IronWorker vs River

IronWorker is a container-based platform for running custom code as queued, asynchronous background tasks. It supports parallel processing, and jobs can run once, a set number of times or on a recurring schedule. Workers run in Docker containers and support Ruby, Python, PHP, Java,.NET, Node.js and Go. Tasks can be triggered by HTTP POST webhooks, other workers or IronMQ queues; the Iron.io dashboard displays task status and performance. The platform describes SSL connections, isolated Docker sandboxes and OAuth2 for task execution. Deployment choices include shared, dedicated, hybrid and on-premise environments. Listed uses include image and video processing, push notifications, ETL, email delivery and cron replacement. Basic costs nothing and includes five hours per month, one concurrency, 512 MB RAM and a 30-minute runtime. Standard costs $169 a month and includes unlimited hours with ten concurrency. Premium costs $699 a month. A 14-day trial is available only for non-dedicated clusters.

River is a background job queue for Go applications, using PostgreSQL or SQLite to store jobs. Its transactional enqueueing keeps a job from running until the database transaction that inserted it has completed. The core set includes isolated queues, unique jobs, prioritization, recurring cron jobs, snoozing, transactional completion, and test helpers. A web interface, pause and resume controls, automatic retries, error reporting, and telemetry integrations support operations. River UI is optional and self-hosted, with no external service dependencies. PostgreSQL is the primary database target; SQLite support is experimental. River Pro adds workflows that split complex work into individually retryable tasks, plus batching, concurrency limits, and ordered job sequences. The free Open Source plan includes the web UI but excludes workflows, concurrency limits, and support. Pro costs $125 a month and includes email support for up to 20 developers. Enterprise pricing is custom and includes email and Slack support, unlimited developers, and access to a SOC 2 report.