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Restate vs Xata

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
Xata logo

Xata

Databases

Apache 2.0 platform for running many Postgres instances on Kubernetes, with copy-on-write branching and scale-to-zero.

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit XataFull review

The short version

  • Free plans on both; paid from $300/mo and $1/mo.
  • Only Restate lists durable execution; only Xata lists copy-on-write branching.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Restate and Xata actually diverge.

Attributes where Restate and Xata differ
AttributeRestateXata
Pricing modelPer month by durable action countUsage-based
PlatformsLinux, macOS, WebWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDatabases

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

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 Xata

  • Copy-on-write branching
  • Scale-to-zero compute
  • Compute autoscaling and bin-packing
  • High availability with failover
  • Point-in-time recovery
  • Serverless driver
  • pgroll migrations
  • pgstream replication

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 Xata
  • AI agent loops that call tools over minutes or hours and must survive a deployment mid-runnot Xata
  • Replacing hand-rolled retry, idempotency key and outbox code across a set of microservicesnot Xata
  • A small team that wants durable workflows without operating a Temporal cluster and its databasenot Xata

Xata

  • Giving every pull request or coding agent its own branch of the production database, with real data volumes rather than a seeded fixturenot Restate
  • Running managed-Postgres economics in your own cloud account where data residency or compliance rules out a third-party control planenot Restate
  • Consolidating many small, mostly idle Postgres databases onto shared infrastructure where scale-to-zero and bin-packing recover the idle costnot Restate
  • Testing a destructive migration against a copy of production without waiting for a full restore or paying for a duplicate of the storagenot 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

Xata

  • Self-hosting means operating Kubernetes and CloudNativePG, so the Apache 2.0 licence removes the vendor bill but replaces it with a platform team, and a database platform is not something a part-time operator maintains safely
  • Copy-on-write branches are cheap to create but diverge as they are written to, so a long-lived branch carrying a heavy backfill quietly accumulates real storage and the cost arrives later than the decision that caused it
  • Scale-to-zero means the first connection after an idle period pays a cold start, which is invisible in a busy production database and very visible in a demo, a staging environment or a cron job that runs once an hour
  • The Xata sold before 2025 was a different product, a proprietary API and SDK layered over Postgres, so tutorials, blog posts and SDK examples from that era describe something that no longer exists and existing users had to migrate
  • As a managed service it competes with RDS, Aurora and Cloud SQL, and it is a much smaller company, so procurement, certification coverage and the depth of the support bench behind a 3am corruption incident are all weaker than the incumbent even though the underlying Postgres is the same

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Xata

Free
  • Free TrialFree
    • 14 days free
    • No credit card required
  • Usage-Based$1
    • 1,000 branches for $1
    • Scale-to-zero compute model
    • Branches hibernate when idle

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 Xata if

  • You need copy-on-write branching.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want scale-to-zero compute.
Xata review

Questions people ask

Is Restate or Xata better?
Neither clearly leads. Restate starts at Free and Xata at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Restate or Xata?
Restate starts at Free and Xata at Free.
Does Restate or Xata run on more platforms?
Restate runs on Linux, macOS, Web. Xata 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 Xata is typically brought in for.
What can Restate do that Xata cannot?
Restate covers Durable execution, Virtual objects, Single binary runtime, Multi-language SDKs. Xata covers Copy-on-write branching, Scale-to-zero compute, Compute autoscaling and bin-packing, High availability with failover.

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.

Xata: Is it real Postgres or a compatible reimplementation?

Real Postgres. It runs upstream Postgres instances on Kubernetes via CloudNativePG, so extensions, the wire protocol and version upgrades behave as they do anywhere else.

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.

Xata: Can I self-host the whole thing?

Yes. The platform is Apache 2.0 and designed for self-hosting a large number of Postgres instances on your own Kubernetes. Xata Cloud is the same platform run as a service.

Restate: Is there a free tier?

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

Xata: Does branching copy my data?

No. Branches are copy-on-write at the storage layer, so creating one is near-instant regardless of database size and storage is only consumed as the branch diverges from its parent.

Restate: Which languages are supported?

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

Xata: Is this the same Xata I used a couple of years ago?

No. The earlier product was a proprietary database API with its own SDK and search layer. The current product is a Postgres platform, and material written for the old one does not apply.

Xata: What happens to a branch when the parent changes?

A branch is a point-in-time fork. Later changes on the parent are not propagated, so long-lived branches drift and need to be recreated rather than refreshed if you want current data.

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