Windmill vs Kestra

Comprehensive side-by-side comparison — features, pricing, performance, and more.

Data last refreshed October 2026

Windmill

Windmill Labs

Code-first orchestration platform for internal software

Open Source

86% verification coverage

Kestra

Kestra Technologies

One orchestrator for every workflow, from data to AI.

Open Source

78% verification coverage

Trust & Reliability

Windmill

Users:1K-10K

Customers (per vendor):Zoom, Kahoot, Investing.com +7

GDPR

SOC 2

HIPAA

Kestra

Customers (per vendor):JPMorgan Chase, Bloomberg, Apple +6

GDPR

SOC 2

Overall Winner: Windmill

8.0/10 vs Kestra at 7.0/10

Leads in:

Customization

Support

Compliance & Data Protection

Scores are AI-estimated from publicly available data — not an independent test or a verified user rating. How we rank →

AI Comparison Summary

Windmill

8.0

avg score

Kestra

7.0

avg score

Windmill leads overall — particularly in Compliance & Data Protection and Performance.

Based on 6 dimensions

Scores are AI-estimated from publicly available data — not an independent test or a verified user rating. How we rank →

Overall Winner

Windmill

8.0 / 10

Windmill

Best For

Engineers seeking full code flexibility and control over infrastructure

Teams building and collaborating on internal software

Organizations needing to automate business-critical tasks and automations

Companies requiring self-hostable orchestration for data pipelines and AI workflows

Kestra

Best For

Data Engineers building and managing reliable data pipelines

Software Engineers automating CI/CD and operational workflows

Platform Engineers standardizing infrastructure automation

Mid-market to Enterprise companies needing cross-cloud ETL

* Verdict is based on our algorithmic scoring of publicly available data. Learn about our methodology

Windmill is best for

🎧Customer Support8.0🤖Automation & Agents7.2✍️Writing & Content6.0

Kestra is best for

🎧Customer Support9.0🤖Automation & Agents7.7💻Coding & Dev6.0

Filter by your use case:

Limitations

Windmill

Cons

Free and Open-source tier has a 10 GiB workspace object storage quota
Free and Open-source tier limits email triggers to 100 emails per day
Free and Open-source tier does not include Oracle DB and MS SQL runtimes
Free and Open-source tier lacks advanced observability features like audit logs and unlimited job run retention
Free and Open-source tier does not support SAML & SCIM for SSO

Kestra

Cons

SCIM directory sync is not available in Kestra Cloud
External secrets managers are not available in Kestra Cloud
Read-only vault access is not available in Kestra Cloud
Worker isolation is not available in Open Source edition
Audit logs are not available in Open Source edition
Policies are not available in Open Source edition

Weighted Score — Adjust What Matters to You

Pick a profile or drag sliders — scores and radar update instantly on the right.

Quick profiles:

Ease of Use5

Customization5

Support5

Integration5

Compliance & Data Protection5

Performance5

Planning Quality5

Dimension Comparison

Windmill

8.0

/ 10

Clear winner

Kestra

7.0

/ 10

Dimension Breakdown

Ease of Use

How intuitive is onboarding, UI navigation, and day-to-day usage for the target audience?

Windmill

3.0

Kestra

4.0▲ +1.0

Customization

Calculated

How much can users tailor workflows, settings, prompts, or outputs to their needs?

Windmill

10.0▲ +1.0

Kestra

9.0

Support

How strong is the documentation, customer support, community, and learning resources?

Windmill

10.0▲ +1.0

Kestra

9.0

Integration

Calculated

How well does it connect with other tools, APIs, and workflows?

Windmill

9.0

Kestra

9.0

Compliance & Data Protection

Calculated

Compliance certifications and data-protection posture, counted from ten verified signals: SOC 2 Type II, GDPR compliance, HIPAA, WCAG AA/AAA, PII redaction, licensed-only training, a published sub-processor list, a downloadable DPA, not training on user data, and a documented deletion path

Windmill

8.0▲ +2.0

Kestra

6.0

Performance

Calculated

Latency + throughput speed

Windmill

8.0▲ +3.0

Kestra

5.0

Planning Quality

Calculated

Multi-step planning depth + replanning capability

Windmill

—

Kestra

—

Calculated = derived from structured signals (integration count, API/open-source config, compliance certs, response-time). AI = LLM-assessed from public website content. Methodology

Task Performance

Windmill

Task

Kestra

9.0

Workflow Building

9.0

10.0

Trigger Variety

9.0

8.0

Action Library

10.0

9.0

Error Handling

8.0

9.0

Scheduling Capability

9.0

Conditional Logic

8.0

9.0

Api Connectivity

9.0

Monitoring Logging

8.0

9.0

Multi Step Chains

9.0

7.0

Autonomous Execution

7.0

Api Management

6.0

8.0

Ci Cd Integration

9.0

* Task scores (1–10) are algorithmically generated from publicly available data.

Data is sourced from public information and vendor websites. It may not always be up-to-date — verify pricing and features directly with the vendor before purchasing.Report inaccuracy

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main differences between Windmill and Kestra?

Windmill — "Code-first orchestration platform for internal software". Kestra — "One orchestrator for every workflow, from data to AI". The Features section on this page compares them side by side.

Who is Windmill best for compared with Kestra?

Windmill is best for Engineers seeking full code flexibility and control over infrastructure; and for Teams building and collaborating on internal software. Kestra is best for Data Engineers building and managing reliable data pipelines; and for Software Engineers automating CI/CD and operational workflows.

How does the pricing of Windmill compare with Kestra?

Windmill is open source, includes a free plan, paid plans start at $120/month. Kestra is open source, includes a free plan. Always verify current pricing with the vendor.

Does Windmill or Kestra have a free plan?

Windmill is open source. Kestra is open source. Always verify current pricing with the vendor.

Do Windmill and Kestra offer an API?

Windmill offers a public API. Kestra offers a public API.

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