Metaflow vs Weights & Biases
Metaflow
metaflow.org
Weights & Biases
wandb.aiSide by side
| Figure | Metaflow | Weights & Biases |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $60/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 5 |
| Spec score · ML Experiment Tracking Software | 8.7 (#4) | 8.6 (#5) |
| Spec score · MLOps Platforms | 8.6 (#4) | 8.6 (#5) |
| Deployment | Workflows can be deployed to production with one command and can react to events. | W&B offers multi-tenant SaaS, isolated dedicated cloud and customer-managed cloud or on-premises deployments. |
| Integrations | Documented integrations include AWS Batch, AWS Step Functions, Kubernetes, Argo Workflows, and Apache Airflow. | W&B is designed to integrate with customers' ML stacks and tools and offers managed or self-managed deployment choices. |
| Licence | Metaflow is open source under the Apache License 2.0. | The wandb client repository is released under the MIT License, while the hosted W&B service is commercial. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.5 out of 5 from 3 reviews | 4.5 out of 5 from 72 reviews |
| Self-hosting | Scaling and production features require deployment into the customer’s cloud account or Kubernetes cluster using infrastructure templates. | Self-hosting requires Docker and Python and can run on Linux, macOS or Windows; customers manage their own storage and backups. |
| Support | The documentation points users to the Metaflow Slack community for help. | Support tiers are Standard, Standard Plus and Premium; Premium adds 24/7 coverage, faster response targets, roadmap sessions and engineering access. |
| What it does | Metaflow is a Python library for developing, deploying and operating data-intensive data-science, machine-learning and AI applications. | Weights & Biases is an AI developer platform for building, training, fine-tuning, evaluating and managing AI models and applications. |
Plans
Weights & Biases
- FreeFree
- PersonalFree
- Pro$60 a month
- Advanced EnterprisePriced on request
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Metaflow
Metaflow is a free, open-source Python library for developing, deploying, and operating data-intensive data science, machine learning, and AI applications. It automatically tracks flows, experiments, and artifacts, and supports local workflow construction and testing. For larger workloads, it can use compute in a customer’s cloud account or Kubernetes clusters. Documented integrations include AWS Batch, AWS Step Functions, Kubernetes, Argo Workflows, and Apache Airflow. Deployments can use AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, or on-premises clusters; artifact storage options include AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage, and Google Cloud Storage. The Python package runs on macOS and Linux, while Metaflow Sandbox offers free browser access to cloud and Kubernetes stacks. The project is licensed under Apache License 2.0, and its own-cloud model can use existing infrastructure and security policies. A local-only setup does not support external compute scaling or production-grade deployments. Metaflow is aimed at data scientists and ML or AI engineers; its documentation says it offers little benefit for small notebook experiments without scaling, criticality, or complexity needs.
Weights & Biases
Weights & Biases has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.