# Inngest vs Restate

> Restate scores 73.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Inngest's 66 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Both do hitl approve. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-restate
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-restate.md (~1,950 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-restate.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-restate.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Restate scores 73.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Inngest's 66 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Both do hitl approve.

- Inngest: grade B, 66/100, rank #247 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/inngest.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/inngest.json
- Restate: grade BB, 73.3/100, rank #78 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/restate.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/restate.json

## Which one, for what

### Inngest (B)

Good for: A TypeScript, Python or Go team that already runs agent steps as durable functions and wants a cheap, long wait for a human answer.

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: No reviewer inbox, Slack app or email, so the human side is your code

### Restate (BB)

Good for: A team that already writes agent steps as durable handlers and wants a long, cheap wait for a human answer in TypeScript, Python, Java, Go or Rust, with the option to self-host.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 91 against 57
- Agent ergonomics, 81 against 76

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: No reviewer inbox, Slack app or email. The approval request and the reply endpoint are the builder's code


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Inngest | Restate | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 91 | Restate +34 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 85 | Inngest +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 81 | Restate +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 61 | Restate +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 88 | 92 | Restate +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 52 | 50 | Inngest +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66 · B** | **73.3 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Inngest | Restate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model platform | Model platform |
| Vendor | Inngest | Restate GmbH |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://inn.gs/e/` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | SSPL with delayed Apache-2.0 (server), Apache-2.0 (SDKs) | BSL 1.1 converting to Apache-2.0 four years after release (server), MIT (SDKs) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-22 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 4.5k stars, 329k npm/wk, 76k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Inngest.** Waits are durable and cost nothing while suspended, with runs up to 30 days on Free and 366 on Business. No reviewer inbox, Slack app or email, so the human side is your code.

**Restate.** An awakeable pauses a handler at no compute cost and resumes it from one HTTP request, with a durable timeout, on a free plan of 100,000 actions a month. Restate sends nothing to the approver, so the Slack message, email or inbox is the builder's code, and the published terms and privacy statement predate the paid plans.

## Before you call either

### Inngest

1. Use `step.waitForSignal()` when one run waits for one answer, and `waitForEvent` only when one answer resumes many runs
2. Register the wait before you send the approval request, or check the external state first, since early events are missed
3. Use a unique approval ID per tool call and `match` on it, so parallel approvals resolve independently
4. Treat `null` or `undefined` as a timeout and decide on purpose whether that rejects, approves or escalates
5. Set an event `id` when sending the answer, so a retried send is dropped within 24 hours

### Restate

1. Create the awakeable, send its ID inside `ctx.run`, then await the promise, so a retry doesn't send a second approval request
2. Resolve with `POST /restate/awakeables/<id>/resolve` and a JSON body, or `/reject` with a text reason, which throws a terminal error in the handler
3. On Restate Cloud send `Authorization: Bearer key_...` to `https://<env_id>.env.<region>.restate.cloud:8080`. On a self-hosted server put an authenticating proxy in front of port 8080
4. Wrap the wait in `orTimeout` and decide what a timeout means. Without it the handler waits with no limit
5. Retry ingress errors only on 408, 425, 429 or 5xx, and only when `x-restate-error-source` isn't `invocation`

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Inngest or Restate?

Restate scores 73.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Inngest's 66 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-restate.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-restate.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "inngest", "b": "restate"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare inngest restate`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/inngest.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/restate.json

## Other comparisons with Inngest or Restate

- [gotoHuman vs Inngest](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gotohuman-vs-inngest.md)
- [gotoHuman vs Restate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gotohuman-vs-restate.md)
- [Inngest vs Orkes Conductor Human tasks](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-orkes-conductor.md)
- [Inngest vs Permit MCP Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-permit-mcp-gateway.md)
- [Inngest vs Pushary](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-pushary.md)
- [Inngest vs Temporal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-temporal.md)
- [Inngest vs Trigger.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-trigger-dev.md)
- [Inngest vs withHuman](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-withhuman.md)
- [Orkes Conductor Human tasks vs Restate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orkes-conductor-vs-restate.md)
- [Permit MCP Gateway vs Restate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/permit-mcp-gateway-vs-restate.md)
- [Pushary vs Restate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pushary-vs-restate.md)
- [Restate vs Temporal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/restate-vs-temporal.md)
- [Restate vs Trigger.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/restate-vs-trigger-dev.md)
- [Restate vs withHuman](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/restate-vs-withhuman.md)