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Developer Tools · head to head

Restate vs Termly

Restate logo

Restate

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Termly logo

Termly

Cybersecurity

Legal policy generator and cookie consent banner for small websites

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Termly a standard plan licenses one website, so an agency or a business with several brand domains multiplies the headline price by the number of sites and the cheap option stops being cheap at four or five domains.
  • They diverge on capability: Restate covers Durable execution, Termly covers Policy generator.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Restate and Termly actually diverge.

Attributes where Restate and Termly differ
AttributeRestateTermly
Pricing modelPer month by durable action countPer website per month
PlatformsLinux, macOS, WebWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Restate

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

Only in Termly

  • Policy generator
  • Automatic policy updates
  • Consent banner
  • Script auto blocker
  • Cookie scanner
  • Consent log
  • WordPress plugin
  • Do not sell handling

What people use each for

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

Restate

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

Termly

  • A small e-commerce shop that needs a privacy policy, terms and a compliant cookie banner before launch without engaging a solicitornot Restate
  • A freelance web developer standardising the legal and consent layer across client sites, buying a licence per site or an agency arrangementnot Restate
  • A WordPress site owner who needs scripts blocked before consent and does not have a tag manager set upnot Restate
  • A US small business newly in scope for a state privacy law that needs a do not sell opt-out on the site quicklynot Restate

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Termly

  • A standard plan licenses one website, so an agency or a business with several brand domains multiplies the headline price by the number of sites and the cheap option stops being cheap at four or five domains.
  • Generated policies are templates conditioned on questionnaire answers, so they describe the data practices you claimed rather than the ones your code performs, and a regulator comparing the policy to actual tracking finds the gap not the vendor.
  • Banner view limits apply on the lower tiers, and a site that spikes in traffic can exhaust its allowance mid month, which is the worst possible moment for consent handling to degrade.
  • It covers websites well but has little for mobile apps, so a company with an iOS and Android app alongside its site needs a second consent mechanism and a second consent record.
  • There is no data mapping, subject rights automation or vendor inventory, so any company that grows into real privacy programme obligations outgrows Termly entirely rather than upgrading within it.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Termly

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1 basic legal policy
    • 10,000 monthly banner views
    • Cookie consent banner
  • Starter$10/month
    • 2 legal policies
    • 10 policy edits
    • 50,000 monthly banner views
  • Pro Plus$15/month
    • Unlimited banner views
    • Additional legal policies
    • Multilingual banners

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Termly if

  • You need policy generator.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want automatic policy updates.
Termly review

Questions people ask

Is Restate or Termly better?
Neither clearly leads. Restate starts at Free and Termly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Restate or Termly?
Restate starts at Free and Termly at Free.
Does Restate or Termly run on more platforms?
Restate runs on Linux, macOS, Web. Termly runs on Web.
Can I use Restate for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Restate best used for?
Restate is most often used for payment or order flows where a crash between two external api calls must not double-charge or lose the order, ai agent loops that call tools over minutes or hours and must survive a deployment mid-run, replacing hand-rolled retry, idempotency key and outbox code across a set of microservices, a small team that wants durable workflows without operating a temporal cluster and its database. Of those, payment or order flows where a crash between two external api calls must not double-charge or lose the order and ai agent loops that call tools over minutes or hours and must survive a deployment mid-run are not what Termly is typically brought in for.
What can Restate do that Termly cannot?
Restate covers Durable execution, Virtual objects, Single binary runtime, Multi-language SDKs. Termly covers Policy generator, Automatic policy updates, Consent banner, Script auto blocker.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Termly: Does one Termly plan cover all my websites?

No. A standard plan licenses one website. Multiple domains need multiple licences or an agency arrangement, and this is the single most common surprise on the bill.

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.

Termly: Are the generated policies legally sufficient?

They are templates conditioned on your answers and are not legal advice. They are proportionate for a simple site and inadequate where actual data flows are complex or regulated.

Restate: Is there a free tier?

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

Termly: Is there a genuinely free plan?

Yes, one basic policy, one site, 10,000 monthly banner views and quarterly cookie scans, with no card required.

Restate: Which languages are supported?

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

Termly: Does it handle US state privacy opt-outs?

Yes, including a do not sell or share mechanism and regional rule sets, alongside GDPR consent for EU visitors.

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