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Inngest alternative

Spooled Cloud vs Inngest

Inngest is a polished, event-driven durable-functions platform with a strong local dev experience. If you want a language-agnostic job queue you can self-host on plain PostgreSQL — with gRPC streaming and dedicated incoming webhooks — Spooled Cloud is a close, open-source alternative.

Start free Full comparison matrix Inngest 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

Inngest offers a polished event-driven model and a more established ecosystem. Spooled counters with a gRPC streaming API, dedicated incoming-webhook ingestion, per-queue pause/resume, and a fully open Apache-2.0 core that self-hosts on plain PostgreSQL.

Where Spooled wins

  • + gRPC streaming for high-throughput workers
  • + Dedicated incoming-webhook ingestion endpoints
  • + Queue pause/resume without losing jobs
  • + PostgreSQL data plane with SQL-queryable state
  • + Fully open-source core (Apache-2.0)

When Inngest is the better pick

  • – More established ecosystem and integrations
  • – Richer event-driven function model

Where Spooled goes further than Inngest

Capabilities Spooled ships that Inngest lists as partial or unsupported in its public docs. The two match on 18 of the other rows — see the full matrix for the complete side by side.

Capability Spooled Inngest
gRPC API Yes No
6-Field Cron (Seconds) Yes No
Incoming Webhooks Yes Partial
WebSocket Updates Yes Partial
SSE Updates Yes Partial
Queue Pause/Resume Yes Partial
PostgreSQL Data Plane Yes Partial
Open Source (core) 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)
Inngest Has a free tier Usage-based plans (see their pricing page)

Switching from Inngest?

Moving from Inngest: keep your worker code, point enqueue calls at Spooled’s REST or gRPC API, and map event triggers to queues. Job payloads stay JSON, and the Apache-2.0 core means you can self-host on your own Postgres.

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FAQ

Spooled vs Inngest — FAQ

Is Spooled Cloud a good Inngest alternative?
Yes, if you want a language-agnostic job queue with REST and gRPC APIs, PostgreSQL durability, incoming-webhook ingestion, and a fully open-source (Apache-2.0) core you can self-host. Inngest remains a strong pick if you specifically want its event-driven function model and larger integration ecosystem.
Can I self-host Spooled instead of using Inngest Cloud?
Yes. Spooled’s core is Apache-2.0 and runs against your own PostgreSQL with no platform limits. Inngest routes execution through its cloud, so self-hosting for data residency is a common reason teams evaluate Spooled.
When should I choose Inngest over Spooled?
Choose Inngest when you want its richer event-driven function model, step-level durable workflows, or its more established ecosystem and integrations. Spooled focuses on being a lean, protocol-first queue.
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