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Automation Integration · head to head

Inngest vs Orkes

Inngest logo

Inngest

Automation Integration

Unbreakable Agents. Invisible Infra.

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Orkes logo

Orkes

Automation Integration

Commercial Conductor, now the maintainer of the workflow engine Netflix archived

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Inngest hobby plans pause execution once free quota exhausted; upgrade required to continue; Orkes netflix archived the Conductor repository in December 2023 and Orkes took over maintenance, so the large-company backing that justified many original adoptions no longer exists.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Inngest and Orkes actually diverge.

Attributes where Inngest and Orkes differ
AttributeInngestOrkes
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
PlatformsWebLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Automation Integration).

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 Inngest

Nothing recorded that Orkes does not also cover.

Only in Orkes

  • JSON workflow definitions
  • Polyglot workers
  • Visual workflow builder
  • AI and LLM tasks
  • Human tasks
  • Event handlers
  • RBAC and secrets
  • Hosted or self-hosted

What people use each for

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

Inngest

  • Handling unpredictable LLM behavior with fine-grained error controlnot Orkes
  • Retrying failed workflow steps independently without restartingnot Orkes
  • Rate limiting per-tenant usage on shared infrastructurenot Orkes
  • Processing thousands of webhooks per event with replay capabilitynot Orkes
  • Persisting state across serverless function invocationsnot Orkes

Orkes

  • A microservices estate that needs orchestration across services written in different languages without a shared SDKnot Inngest
  • A team already running Conductor OSS that wants a supported distribution now that Netflix has stopped maintaining itnot Inngest
  • An AI platform composing agent steps, model calls and vector lookups as versioned workflow definitionsnot Inngest
  • A business process needing human approval steps interleaved with automated service callsnot Inngest

Where each one falls short

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

Inngest

  • Hobby plans pause execution once free quota exhausted; upgrade required to continue
  • Pro plan overages carry tiered metering: additional concurrent steps at $25 per 25, span data at $3/GB, scores at $1.50 per 1K, events at $0.50 per 1M

Orkes

  • Netflix archived the Conductor repository in December 2023 and Orkes took over maintenance, so the large-company backing that justified many original adoptions no longer exists.
  • Enterprise pricing is entirely unpublished, and the only free option is explicitly a prototyping sandbox whose limits can change at any time, so there is no supported low-cost entry point.
  • Self-hosting Conductor OSS in production means operating the engine plus its persistence and indexing dependencies, typically Postgres or Cassandra with Elasticsearch, which is a substantial platform commitment.
  • JSON workflow definitions are language agnostic but verbose and awkward to test, and teams accustomed to defining workflows in code find them a step backwards in developer experience.
  • Orkes is a small company whose commercial future is tied to a single open source project it also maintains, which concentrates both vendor and project risk in the same place.

Pricing, plan by plan

Inngest

Free
  • HobbyFree
    • 50k executions/month
    • 5 concurrent steps
    • 500 MB span data
  • Pro$99/month starting
    • 1M executions included, pay-as-you-go up to 20M
    • 100+ concurrent steps
    • 5 GB span data ingested
  • Enterprise$null/custom
    • customizable metrics
    • 90-day trace retention
    • SAML, RBAC, audit trails

Orkes

Free
  • Developer EditionFree
    • All Conductor OSS features plus enterprise capabilities
    • Sandbox for prototyping only
    • Rate limits and resources may change without notice
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Availability SLA up to 99.99%
    • Orkes-hosted or customer-hosted deployment
    • Dedicated technical account manager

Which should you pick?

Choose Inngest if

  • You want to start without paying.
Inngest review

Choose Orkes if

  • You need json workflow definitions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want polyglot workers.
Orkes review

Questions people ask

Is Inngest or Orkes better?
Neither clearly leads. Inngest starts at Free and Orkes at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Inngest or Orkes?
Inngest starts at Free and Orkes at Free.
Does Inngest or Orkes run on more platforms?
Inngest runs on Web. Orkes runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
Can I use Inngest for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Inngest best used for?
Inngest is most often used for handling unpredictable llm behavior with fine-grained error control, retrying failed workflow steps independently without restarting, rate limiting per-tenant usage on shared infrastructure, processing thousands of webhooks per event with replay capability. Of those, handling unpredictable llm behavior with fine-grained error control and retrying failed workflow steps independently without restarting are not what Orkes is typically brought in for.
What can Inngest do that Orkes cannot?
Orkes covers JSON workflow definitions, Polyglot workers, Visual workflow builder, AI and LLM tasks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Inngest: How much does Inngest cost?

Inngest offers a free Hobby plan with 50k executions per month and up to 3 users. Pro plans start at $99 per month with 1M executions included and support for up to 15 users. Additional Pro users cost $10 each. Enterprise plans require custom pricing.

Source
Orkes: Does Netflix still maintain Conductor?

No. Netflix archived its repository in December 2023. The open source project continues at conductor-oss under Apache 2.0, maintained by Orkes.

Inngest: Is there a free version of Inngest?

Yes, the Hobby plan is completely free and includes 50k executions per month, 5 concurrent steps, 500 MB span data ingested, 10K scores, 500k events ingested, and support for up to 3 users. Plan changes pause execution once the free quota is exhausted.

Source
Orkes: Is there a free production tier?

No. The Developer Edition is a sandbox that the vendor states is unsuitable for production. Self-hosting Conductor OSS is the free production route.

Inngest: What are the overage costs on Inngest Pro?

Inngest Pro includes 1M executions with additional executions at $0.50 per 1M up to 20M. Span data overages cost $3 per GB, scores at $1.50 per 1K, and events at $0.50 per 1M. Additional concurrent steps cost $25 per 25 steps beyond the included 100+.

Source
Orkes: What does Enterprise cost?

Nothing is published; it is quoted by deployment and support requirements.

Orkes: How does it compare with Temporal?

Conductor uses declarative JSON workflow definitions and external workers; Temporal defines workflows in code. Temporal has the larger community.

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