workflow service for orchestrating AWS services and HTTPS endpoints, including SaaS applications, into scalable, reliable applications. | Inngest runs durable, observable workflows and agents in existing application code, retrying failed steps and preserving their results. |
Plans
AWS Step Functions
- Free TierFree
- Express WorkflowsPrice not published
- Standard WorkflowsPrice not published
In their own words
AWS Step Functions
AWS Step Functions is a cloud workflow service for coordinating AWS services and HTTPS endpoints, including SaaS applications. Workflows are state machines written in Amazon States Language, with Workflow Studio providing a visual designer. Definitions can branch, run steps in parallel, set timeouts, retry failures, and handle errors with try/catch or rollback patterns. Service integrations connect to over 200 AWS services, while AWS SDK integrations can invoke over 9,000 API actions. HTTPS endpoint integration connects directly to HTTP-based services. Distributed Map can process large datasets, including Amazon S3 data, with up to 10,000 parallel child executions in one Map Run. Execution history, CloudWatch Logs, and AWS X-Ray support review and tracing. Standard executions can run for up to one year; Express executions can run for up to five minutes. Task, state, or execution input and output is limited to 256 KiB. A Free Tier plan is listed at free indefinitely; Standard and Express plans bill usage.
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.