Side by side
Mage vs Prefect
Both stand on data orchestration software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan Web
Choose Mage if your team needs scheduled, monitored data pipelines with data quality checks, version control, and integrations across varied data sources. Starter is limited to one developer seat and one environment, while Team charges by CPU-hour in addition to its monthly fee.
Visit Mage Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb
Prefect combines Python-based workflow creation with monitoring, scheduling, and several execution models. The free Hobby plan has defined user, deployment, and retention limits; paid plans start at $100/mo.
Visit PrefectThe facts
| Mage | Prefect | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Web | API, Self-hosted, Web |
| Lowest paid plan | Starter: $29 a month | Starter: $100 a month |
| Plans published | 3 | 4 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | mage.ai | prefect.io |
| On data orchestration software | #10 of 16 | #6 of 16 |
Mage: what it does well
- Includes workflow scheduling and pipeline monitoring.
- Supports data quality checks and version control.
- Connects with databases, SaaS APIs, files, and streams.
- Hybrid deployment is available.
- Starter and Team include monthly AI credits.
What to know first
- Starter adds a $0.50 per CPU-hour charge.
- Starter includes one developer seat and one development environment.
- Team includes one environment and shares its 250 AI credits.
Prefect: what it does well
- Build workflows from Python with decorators.
- Retries, caching, and failure recovery are included.
- Supports cron and event-driven scheduling.
- Offers managed, hybrid, and self-hosted execution.
- Open-source engine uses the Apache 2.0 license.
What to know first
- Hobby is limited to 2 users.
- Hobby retains runs for 7 days.
- Hobby includes 5 deployments.
- Team costs $100/user/mo.