Anthropic API vs Trigger.dev
API for Claude — frontier models for chat, tool use, agents, and long-context reasoning
vs. Open-source background jobs with no timeouts and full observability
Pricing tiers
Anthropic API
Opus 4.7 — usage
Input $5 / output $25 / cache-write $6.25 / cache-read $0.50 per 1M tokens. Batch = 50% off.
Custom
Sonnet 4.6 — usage
Input $3 / output $15 / cache-write $3.75 / cache-read $0.30 per 1M tokens. Batch = 50% off.
Custom
Haiku 4.5 — usage
Input $1 / output $5 / cache-write $1.25 / cache-read $0.10 per 1M tokens. Batch = 50% off.
Custom
Trigger.dev
Free
$0. 5K runs/mo. 1 concurrent run. 1 team member. 7-day log retention.
Free
Self-Host (OSS)
Free. Apache-2.0 license. Docker Compose + Postgres + Redis.
$0 base (usage-based)
Hobby
$10/mo. 50K runs/mo. 25 concurrent. Unlimited queue time.
$10/mo
Pro
$50/mo (starts at — usage scales). 250K runs/mo baseline. 100 concurrent. Priority.
$50/mo
Enterprise
Custom. HIPAA, SSO, dedicated clusters, on-prem.
Custom
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing opus-4-7 on Anthropic API vs free on Trigger.dev.
| Metric | Anthropic API | Trigger.dev |
|---|---|---|
| discount batch | 50 % off | — |
Features
Anthropic API · 0 features
Trigger.dev · 13 features
- Batch Trigger — Trigger many runs at once with limits.
- Environment Variables — Manage secrets in dashboard.
- Idempotency Keys — Prevent duplicate runs.
- Machine Sizing — Pick CPU/RAM per task.
- Queues + Concurrency — Named queues for controlled throughput.
- Realtime + React Hooks — Subscribe to run progress from client.
- Retries — Exponential + custom strategies.
- Schedules — Cron-triggered runs.
- Self-Hosting — Run locally or on your infra.
- Subtasks + triggerAndWait — Compose tasks by triggering children.
- Task Metadata — Attach arbitrary metadata to runs.
- Tasks — Define long-running TS tasks.
- wait.for / wait.until — Durable waits — minutes, hours, days.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Anthropic API | Trigger.dev |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | Claude Code CLI | trigger.dev CLI |
| SDK | Go SDK, Java SDK, Python SDK, Ruby SDK, TypeScript SDK (@anthropic-ai/sdk) | @trigger.dev/react-hooks, @trigger.dev/sdk |
| REST | AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, Microsoft Azure AI, REST API (Messages + Agents) | Trigger.dev REST API |
| OTHER | — | Trigger.dev Dashboard, Trigger.dev Webhooks |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to Anthropic API and Trigger.dev are plain references to their official websites. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.
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