# Restate vs Trigger.dev

> Trigger.dev scores 74.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Restate's 73.3 (BB), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Restate leads on reliability. Both do hitl approve. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/restate-vs-trigger-dev
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/restate-vs-trigger-dev.md (~2,050 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/restate-vs-trigger-dev.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/restate-vs-trigger-dev.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

Trigger.dev scores 74.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Restate's 73.3 (BB), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Restate leads on reliability. Both do hitl approve.

- 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
- Trigger.dev: grade BB, 74.7/100, rank #59 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/trigger-dev.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/trigger-dev.json

## Which one, for what

### 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 75

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

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

### Trigger.dev (BB)

Good for: A TypeScript team that wants an approval pause inside background jobs or AI chat agents, with the reviewer UI built in their own app.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 91 against 85
- Security & auth, 73 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 73 against 50

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Runs on your own machine
- Open source

Watch for: 10-minute default timeout on tokens


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Restate | Trigger.dev | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 91 | 75 | Restate +16 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 91 | Trigger.dev +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 81 | 79 | Restate +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 61 | 73 | Trigger.dev +12 |
| 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) | 92 | 90 | Restate +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 73 | Trigger.dev +23 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **73.3 · BB** | **74.7 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Restate | Trigger.dev |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model platform | Model platform |
| Vendor | Restate GmbH | Trigger.dev |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.trigger.dev` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | BSL 1.1 converting to Apache-2.0 four years after release (server), MIT (SDKs) | Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 31 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.triggerdotdev/trigger.dev` |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-06-29 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2025-12-23 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 4.5k stars, 329k npm/wk, 76k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.6/5 (8) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Trigger.dev.** Tokens complete from a backend, a pre-signed callback URL or the browser with a token scoped to one waitpoint. 10-minute default timeout on tokens.

## Before you call either

### 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`

### Trigger.dev

1. Pass an explicit `timeout` to `wait.createToken()` and handle `ok: false` as a timeout
2. Use an idempotency key when creating the token so a retried step doesn't send the reviewer a second request
3. Give the browser the `publicAccessToken`, never the secret key, and don't call `token.url` from client code
4. Tag tokens with the user or task ID so pending approvals can be listed per reviewer
5. Start the MCP server with `--readonly` when the agent only needs to inspect runs

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Restate or Trigger.dev?

Trigger.dev scores 74.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Restate's 73.3 (BB), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Restate leads on reliability.

### Are Restate and Trigger.dev open source?

No open-source release is listed for Restate. Trigger.dev is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Restate or Trigger.dev

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