Skip to content

Hatchet alternative

Spooled Cloud vs Hatchet

Hatchet is a Postgres-first task queue with strong DAG tooling. Spooled Cloud shares that Postgres-first philosophy but differentiates with dedicated incoming-webhook endpoints, second-precision cron, and a smaller API surface that gets a first job running in minutes.

Start free Full comparison matrix Hatchet website ↗

Our own read of public docs, last reviewed 2026-07-16 — not an independent benchmark, and we're biased. Apache-2.0 core · free tier available.

The honest verdict

Hatchet shares Spooled's Postgres-first philosophy and brings strong DAG tooling. Spooled differentiates with dedicated incoming-webhook endpoints, second-precision cron, and a smaller API surface that gets a first job running in minutes.

Where Spooled wins

  • + Incoming webhook ingestion endpoints
  • + 5- or 6-field cron with second precision
  • + Simpler onboarding for plain background jobs

When Hatchet is the better pick

  • – More elaborate DAG/workflow tooling
  • – Deeper concurrency-fairness features

Where Spooled goes further than Hatchet

Capabilities Spooled ships that Hatchet lists as partial or unsupported in its public docs. The two match on 20 of the other rows — see the full matrix for the complete side by side.

Capability Spooled Hatchet
gRPC API Yes Partial
6-Field Cron (Seconds) Yes No
Incoming Webhooks Yes Partial
WebSocket Updates Yes Partial
Queue Pause/Resume Yes Partial
Prometheus Metrics Yes Partial

Pricing at a glance

Spooled's numbers come from the pricing page. Competitor pricing changes often — treat it as directional.

Service Free tier Paid plans
Spooled Cloud 1,000 jobs/day Starter $19 USD/mo (10,000/day) · Pro $49 USD/mo (100,000/day)
Hatchet Self-host: free Cloud: usage-based (see their pricing page)

Switching from Hatchet?

Moving from Hatchet: both are Postgres-first, so map your workflows to Spooled queues and workers, and use incoming-webhook endpoints for event triggers. Retries, cron, and the dead-letter queue carry over.

Quickstart · SDKs · All comparisons

FAQ

Spooled vs Hatchet — FAQ

Is Spooled Cloud a good Hatchet alternative?
Yes, if you want the same Postgres-first durability with dedicated incoming webhooks, second-precision cron, and a leaner API. Hatchet is the better pick when you need more elaborate DAG/workflow tooling or deeper concurrency-fairness controls.
How is Spooled different from Hatchet?
Both store jobs in PostgreSQL. Spooled leans toward a smaller, protocol-first surface (REST + gRPC), incoming-webhook ingestion, and second-precision cron; Hatchet leans toward richer DAG orchestration and concurrency fairness.
When should I choose Hatchet over Spooled?
Choose Hatchet when your workload centers on complex DAGs or you need its deeper concurrency-fairness features.
Get started

Put one real workload on a durable queue.

Try hosted Spooled with 1,000 jobs a day, or run the Apache-2.0 core against your own PostgreSQL.

Start free Self-host with Docker
  • No credit card required
  • Free tier forever
  • Open source — Apache-2.0