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Developer Tools · head to head

Dagger vs Koyeb

Dagger logo

Dagger

Developer Tools

Programmable CI/CD engine that runs your pipeline as containers on any runner

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Koyeb logo

Koyeb

Cloud

High-performance serverless infrastructure for APIs, inference, and databases

From
$29/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Dagger has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Dagger dagger is not a CI provider, so you keep paying for GitHub Actions or GitLab runners underneath it; the Dagger Cloud subscription is an addition to your CI bill, not a replacement for it.; Koyeb pricing starts at $29/month with additional compute costs
  • They diverge on capability: Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Koyeb covers Serverless containers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dagger and Koyeb actually diverge.

Attributes where Dagger and Koyeb differ
AttributeDaggerKoyeb
Starting priceFree$29/month
Pricing modelPer month per team for Dagger CloudUnknown
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, Self-hostedWeb, CLI, API
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCloud

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Dagger

  • Pipelines as code
  • Local and CI parity
  • Content-addressed caching
  • Dagger Functions and modules
  • CI-provider agnostic
  • Dagger Cloud traces
  • GitHub Checks integration
  • Container-native execution

Only in Koyeb

  • Serverless containers
  • GPU support
  • Global distribution
  • Multi-protocol support
  • Serverless Postgres
  • Zero-downtime deployments

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Dagger

  • A platform team maintaining near-identical build YAML across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls insteadnot Koyeb
  • An engineering organisation migrating off a CI provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migrationnot Koyeb
  • A team whose engineers waste hours pushing commits to debug CI-only failures and needs to reproduce the exact run locallynot Koyeb
  • A monorepo where most commits touch a small subset of services and cache-accurate step skipping cuts build minutes materiallynot Koyeb

Koyeb

  • Deploying AI inference models globally with GPU accelerationnot Dagger
  • Building SaaS platforms with automatic scalingnot Dagger
  • Running distributed AI agents and background workersnot Dagger

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Dagger

  • Dagger is not a CI provider, so you keep paying for GitHub Actions or GitLab runners underneath it; the Dagger Cloud subscription is an addition to your CI bill, not a replacement for it.
  • Writing pipelines in Go or TypeScript raises the barrier to entry: a release engineer who could edit a YAML step now needs to read code, and the people who can fix a broken build shrink to those comfortable with the SDK.
  • The engine runs as a container on the runner and needs a persistent cache volume to deliver its main benefit, so ephemeral CI runners give you correctness without the speed, and provisioning durable cache storage is extra platform work.
  • The Team plan caps at ten users and ten million events per month; an organisation of any size crosses that quickly and moves to Enterprise pricing that is not published, so cost at scale is unknowable up front.
  • The module ecosystem is young and thinly maintained relative to the marketplace of a mature CI provider, so integrations that exist as a one-line Action often have to be written yourself as a Dagger function.

Koyeb

  • Pricing starts at $29/month with additional compute costs
  • GPU compute is expensive at $0.75-$2.50 per hour
  • Limited customization for infrastructure configuration

Pricing, plan by plan

Dagger

Free
  • IndividualFree
    • One user
    • One million events per month
    • Workflow logs and function call traces
  • Team$50/month
    • Up to ten users
    • Ten million events per month
    • Module insights and module catalogue
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom user and event limits
    • SSO
    • Managed single-tenant deployment

Koyeb

$29/month
  • Pro$29/month
    • $10 included compute
    • 10 users
    • 100 services
  • Scale$299/month
    • $100 included compute
    • 50 users
    • 1,000 services
  • Enterprise$1000/month
    • Unlimited users
    • Custom resources
    • SSO/RBAC

Which should you pick?

Choose Dagger if

  • You need pipelines as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
  • You also want local and ci parity.
Dagger review

Choose Koyeb if

  • You need serverless containers.
  • You work on Web, CLI, API.
  • You also want gpu support.
Koyeb review

Questions people ask

Is Dagger or Koyeb better?
Neither clearly leads. Dagger starts at Free and Koyeb at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dagger or Koyeb?
Dagger has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Dagger and $29/month for Koyeb.
Does Dagger or Koyeb run on more platforms?
Dagger runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted. Koyeb runs on Web, CLI, API.
Can I use Dagger for free?
Yes. Dagger has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Koyeb starts at $29/month.
What is Dagger best used for?
Dagger is most often used for a platform team maintaining near-identical build yaml across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls instead, an engineering organisation migrating off a ci provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migration, a team whose engineers waste hours pushing commits to debug ci-only failures and needs to reproduce the exact run locally, a monorepo where most commits touch a small subset of services and cache-accurate step skipping cuts build minutes materially. Of those, a platform team maintaining near-identical build yaml across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls instead and an engineering organisation migrating off a ci provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migration are not what Koyeb is typically brought in for.
What can Dagger do that Koyeb cannot?
Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Local and CI parity, Content-addressed caching, Dagger Functions and modules. Koyeb covers Serverless containers, GPU support, Global distribution, Multi-protocol support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dagger: Does Dagger replace GitHub Actions?

No. Dagger runs inside GitHub Actions or any other CI. It replaces the YAML that describes your pipeline steps, not the trigger and runner layer.

Koyeb: What are Koyeb's subscription plans?

Pro plan is $29/month with $10 included compute, Scale plan is $299/month with $100 included compute and 99.9% SLA, and Enterprise starts at $1,000/month with unlimited users and 99.99% SLA.

Source
Dagger: Is the engine open source?

Yes, the Dagger engine and SDKs are open source and free. Dagger Cloud, the observability product, is what costs money.

Koyeb: How much does GPU compute cost?

GPU pricing is per-second: RTX-A6000 costs $0.75/hour, A100 costs $1.60/hour, H100 costs $2.50/hour, and 8x H100 costs $20.00/hour.

Source
Dagger: What is an event in the pricing?

Dagger Cloud meters pipeline telemetry events. One million per month is free; the Team plan at 50 USD per month allows ten million.

Koyeb: What database options are available?

Koyeb offers serverless Postgres starting at free (0.25 vCPU, 1GB RAM) up to 3XL at $1.28/hour with 8 vCPU and 32GB RAM. Storage costs $0.50/month per GB.

Source
Dagger: Can I run the same pipeline on my laptop?

Yes, that is the main reason teams adopt it. The dagger CLI executes the identical graph locally, so CI-only failures become reproducible.

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