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Trigger.dev alternative

Spooled Cloud vs Trigger.dev

Trigger.dev excels at long-running, code-first background tasks in TypeScript. If your workers span multiple languages and you want a leaner queue with second-precision cron and incoming-webhook ingestion, Spooled Cloud is a protocol-first alternative usable from any language.

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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

Trigger.dev excels at long-running, code-first background tasks in TypeScript, including human-in-the-loop steps. Spooled is a leaner queue service: second-precision cron, a Postgres + Redis architecture, per-queue controls, and a protocol-first API usable from any language.

Where Spooled wins

  • + 5- or 6-field cron with second precision
  • + Incoming webhook ingestion endpoints
  • + Queue pause/resume and priority boosts
  • + Language-agnostic REST + gRPC surface

When Trigger.dev is the better pick

  • – Very long-running tasks without timeout pressure
  • – Human-in-the-loop workflow features
  • – Deep TypeScript developer experience

Where Spooled goes further than Trigger.dev

Capabilities Spooled ships that Trigger.dev 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 Trigger.dev
gRPC API Yes Partial
6-Field Cron (Seconds) Yes No
Incoming Webhooks Yes Partial
Queue Pause/Resume Yes Partial
Prometheus Metrics Yes Partial
PostgreSQL Data Plane 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)
Trigger.dev Self-host: free Cloud: usage-based (see their pricing page)

Switching from Trigger.dev?

Moving from Trigger.dev: replace the TypeScript task SDK with Spooled’s REST or gRPC enqueue, and run your task bodies as workers in any language. Cron, retries, and the dead-letter queue carry over directly.

Quickstart · SDKs · All comparisons

FAQ

Spooled vs Trigger.dev — FAQ

Is Spooled Cloud a good Trigger.dev alternative?
It is if you want a language-agnostic queue rather than a TypeScript-first task framework. Spooled speaks REST and gRPC from Node.js, Python, Go, PHP, or plain HTTP, and adds second-precision cron and incoming webhooks. Trigger.dev is the better fit for very long-running tasks and deep TypeScript ergonomics.
Does Spooled support long-running tasks like Trigger.dev?
Spooled stores jobs durably in Postgres and your workers run them on your own infrastructure, so there is no serverless timeout. Trigger.dev is purpose-built around very long-running, human-in-the-loop tasks and offers more tooling specifically for that case.
When should I choose Trigger.dev over Spooled?
Choose Trigger.dev for very long-running tasks without timeout pressure, human-in-the-loop workflow steps, or a deep TypeScript developer experience.
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
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  • Free tier forever
  • Open source — Apache-2.0