Trigger.dev vs Anthropic API
Open-source background jobs with no timeouts and full observability
vs. API for Claude — frontier models for chat, tool use, agents, and long-context reasoning
Pricing tiers
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
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
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing free on Trigger.dev vs opus-4-7 on Anthropic API.
| Metric | Trigger.dev | Anthropic API |
|---|---|---|
| discount batch | — | 50 % off |
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.
Anthropic API · 0 features
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Trigger.dev | Anthropic API |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | trigger.dev CLI | Claude Code CLI |
| SDK | @trigger.dev/react-hooks, @trigger.dev/sdk | Go SDK, Java SDK, Python SDK, Ruby SDK, TypeScript SDK (@anthropic-ai/sdk) |
| REST | Trigger.dev REST API | AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, Microsoft Azure AI, REST API (Messages + Agents) |
| OTHER | Trigger.dev Dashboard, Trigger.dev Webhooks | — |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to Trigger.dev and Anthropic API are plain references to their official websites. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.
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