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Comparison · Infra & APIs

Hatchet vs Windmill

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Hatchet and Windmill — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Hatchet vs Windmill: at a glance

FeatureHatchetWindmill
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score6.37.5
Sparks · 30d10
Top themesdurable execution, serverless, task queues, rate limitingworkflow-automation, ai-agents, devtools, dbt
Last editorial update8h ago1mo ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Hatchet?

Hatchet takes durable tasks serverless, with handlers for Cloudflare Workers, Vercel and Node.

Hatchet's new @hatchet-dev/serverless 0.1.0 runs tasks on Cloudflare Workers, Vercel and Node. An in-engine operator delivers them by signed POST or by an invocation websocket that also carries durable sleeps, waits and child runs. Around it, the engine shipped three patches in a day: DAG replays no longer take an advisory lock, worker shutdown now waits for durable tasks, and status queries use partition pruning. The API now declares 429 with Retry-After on every authenticated call.

Read the full Hatchet trajectory →

What is Windmill?

Windmill is building a full AI-native workflow platform — guest app access, agent evals, dbt runtime, and AI cost tracking shipped in rapid succession.

Windmill is an open-source workflow automation and developer platform that has been adding AI capabilities at an accelerating rate. The last month brought AI agent evaluations (with dataset-based scoring and run comparison), AI usage and cost tracking per user and model, a Plan mode for AI sessions (read-only investigation posture), version history for both AI artifacts and resource values, and nested filter groups for Kafka and WebSocket triggers. The platform now spans workflow orchestration, AI-assisted script writing, and a native dbt runtime.

Read the full Windmill trajectory →

Hatchet vs Windmill: editorial side-by-side

H
Hatchet
INFRA · APIS
6.3

Hatchet takes durable tasks serverless, with handlers for Cloudflare Workers, Vercel and Node.

◆ Current state

Hatchet's new @hatchet-dev/serverless 0.1.0 runs tasks on Cloudflare Workers, Vercel and Node. An in-engine operator delivers them by signed POST or by an invocation websocket that also carries durable sleeps, waits and child runs. Around it, the engine shipped three patches in a day: DAG replays no longer take an advisory lock, worker shutdown now waits for durable tasks, and status queries use partition pruning. The API now declares 429 with Retry-After on every authenticated call.

◆ Where it's heading

Until now, running Hatchet meant running long-lived workers. The serverless package removes that requirement, so durable execution can run where JavaScript teams already deploy. The engine work points the same way: rate limits declared in the spec, safer worker acks, cheaper status queries. Patch cadence is still very high, often several engine tags a day, and much of it fixes durable-task edge cases.

◆ Prediction

Expect quick 0.1.x serverless releases as early users hit edge cases on each platform, and possibly matching Python handlers. More engine patches on durable-task shutdown and replay are likely.

W
Windmill
INFRA · APIS
7.5

Windmill is building a full AI-native workflow platform — guest app access, agent evals, dbt runtime, and AI cost tracking shipped in rapid succession.

◆ Current state

Windmill is an open-source workflow automation and developer platform that has been adding AI capabilities at an accelerating rate. The last month brought AI agent evaluations (with dataset-based scoring and run comparison), AI usage and cost tracking per user and model, a Plan mode for AI sessions (read-only investigation posture), version history for both AI artifacts and resource values, and nested filter groups for Kafka and WebSocket triggers. The platform now spans workflow orchestration, AI-assisted script writing, and a native dbt runtime.

◆ Where it's heading

The pattern across recent releases is clear: Windmill is building the operational infrastructure around AI agents — not just the ability to run them, but the ability to measure, control, audit, and govern them. Agent evals add a testing layer; Plan mode adds a safety posture; cost tracking adds financial visibility; version history adds rollback capability. The guest app access model also introduces a new monetization dimension (4:1 guest-to-seat ratio above 100 free guests). Windmill is positioning as the AI workflow platform for teams that need enterprise-grade controls.

◆ Prediction

The eval framework (currently beta) will likely gain deeper integration with CI/CD and deployment flows. Guest access metering signals that Windmill is building toward consumption-based pricing for external-facing AI apps. Expect tighter integration between the agent evals system and the existing flow editor deployment pipeline.

Alternatives to Hatchet and Windmill

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Hatchet or Windmill.

See all Hatchet alternatives → · See all Windmill alternatives →

Recent activity from Hatchet and Windmill

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 12h agoHatchetPython SDK 1.43.2 parses 429 rate-limit errors
  2. 1d agoHatchetHatchet Serverless 0.1.0: durable tasks on Workers, Vercel, Node ⚡
  3. 1d agoHatchetEngine drops the advisory lock on DAG replays
  4. 1d agoHatchetv0.114.10: fix(ts): worker shutdown waiting for durable tasks correctly (#5346)
  5. 1d agoHatchetv0.114.9: fix(engine): partition pruning for task status update query (#5343)
  6. 1d agoHatchetRuby SDK 0.11.2 fixes Slack OAuth after 429 spec change
  7. 1mo agoWindmillGuest access for apps ⚡
  8. 2mo agoWindmillAI agent evals (beta) ⚡
  9. 2mo agoWindmillAI usage and cost tracking
  10. 2mo agoWindmillApplication default credentials for GCP Pub/Sub triggers
  11. 2mo agoWindmillPlan mode for AI sessions
  12. 2mo agoWindmillNested filter groups and dotted paths in trigger filters

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Hatchet and Windmill?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Windmill is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 6.3), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 1. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Hatchet better than Windmill?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Windmill is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 6.3), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 1. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Hatchet?

Top Hatchet alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Hatchet alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/hatchet for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Windmill?

Top Windmill alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Windmill alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/windmill for the full list with editorial commentary on each.