Dagster vs Starburst Pricing (2026)

Which one is cheaper?

One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.

Can I use either one for free?

Starburst has a free plan. Dagster doesn't — though they do offer a free trial.

How do they charge?

Both use a usage-based model, so the comparison is straightforward — it comes down to features and limits at each price point.

Which one is a better deal?

Depends on what you need. Dagster: At $10-$100/mo for self-serve tiers, Dagster is undercutting Prefect and positioning against Airflow's operational overhead cost rather than competing on raw price with open-source. They're going after the mid-market data team that wants managed orchestration without paying Astronomer-level enterprise prices. Starburst: Starburst isn't fighting on sticker price — the credit cost actually increases as you climb tiers, which is unusual and signals they're positioning as a premium, enterprise-grade Trino distribution rather than a budget query engine. They're chasing large data teams already committed to a multi-cloud or lakehouse strategy who'll pay more for reliability and support rather than startups hunting for the cheapest compute.

Still deciding? See the best Dagster alternatives or the best Starburst alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.