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Business Intelligence · head to head

Glean vs Restate

Glean logo

Glean

Business Intelligence

Work AI that Works

From
On request
Free plan
No
Visit GleanFull review
Restate logo

Restate

Developer Tools

Durable execution engine in Rust with a free tier and low-latency workflows

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit RestateFull review

The short version

  • Restate starts at $300/mo; Glean prices on request.
  • Where Glean falls short: no pricing published on website; enterprise sales model requires demo request.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Glean and Restate actually diverge.

Attributes where Glean and Restate differ
AttributeGleanRestate
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelQuotePer month by durable action count
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebLinux, macOS, Web
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceDeveloper Tools

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 Glean

Nothing recorded that Restate does not also cover.

Only in Restate

  • Durable execution
  • Virtual objects
  • Single binary runtime
  • Multi-language SDKs
  • Workflows and sagas
  • Restate Cloud

What people use each for

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

Glean

  • Onboarding new employees across distributed teams to company knowledgenot Restate
  • Maintaining centralized searchable intranet for compliance requirementsnot Restate
  • Surfacing historical archived content for editorial and sales teamsnot Restate
  • Creating AI agents through natural language without engineersnot Restate
  • Reducing language model costs by filtering unnecessary datanot Restate

Restate

  • Payment or order flows where a crash between two external API calls must not double-charge or lose the ordernot Glean
  • AI agent loops that call tools over minutes or hours and must survive a deployment mid-runnot Glean
  • Replacing hand-rolled retry, idempotency key and outbox code across a set of microservicesnot Glean
  • A small team that wants durable workflows without operating a Temporal cluster and its databasenot Glean

Where each one falls short

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

Glean

  • No pricing published on website; enterprise sales model requires demo request

Restate

  • The runtime is under a Business Source Licence rather than an open source licence, so building a competing managed offering on it is prohibited and some procurement functions will reject it on licence grounds alone
  • Restate Cloud jumps from a free fifty thousand actions straight to 300 US dollars a month for twenty million, so a workload sitting at a few hundred thousand actions pays enterprise-shaped money for hobby-shaped volume
  • It is a young project against Temporal’s established base, so hiring engineers who already know it is unrealistic and the answer to most questions is in the docs rather than on Stack Overflow
  • The programming model requires structuring code around durable handlers and virtual objects, which is a genuine rewrite for existing services rather than a library you add
  • The single-binary simplicity that makes small deployments cheap also means fewer operational knobs at very large scale than a system designed as separable components

Pricing, plan by plan

Glean

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Glean review.

Restate

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Fifty thousand durable actions per month
    • No credit card required
    • Community support
  • Starter$300/mo
    • Twenty million actions per month
    • Two hundred actions per second, bursting to one thousand
    • Twenty GB storage
  • Pro$1,000/mo
    • Fifty million actions per month
    • Five hundred actions per second, bursting to two thousand
    • Fifty GB storage
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Negotiated volume
    • Twenty-four seven P0 support
    • 99.99 per cent SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose Glean if

Nothing in the data separates Glean from Restate on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Glean review

Choose Restate if

  • You need durable execution.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Web.
  • You also want virtual objects.
Restate review

Questions people ask

Is Glean or Restate better?
Neither clearly leads. Glean starts at On request and Restate at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Glean or Restate?
Restate has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Glean and Free for Restate.
Does Glean or Restate run on more platforms?
Glean runs on Web. Restate runs on Linux, macOS, Web.
Can I use Restate for free?
Yes. Restate has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Glean starts at On request.
What is Glean best used for?
Glean is most often used for onboarding new employees across distributed teams to company knowledge, maintaining centralized searchable intranet for compliance requirements, surfacing historical archived content for editorial and sales teams, creating ai agents through natural language without engineers. Of those, onboarding new employees across distributed teams to company knowledge and maintaining centralized searchable intranet for compliance requirements are not what Restate is typically brought in for.
What can Glean do that Restate cannot?
Restate covers Durable execution, Virtual objects, Single binary runtime, Multi-language SDKs.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Glean: How much does Glean cost?

Glean does not publish pricing on its website. The platform uses an enterprise sales model where customers request a demo and pricing is determined through direct consultation with the sales team.

Source
Restate: Is Restate open source?

The SDKs are MIT. The runtime is under a Business Source Licence, which permits self-hosting but not offering it as a competing service.

Glean: Does Glean offer a free tier or trial?

No free tier information is available on Glean's website. Interested users must request a demo to learn about trial options and pricing.

Source
Restate: How does it compare with Temporal?

Same problem, different shape: one Rust binary with embedded storage instead of a server plus database plus workers, and lower per-step latency.

Restate: Is there a free tier?

Yes, fifty thousand durable actions a month on Restate Cloud with no card required.

Restate: Which languages are supported?

TypeScript, Java, Kotlin, Go, Python and Rust.

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