Pricing Overview
Kestra follows an open-core pricing model built around three tiers: a free open-source edition, a paid Pro plan at $25/month, and a custom-priced Enterprise edition. The open-source version ships under the Apache 2.0 license and includes unlimited workflow executions, 1,200+ plugins, event-driven triggers, and full API access. With over 26,500 GitHub stars and 120,000+ deployments, it ranks among the most actively adopted orchestration platforms in the data engineering space.
We think this structure works well for teams evaluating orchestration tools. You can self-host the open-source edition on Docker or Kubernetes at zero software cost, validate it against your workloads, and upgrade to Pro or Enterprise only when you need features like worker groups, high concurrency controls, or enterprise-grade security. Kestra does not gate core orchestration capabilities behind a paywall, which sets it apart from competitors that restrict connectors or execution volume on free tiers.
Plan Comparison
| Feature | Open Source | Pro ($25/mo) | Enterprise (Custom) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workflow executions | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Plugins & integrations | 1,200+ | 1,200+ | 1,200+ |
| Event-driven triggers | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| YAML declarative flows | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API-first access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Worker Groups & Task Runners | - | Yes | Yes |
| High Concurrency controls | - | Yes | Yes |
| Plugin Versioning | - | Yes | Yes |
| Internal Secret Manager | - | Yes | Yes |
| External Secret Manager | - | - | Yes |
| External Log Aggregators | - | - | Yes |
| SSO / SAML | - | - | Yes |
| RBAC & audit logs | - | - | Yes |
| Multi-tenancy | - | - | Yes |
| Air-gapped deployment | - | - | Yes |
| SLA-backed support | Community | Standard | Dedicated CSM |
The open-source edition covers the full orchestration engine. Pro unlocks operational features for production workloads: worker groups let you route tasks to dedicated infrastructure, high concurrency controls prevent resource contention, and the internal secret manager keeps credentials out of flow definitions. Enterprise adds the governance layer that regulated industries need: SSO, RBAC, audit logs, multi-tenancy, and isolated worker execution across hybrid and air-gapped environments.
Upgrading from Open Source to Enterprise requires only adding a license key to the configuration file and restarting the server. No migration, no rewrites.
Hidden Costs and Considerations
Infrastructure is on you. Kestra runs on your own compute whether self-hosted or on Enterprise. Budget for PostgreSQL (or another supported backend), Docker or Kubernetes cluster costs, and worker node capacity. These scale with execution volume and concurrency.
Plugin ecosystem is free, but downstream tools are not. All 1,200+ Kestra plugins are included at every tier. However, the services they connect to (Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, AWS S3) carry their own costs. Factor in your full stack spend, not just the orchestration layer.
Enterprise pricing is opaque. Kestra does not publish Enterprise pricing. Teams evaluating this tier should request a quote early in the process to avoid budget surprises.
Cost Estimates by Team Size
| Team Size | Recommended Tier | Estimated Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Solo / hobbyist | Open Source | $0 (self-hosted infra only) |
| Small team (2-5 engineers) | Pro | $25/month + infrastructure |
| Mid-size team (6-20 engineers) | Enterprise | Custom quote required |
| Large org (20+ engineers) | Enterprise | Custom quote required |
The $25/month Pro tier is genuinely accessible for small data teams. For a team of three engineers running scheduled ETL and event-driven pipelines, the total cost is $25/month for Kestra plus whatever you spend on compute (a mid-range Kubernetes cluster on AWS typically runs $150-300/month for moderate workloads, though this varies by provider and usage).
How Kestra Pricing Compares
Kestra occupies a different niche than pure data movement tools. Stitch and Hevo Data focus on ELT replication, while Airbyte handles connector-based data integration. Kestra orchestrates workflows across data pipelines, infrastructure automation, and AI operations. Still, they compete for budget in the same data engineering stack.
| Tool | Model | Starting Price | Free Tier | Primary Billing Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kestra | Open Core | $25/month (Pro) | Yes (full OSS) | Features / tier |
| Stitch | Freemium | $25/month | Yes (1 user) | Rows replicated |
| Hevo Data | Freemium | $25/month | Yes (1M rows) | Events processed |
| Airbyte | Freemium | $10/month | Yes (self-hosted) | Connectors / credits |
Kestra's cost advantage is structural. The open-source edition delivers unlimited executions and full plugin access at zero software cost. Airbyte's open-source option is similarly generous for self-hosted deployments but focuses exclusively on data connectors. Stitch and Hevo Data have no self-hosted option at all.
At the $25/month price point, Kestra Pro and Stitch Pro cost the same, but they solve different problems. Kestra Pro gives you production-grade orchestration features (worker groups, concurrency controls, secret management). Stitch Pro gives you managed data replication. Most teams running serious data infrastructure will need both an orchestrator and a connector tool, so these are complementary rather than substitutes.
For teams currently on Apache Airflow, Kestra represents a potential cost reduction. Airflow's Python-only, DAG-centric model requires more engineering overhead to maintain, and managed Airflow services (Astronomer, MWAA) carry higher infrastructure costs than Kestra's lightweight YAML-based approach. The 75% reduction in operational costs that Kestra reports aligns with what we see from teams moving away from complex Python-based orchestration frameworks.