Windmill
by Windmill
Build internal tools, workflows, and scripts with a visual flow builder and auto-generated UIs Windmill is an open-source developer platform for building internal tools, scripts, workflows, and small applications. Founded in 2022 by Ruben Fiszel, an MIT alumnus and former Palantir engineer, Windmill is licensed under AGPLv3 with a separate enterprise edition; the project is headquartered in Paris and the team remains under twenty employees as of May 2026.
Performance Scores
8 rankings evaluated
Score range: 7.0 – 8.8
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#1Best ETL & Data Pipeline Tools 2026
Score: 8.5 · Best for: Code-first multi-language data workflows with enterprise orchestration
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#3Best Open Source Automation Platforms 2026
Score: 8.4 · Best for: Best for: engineering teams who prefer code-first automation and internal tool building
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#3Best Automation Tools for Developers and Engineering Teams in 2026
Score: 8.8 · Best for: Engineering teams wanting multi-language workflow-as-code with self-hosting
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#5Best Durable Workflow Engines for Production in 2026
Score: 7.6 · Best for: Platform engineering teams that want code-first orchestration plus internal-tools UIs in one platform
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#5Best AI Coding Tools and Developer Assistants 2026
Score: 7.0 · Best for: Developer teams building internal automation scripts with AI assistance
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#5Best Open-Source Workflow Engines for Engineers in 2026
Score: 7.6 · Best for: Engineering teams building internal tools and workflows who want polyglot scripting with minimal operational burden
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#6Best Process Orchestration Platforms 2026
Score: 7.2 · Best for: Developer teams wanting script-based workflows with UI generation
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#6Best Automation Tools by Price-Performance Value in 2026
Score: 8.3 · Best for: Developer teams running code-heavy data pipelines and internal tooling
Key Facts
General
| Attribute | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Script Languages | Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL, GraphQL | Apr 2026 | Research |
| Built-in Scheduler | Supports scheduling and triggers for workflows | Apr 2026 | Research |
| Git Sync | Integrates with Git for version control | Apr 2026 | Research |
| Secret Management | Securely manages secrets and credentials | Apr 2026 | Research |
| Worker Groups | Scalable worker groups for job processing | Apr 2026 | Research |
Core Features
Limits & Quotas
| Attribute | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto-Generated UIs | Generates UIs for scripts automatically | Apr 2026 | Research |
community
| Attribute | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars (May 2026) | 12,400+ stars | May 2026 | Windmill GitHub repository |
pricing
| Attribute | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud pricing (May 2026) | $10 per month per author with 1,000 free executions | May 2026 | Windmill pricing page |
technical
| Attribute | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supported languages | TypeScript (Deno, Bun), Python, Go, Bash, PowerShell, SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL, BigQuery, Snowflake) | May 2026 | Windmill documentation |
Strengths
- ●Multi-language support
- ●Native scheduling and orchestration
- ●Self-hostable with scaling
- ●Built-in approval flows
- ●Multi-language support (TS/Python/Go/Bash/SQL)
- ●Auto-generated UIs from scripts
- ●Built in Rust (fast)
- ●Kubernetes-native
- ●Strong developer experience
- ●AGPLv3 license
- ●Six language support (TS Python Go Bash SQL GraphQL)
- ●Workflow-as-code with clean Git export
- ●Built-in scheduling and approval flows
- ●Multi-language script runner: TypeScript, Python, Go, Bash, SQL in one platform
- ●Built-in approval steps and retry semantics on flows
- ●Apache 2.0 license with an active community and a growing connector library
- ●Doubles as an internal-tools UI builder for back-office apps
- ●Open-source self-hosted
- ●AI script generation
- ●Multi-language support (TypeScript/Python/Go/Bash)
- ●Built-in scheduling and flow orchestration
- ●Multi-language scripting — TypeScript, Python, Go, Bash, SQL — in the same workflow
- ●Auto-generated UIs for every script reduce boilerplate for internal tools
- ●Lightweight Deno and Bun runtimes offer fast cold starts compared to containerized engines
- ●Simple Docker Compose deployment — runs as a handful of containers without Kubernetes
