Cadence vs Google Cloud Workflows
Cadence
cadenceworkflow.io
Google Cloud Workflows
cloud.google.comSide by side
| Figure | Cadence | Google Cloud Workflows |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $0.01/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 6 |
| Spec score · Process Orchestration Software | 8.0 (#9) | 8.8 (#6) |
| Spec score · Workflow Orchestration Software | 8.0 (#15) | 8.8 (#7) |
| Security | TLS is configurable on backing service connections, and SDK connections to the frontend support mutual TLS. | Workflows runs in a sandboxed environment without code or library dependencies that require security patches, and it can use Secret Manager to store and retrieve secrets. |
| Support | The project points users to Stack Overflow, CNCF Slack, GitHub Issues, and community contributors for support. | Google Cloud customers, including free trial customers, receive Basic Support with documentation, community forums, billing assistance, and Active Assist. |
| What it does | Cadence is an open-source workflow engine for building fault-tolerant, stateful distributed applications. | Google Cloud Workflows orchestrates Google Cloud services, custom Cloud Run services or functions, and HTTP APIs into serverless applications and pipelines without infrastructure management. |
Plans
Google Cloud Workflows
- Always FreeFree
- Always Free external stepsFree
- Always Free internal stepsFree
- Internal steps$0.01 a month
- Pay as you go$0.01 a month
- External steps$0.03 a month
In their own words
Cadence
Cadence has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Google Cloud Workflows
Google Cloud Workflows is a managed orchestration platform for running Google Cloud services, custom services, and HTTP APIs in a chosen sequence. Workflow definitions use YAML or JSON and can combine ordered steps with conditions, loops, parallel work, and reusable subworkflows. Start an execution manually, through client libraries or REST, or on a schedule with Cloud Scheduler. Connectors link workflows to Google Cloud APIs such as Pub/Sub, Firestore, and Secret Manager, while workflow steps can also call custom or private HTTP and HTTPS endpoints. Reliability features include retries, polling, error handling, callbacks, and waits of up to one year. A single execution can run up to 100,000 steps and last no more than one year. IAM controls access; Secret Manager can store and retrieve secrets. Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring surface execution logs, volume, errors, and duration. Pricing is based on executed steps, including failed and retried steps, while idle workflows incur no charges. The free plan includes 5,000 internal and 2,000 external steps; paid usage starts at $0.01 per month, with rates that vary by step type and volume.