Cadence vs Dapr
Cadence
cadenceworkflow.ioDapr
dapr.ioSide by side
| Figure | Cadence | Dapr |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $1,199/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 4 |
| Spec score · Process Orchestration Software | 8.0 (#9) | 9.2 (#1) |
| Deployment | Deployment options include embedded SQLite, Docker Compose, and Kubernetes with Helm; the page also lists a managed Uber cluster for Uber internal teams. | Dapr applications run on Kubernetes or self-hosted on virtual or physical machines across cloud and edge environments. |
| Founded | 2017 | 2019 |
| Security | TLS is configurable on backing service connections, and SDK connections to the frontend support mutual TLS. | Dapr uses automatically enabled mutual TLS between sidecars, App IDs, namespace isolation and policy-based access controls for services, topics, components and secrets. |
| Support | The project points users to Stack Overflow, CNCF Slack, GitHub Issues, and community contributors for support. | Diagrid pricing lists portal, email and Slack support, unlimited support calls, onboarding support and tiered response times for commercial offerings. |
Plans
Dapr
- Cloud FreeFree
- Dedicated Cloud$1,199 a month
- BYOC$1,599 a month
- Enterprise ServerPriced on request
In their own words
Cadence
Cadence has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Dapr
Dapr is an open-source runtime that provides APIs for durable workflows and distributed application services. Its workflows handle long-running stateful processes with retries, timers, human approvals, and sagas. Dapr also supports AI agents using checkpointed plans to recover after failures. Service invocation offers HTTP or gRPC communication with discovery, tracing, and error handling; additional APIs cover pub/sub, state, actors, jobs, secrets, configuration, bindings, distributed locks, and cryptography. Dapr runs as a sidecar process or container, keeping its runtime code out of application code. It can run on Kubernetes or self-hosted on Windows, Linux, or macOS machines, including physical and virtual machines across cloud and edge environments. Security includes mTLS encryption in transit, access policies, and automatic certificate rotation. Stable SDKs are available for.NET, Python, Java, Go, PHP, and JavaScript. Dapr is free and open source. Separate paid options include Dedicated Cloud starting at $1,199 a month and BYOC starting at $1,599 a month; both list a first 14 days free.