Dagster
Orchestration platform for data assets
The Lens
Instead of defining tasks and dependencies, you define data assets (the things your pipelines produce) and Dagster figures out what needs to run and when.
What's free: The open source orchestrator is fully free. Apache 2.0 license. All core features included: asset definitions, scheduling, sensors, partitions, IO managers.
The asset-based approach is Dagster's real innovation. Instead of thinking 'run task A then task B,' you think 'I need this dataset to be fresh.' Dagster handles the rest. The local development experience is excellent. Run `dagster dev` and you get a full UI instantly. Testing data pipelines is actually pleasant, which is rare.
The catch: Dagster Cloud is where they make money, and some features nudge you toward it. The open source version requires you to manage your own deployment (Kubernetes, Docker, or a daemon). The community is smaller than Airflow's, so you'll find fewer Stack Overflow answers. And if your team already knows Airflow, the mental model shift to asset-based thinking takes real effort.
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Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid
open core### What's Free The full Dagster orchestrator. Assets, schedules, sensors, partitions, IO managers, the Dagit UI, all integrations (dbt, Spark, Snowflake, etc.). Apache 2.0 license.
### Dagster Cloud (Managed) - **Serverless**: $0 for first 30 days, then usage-based. ~$100-400/mo for moderate workloads. - **Hybrid**: You provide compute, Dagster provides orchestration UI and metadata. Custom pricing starting ~$500/mo. - **Enterprise**: SSO, audit logs, dedicated support. Custom pricing.
### Self-Hosting Cost - **Development**: `dagster dev` on your laptop. $0. - **Production**: Kubernetes deployment or Docker Compose. Budget $40-100/mo for infrastructure (2-4GB RAM VPS or small K8s cluster). - **At scale**: Kubernetes with separate daemon, webserver, and run workers. $200-500/mo infrastructure.
### The Math vs Airflow Dagster is lighter than Airflow at small scale. A single VPS can run Dagster comfortably where Airflow needs a scheduler, webserver, worker, database, and message broker. At 20 pipelines: Dagster self-hosted ~$50/mo vs Airflow self-hosted ~$80-100/mo.
### When to Pay Dagster Cloud makes sense when: you don't want to manage Kubernetes, you need the serverless execution model, or your team is 5+ engineers sharing pipelines. Self-host when: you have K8s expertise and cost matters.
Open source is fully free. Self-host for $40-100/mo. Dagster Cloud starts ~$100/mo serverless -- worth it if you don't want to manage infrastructure.
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