Trigger.dev vs Cloudways
Open-source background jobs with no timeouts and full observability
vs. Managed cloud hosting across DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud
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
Cloudways
Autonomous — Free Trial
3-day free trial. 1 server, 20 GB disk, 150 GB bandwidth.
Free
Flexible — DO Micro
DigitalOcean-backed. 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB storage, 2 TB bandwidth. Starting tier.
$11/mo
Flexible — DO Medium
4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 160 GB, 5 TB bandwidth.
$88/mo
Autonomous — Growth
WordPress-optimized autoscaling. 1 baseline server, 20 GB disk, 150 GB bandwidth.
$100/mo
Autonomous — Scale
2 baseline servers, 50 GB disk, 250 GB bandwidth.
$200/mo
Flexible — DO 8XL
24 vCPU, 128 GB RAM, 2.56 TB storage, 11 TB bandwidth.
$342/mo
Autonomous — Plus
3 baseline servers, 100 GB disk, 1 TB bandwidth.
$400/mo
Enterprise
Custom autoscale, volume pricing.
Custom
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing free on Trigger.dev vs auto-free-trial on Cloudways.
| Metric | Trigger.dev | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| No overlapping quota metrics for these tiers. | ||
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.
Cloudways · 17 features
- Autonomous (WordPress) — Fully managed WordPress with autoscaling.
- Backups — Automated daily + on-demand. Retention configurable.
- Bot Protection — Cloudflare Enterprise bot filtering add-on.
- Bot Scaler — Autonomous: auto-scale based on traffic patterns.
- Breeze (WP cache plugin) — In-house WordPress caching plugin.
- CloudwaysCDN — Built-in CDN add-on (StackPath-backed).
- Flexible Plans — BYO-sized servers on any of 5 providers. Full control over stack.
- Free Let's Encrypt SSL — 1-click cert install + auto-renewal.
- Free Migration — 1 free app migration per plan. Cloudways team moves your site.
- Horizontal Scaling — Auto-scale app servers (Autonomous plans).
- Malware Protection — Add-on ($4/app/month). Scan + clean.
- Object Cache Pro — Included on certain plans. Redis-backed object cache for WP.
- SafeUpdates — Automated WordPress plugin/theme updates with rollback.
- Staging Environments — 1-click staging clones with push-to-live.
- Team Collaboration — Invite team members with granular role permissions.
- Thunderstack (Optimized) — Apache + Nginx + Varnish + Redis + Memcached preconfigured for speed.
- Vertical Scaling — Resize server specs without migration.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Trigger.dev | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | trigger.dev CLI | — |
| SDK | @trigger.dev/react-hooks, @trigger.dev/sdk | — |
| REST | Trigger.dev REST API | Cloudways API |
| OTHER | Trigger.dev Dashboard, Trigger.dev Webhooks | Cloudways Platform (web UI), Server SSH Access, SFTP |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to Trigger.dev and Cloudways are plain references to their official websites. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.
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