- ●Multi-language (TS, Python, Go, SQL)
- ●Auto-generated UI
- ●Self-hostable
- ●Approval flows
- ●Free self-hosting with unlimited usage
- ●Multi-language support (TS Python Go SQL)
- ●Built-in scheduling and orchestration
- ●Clean workflow-as-code export
Limitations
- ●Steeper learning curve
- ●Smaller community than alternatives
- ●Requires coding knowledge
- ●Steeper learning curve for non-developers
- ●Smaller community than n8n
- ●Fewer pre-built integrations
- ●Code-first can be a barrier
- ●Smaller community than n8n or Pipedream
- ●Purely code-focused — no visual builder for non-devs
- ●Documentation still maturing
- ●Smaller production reference base than Temporal or Airflow at large scale
- ●Durable execution semantics are less battle-tested than Temporal under failure injection
- ●Documentation depth is improving but trails the leading engines
- ●Focused on automation scripts rather than general coding
- ●Smaller community than mainstream tools
- ●Self-hosting requires infrastructure
- ●Smaller community (13,000 stars) and younger project than Airflow or Temporal
- ●Fewer native SaaS integrations — custom API calls require writing scripts
- ●Documentation is still maturing; advanced deployment patterns have fewer worked examples
- ●Small community
- ●Documentation gaps
- ●Limited enterprise features
- ●Newer project
Based on evaluations in 8 rankings: Best ETL & Data Pipeline Tools 2026, Best Open Source Automation Platforms 2026, Best Automation Tools for Developers and Engineering Teams in 2026, Best Durable Workflow Engines for Production in 2026, Best AI Coding Tools and Developer Assistants 2026, Best Open-Source Workflow Engines for Engineers in 2026, Best Process Orchestration Platforms 2026, Best Automation Tools by Price-Performance Value in 2026
Pricing Plans
Community
Self-hosted, free and open-source
- ✓Unlimited scripts, flows, and apps
- ✓All language support (TypeScript, Python, Go, Bash, SQL)
- ✓Self-hosted on your infrastructure
- ✓Scheduling and webhooks
- ✓Community support via Discord
- !Self-hosted only
- !Community support only
Team
Per user per month, 10 users included
- ✓Cloud hosted by Windmill
- ✓10 users included in base price
- ✓Automatic updates and maintenance
- ✓Premium integrations
- ✓Priority email support
- ✓Audit logs
- !Per-user pricing above 10 users
Enterprise
Contact sales for custom pricing
- ✓SSO / SAML authentication
- ✓Advanced audit logs and compliance
- ✓Dedicated support and SLA
- ✓Custom deployment options
- ✓Priority feature requests
- ✓On-premise or private cloud deployment
- !Custom pricing based on scale
About Windmill
Windmill is an open-source developer platform for building internal tools, scripts, workflows, and small applications. Founded in 2022 by Ruben Fiszel, an MIT alumnus and former Palantir engineer, Windmill is licensed under AGPLv3 with a separate enterprise edition; the project is headquartered in Paris and the team remains under twenty employees as of May 2026. The pitch is a single platform that replaces the typical stack of Airflow plus Retool plus a custom job runner, with one runtime, one auth model, and one UI.
The platform exposes three primitives. Scripts are functions in TypeScript (Deno or Bun), Python, Go, Bash, SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL, BigQuery, Snowflake), or PowerShell, each automatically given a typed UI form, an HTTP endpoint, a CLI invocation, and a schedule slot. Flows compose scripts into DAGs with branching, loops, error handlers, and approval steps. Apps are auto-generated UIs that wrap scripts and flows for non-technical users. Every primitive is versioned in a Git-backed workspace, runs in isolated workers, and emits structured logs.
Windmill targets the operational gap between "shell script on a cron" and "full Airflow cluster". A 4-vCPU worker on a single VM can sustain hundreds of script runs per minute; horizontal scaling is via worker groups, and benchmarks published by the project on its docs site claim 10x faster cold-start than Airflow for short Python jobs (with the caveat that "short" is the regime where this matters most). The scheduler is a Postgres-backed job queue, which removes the Redis or RabbitMQ dependency many competing platforms carry.
Pricing as of May 2026 is straightforward. Self-hosting is free under AGPLv3, with no feature gating on core functionality. Windmill Cloud is $10 per month per author with a free tier of 1,000 executions; the Enterprise Self-Hosted edition is quoted starting around $40 per month per author with SAML, audit logs, and high-availability worker pools. The GitHub repository (windmill-labs/windmill) passed 12,400 stars in May 2026, with active community contributions on the connector and UI side.
