Trigger.dev vs Napkin
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Trigger.dev and Napkin.
Quick Verdict
4.0/5
Trigger.dev
0 reviews
3.5/5
Napkin
0 reviews
Trigger.dev is rated higher (4.0 vs 3.5). Trigger.dev is an open-source background job and workflow platform for TypeScript developers. Run long tasks, cron jobs, and event-driven workflows. Self-hostable or cloud. Napkin lets you write and run Node.js and Python serverless functions directly in the browser with zero setup, deploying them as authenticated HTTP endpoints.
Trigger.dev Open-source background jobs for TypeScript | Napkin Write and deploy Node.js and Python functions as HTTP endpoints from a browser editor | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.0 (0 reviews)✓ | 3.5 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | TypeScript teams running work that exceeds serverless timeouts — AI agent loops with human approval steps, long LLM chains, media/document processing and multi-tenant background jobs with per-tenant concurrency. | Developers who need an HTTP endpoint today — webhooks, bots, scheduled automations, and prototypes — without opening a cloud console or running infrastructure. |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | 0 vCPU | — |
| RAM | 0 GB | — |
| Storage | — | — |
| Bandwidth | — | — |
| SLA uptime | — | — |
| Data-center count | — | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceself hostableapi access | free tier |
| Visit Trigger.dev → | Visit Napkin → | |
Trigger.dev
Pros
- + No-timeout task execution with checkpointed waits that bill nothing and hold no concurrency slot
- + Apache 2.0 licensed with a documented Docker self-hosting path — real escape hatch from the cloud pricing
- + Fully published rate card: monthly tiers as credits, per-second compute by machine size, per-run fee
- + TypeScript-first DX: tasks in your repo, versioned atomic deploys, replay-from-failure, OpenTelemetry on every run
- + Generous free tier ($5/month credits, 20 concurrent runs, unlimited tasks) for evaluation and side projects
Cons
- - Pro overages stack fast (seats $20/month above 25; concurrency, schedules, branches and connections all metered)
- - Hobby has no overage path — hitting a ceiling forces the jump to the $50 plan
- - Compliance features (SOC 2 report, SSO, RBAC, pentest report) are Enterprise-gated; no published uptime SLA on cloud plans
- - TypeScript/Node-centric; no no-code surface and thin support for other runtimes
- - Young vendor with a shifting product identity; docs and community content span multiple product generations
Napkin
Pros
- + Genuinely free plan: $0/month with 25,000 API calls, unlimited functions, custom domains, and team invites
- + One-click deploy from a browser editor — Node.js and Python, no cloud console or CLI required
- + Clear published limits: 500 MB/0.5 vCPU free (2 GB/2 vCPU Pro), 15s/30s timeouts, explicit rate caps
- + Endpoint SSL, auth, production logs, and scheduled triggers included on both tiers
- + Pro tier is capacity-only at $10 per user per month — no feature gating, no sales call
Cons
- - No published SLA, regions, or data residency; small-vendor reliability story
- - Free tier caps at 5 requests/second and a 15-second timeout — real design constraints
- - Browser-only workflow with no local development story and no obvious export path
- - Node.js and Python only — no Go, Rust, PHP, or Ruby runtimes
- - Stale limit figures circulate on marketing and third-party pages, so verify before budgeting
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