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Developer Tools · head to head

Okteto vs Restate

Okteto logo

Okteto

Developer Tools

Runs production-like development environments on your own Kubernetes cluster

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Restate logo

Restate

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Okteto two of the three plans publish no price at all, with no currency and no billing period stated anywhere, so any budget above five seats requires a sales conversation before you can even compare it with an alternative.; 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.
  • They diverge on capability: Okteto covers Cluster development environments, Restate covers Durable execution.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Okteto and Restate actually diverge.

Attributes where Okteto and Restate differ
AttributeOktetoRestate
Pricing modelquotePer month by durable action count
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, WebLinux, macOS, Web

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Developer 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 Okteto

  • Cluster development environments
  • File synchronisation
  • Development containers
  • Environment catalogue
  • Preview environments
  • Bring your own cloud

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.

Okteto

  • A microservices estate where no developer can run the full dependency graph on a laptopnot Restate
  • Giving each pull request a working environment reviewers can click rather than describenot Restate
  • Letting coding agents build and test against real databases and queues instead of mocksnot Restate
  • Removing a fleet of local Kubernetes installations that drift from production and produce false test resultsnot Restate

Restate

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

Where each one falls short

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

Okteto

  • Two of the three plans publish no price at all, with no currency and no billing period stated anywhere, so any budget above five seats requires a sales conversation before you can even compare it with an alternative.
  • The Apache-2.0 CLI is restricted to the development section of the manifest, so build services, user management and observability all require the commercial platform and the open licence provides very little continuity insurance.
  • The last disclosed funding round is a 15 million US dollar Series A from February 2022 with nothing announced since, and the contributor base is dominated by company employees, which is concentrated risk for something embedded in every developer daily loop.
  • You must bring and pay for the Kubernetes cluster, so node cost, capacity planning and version upgrades stay with your platform team on top of the licence fee.
  • The 2026 repositioning towards AI agents means the classic developer inner loop is no longer what the marketing leads with, so a buyer purchasing that use case should confirm roadmap commitment rather than assume it.

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

Okteto

Free
  • StarterFree
    • 5 seats included
    • Self-hosted deployment into your own cluster
    • Community support
  • Scale$undefined/year
    • Contact sales, no price, currency or billing period published
    • More seats and environments than Starter
    • Self-hosted deployment
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Contact sales, no price published
    • Bring your own cloud deployment
    • Available through Google Cloud and AWS marketplaces

Restate

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Fifty thousand durable actions per month
    • No credit card required
    • Community support
  • Starter$300/month
    • Twenty million actions per month
    • Two hundred actions per second, bursting to one thousand
    • Twenty GB storage
  • Pro$1000/month
    • Fifty million actions per month
    • Five hundred actions per second, bursting to two thousand
    • Fifty GB storage
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated volume
    • Twenty-four seven P0 support
    • 99.99 per cent SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose Okteto if

  • You need cluster development environments.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, Web.
  • You also want file synchronisation.
Okteto 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 Okteto or Restate better?
Neither clearly leads. Okteto starts at Free and Restate at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Okteto or Restate?
Okteto starts at Free and Restate at Free.
Does Okteto or Restate run on more platforms?
Okteto runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, Web. Restate runs on Linux, macOS, Web.
Can I use Okteto for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Okteto best used for?
Okteto is most often used for a microservices estate where no developer can run the full dependency graph on a laptop, giving each pull request a working environment reviewers can click rather than describe, letting coding agents build and test against real databases and queues instead of mocks, removing a fleet of local kubernetes installations that drift from production and produce false test results. Of those, a microservices estate where no developer can run the full dependency graph on a laptop and giving each pull request a working environment reviewers can click rather than describe are not what Restate is typically brought in for.
What can Okteto do that Restate cannot?
Okteto covers Cluster development environments, File synchronisation, Development containers, Environment catalogue. Restate covers Durable execution, Virtual objects, Single binary runtime, Multi-language SDKs.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Okteto: Is Okteto open source?

The CLI is Apache-2.0, but the README states it supports only the development section of the manifest. Everything operationally interesting, including builds, user management and observability, is in the commercial platform.

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.

Okteto: What does it cost?

Only the free Starter tier with five seats is published. Scale and Enterprise are both contact sales, with no price, currency or billing period disclosed on the pricing page.

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.

Okteto: Do I need my own Kubernetes cluster?

Yes. Okteto installs into a cluster you provide and pay for, so capacity, upgrades and node costs remain your responsibility in addition to the licence.

Restate: Is there a free tier?

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

Okteto: How is this different from running Kubernetes locally?

Environments run against the same managed databases, queues and service mesh as production, so a class of failures that only appears in a real cluster is caught before merge rather than after deploy.

Restate: Which languages are supported?

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

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