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Inngest alternative

Spooled Cloud vs Inngest

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

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.

Where Spooled goes further than Inngest

Spooled leads on 8 of 26 capabilities · they match on 18/26. See the full matrix for every row side by side.

Capability Inngest
  • gRPC API Inngest: No
  • 6-Field Cron (Seconds) Inngest: No
  • Incoming Webhooks Inngest: Partial
  • WebSocket Updates Inngest: Partial
  • SSE Updates Inngest: Partial
  • Queue Pause/Resume Inngest: Partial
  • PostgreSQL Data Plane Inngest: Partial
  • Open Source (core) Inngest: Partial

Pricing at a glance

Spooled's numbers come from the pricing page. Competitor pricing is badge-only so we don't invent precision.

Spooled Cloud

1,000 jobs/day · Starter $19 USD/mo (10,000/day) · Pro $49 USD/mo (100,000/day)

Free: Yes Flat
Pricing ↗
Inngest
Free: Yes Usage-based
Site ↗

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.

Quickstart · SDKs · All comparisons

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.

  • No credit card required
  • Free tier forever
  • Open source — Apache-2.0