Editor's Note: A 60-person SaaS client replaced a 14-DAG Airflow deployment with Windmill flows in March 2026; deploy footprint shrank from 6 vCPUs and 12 GB RAM to 2 vCPUs and 4 GB, and the recurring AWS bill fell by roughly $310 per month. The honest caveat: Windmill's flow editor is excellent for under ~30-step pipelines and gets noisy beyond that. Two heavy ML pipelines stayed on Airflow because their fan-out patterns were easier to reason about as Python DAGs. Pick the boundary intentionally rather than migrating everything. — Rafal Fila, ShadowGen
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Workflow AutomationSee How It Ranks
Best Durable Workflow Engines for Production in 2026
A ranked list of the best durable workflow engines for production deployments in 2026. Durable workflow engines persist execution state to a database so that long-running workflows survive process restarts, deployments, and infrastructure failures. The ranking covers Temporal, Prefect, Apache Airflow, Camunda, Windmill, and n8n. Tools were evaluated on production reliability, developer experience, scalability, open-source health, and documentation quality. The shortlist intentionally mixes code-first engines (Temporal, Prefect, Airflow) with hybrid visual platforms (Camunda, Windmill, n8n) to reflect how production teams actually choose workflow engines in 2026.
Best No-Code Automation Platforms in 2026
A ranked list of no-code automation platforms in 2026. The ranking covers visual workflow builders that allow non-engineering teams to connect SaaS apps, route data, and add conditional logic without writing code. Entries cover proprietary cloud platforms (Zapier, Make, Pipedream, IFTTT) and open-source visual builders (n8n, Activepieces). Scoring reflects integration breadth, pricing accessibility, visual editor ease, reliability and error handling, and self-hosting availability.
Questions About Windmill
What are the best open-source Zapier alternatives in 2026?
The best open-source Zapier alternatives in 2026 are n8n, Activepieces, Huginn, Windmill, and Apache Airflow. Activepieces leads on permissive licensing, n8n on integration breadth, Windmill on code-first scripts, and Huginn on lightweight monitoring.
What are the best self-hosted workflow automation tools in 2026?
The best self-hosted workflow automation tools in 2026 are n8n, Activepieces, Windmill, Huginn, Apache Airflow, Temporal, and Camunda. n8n leads for SaaS integration breadth, Windmill for code-first scripts, Temporal for durable backend workflows, and Airflow for data pipelines.
What are the best open-source automation tools in 2026?
The leading open-source automation tools in 2026 are [n8n](/tools/n8n/) (visual workflow builder with 400+ integrations and a fair-code license), [Activepieces](/tools/activepieces/) (MIT-licensed Zapier alternative), and [Windmill](/tools/windmill/) (developer-focused Python and TypeScript workflow engine).
What are the best open-source workflow engines in 2026?
The top open-source workflow engines in 2026 are [Temporal](/tools/temporal-workflows/) (durable execution with multi-language SDKs), [Apache Airflow](/tools/apache-airflow/) (the de facto data DAG orchestrator), and [Prefect](/tools/prefect/) (modern Python-first workflow framework).
Learn More
Temporal vs n8n 2026: Code-First Workflows vs Visual Automation
Temporal and n8n are workflow tools with different audiences. Temporal is a durable execution SDK for backend engineers building fault-tolerant distributed systems in Go, Java, TypeScript, Python, and .NET. n8n is a visual automation platform for operators and developers connecting SaaS applications. This 2026 comparison covers use cases, pricing, and where the two overlap.
n8n vs Windmill in 2026: Visual Open-Source vs Code-First Automation
n8n was founded in Berlin in 2019 and ships under a fair-code Sustainable Use License with a node-based visual canvas and 400+ built-in integrations. Windmill was founded in 2022, ships under AGPLv3, and ships a code-first runtime that executes TypeScript, Python, Go, Bash, SQL, and GraphQL with auto-generated UIs. Both can be self-hosted on a single Docker host; their target users are different.
API Integration Patterns for Automation
Technical reference for API integration patterns commonly used in automation platforms, including webhook and polling architectures, authentication strategies, error handling, rate limiting, and data transformation approaches. Updated with current data as of March 2026.