Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · IT Orchestration Software

AWS Step Functions vs Juju

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 4 checks side by side
Higher score AWS Step Functions #1 in IT Orchestration Software 9.2/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 5 features Visit site
Juju #6 in IT Orchestration Software 8.6/10 Open source ✓ 2 of 5 features Visit Juju

AWS Step Functions leads on 1 check, Juju on 0, and 3 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 4 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreAWS Step Functions · 9.2/10
  • Free planonly AWS Step Functions
  • Most featuresJuju · 2 of 5

AWS Step Functions scores higher on our rubric for it orchestration software: 9.2 against 8.6 out of 10; our editors rank them #1 and #6.

On deployment options, Juju gives you Hybrid where AWS Step Functions offers Cloud. AWS Step Functions offers visual workflow builder; Juju doesn't.

AWS Step Functions is the better fit for AWS-centric cloud orchestration. Juju is the better fit for application lifecycle automation across clouds.

  • AWS Step Functions fits best

    AWS-centric cloud orchestration

  • Juju fits best

    Application lifecycle automation across clouds

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature AWS Step Functions 9.2/10 Visit ↗ Juju 8.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.2 8.6
Ranking #1 in IT Orchestration Software #6 in IT Orchestration Software
Best for AWS-centric cloud orchestration Application lifecycle automation across clouds
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free
Starting price $1/unit usage-based Open source
Free plan ✓ (best) Not checked yet
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms Web Linux, macOS
Support Docs Community, Docs
Integrations 220+ integrations 13 integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Mid-market, Enterprise
Features AWS Step Functions 1/5 · Juju 2/5
Visual workflow builder ✓ (best) —
Dependency management Not checked yet Not checked yet
Approval workflows Not checked yet Not checked yet
Cross-platform agents Not checked yet ✓ (best)
API and webhooks Not checked yet ✓ (best)
Specs
Deployment options Cloud Hybrid
Concurrent runs Not checked yet Not checked yet
Our review
Pros
  • Visual state-machine design with branching, parallelism, retries, and approvals
  • Deep integrations across AWS services and HTTPS endpoints
  • Free tier plus Express Workflows priced from $1 per million requests
  • Reusable charms support repeatable application deployment and operations
  • Works across Kubernetes, VMs, containers, bare metal, and multiple clouds
  • Broad integrations include AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, OpenStack, and Terraform
Cons
  • Cloud deployment limits fit for teams needing broader hosting options
  • Standard pricing scales with state transitions, including retries
  • Express pricing also depends on duration and memory consumption
  • No visual workflow builder for drag-and-drop orchestration
  • Its breadth may be more than teams with a narrow deployment scope need
  • Requires comfort with controllers, models, charms, and infrastructure operations
Our verdict

AWS Step Functions is a managed workflow orchestration service for distributed applications, microservices, data-processing jobs, machine-learning pipelines, and IT automation. Teams define state machines with Amazon States Language, then…

Read the review →

Juju is an open-source orchestration engine for DevOps engineers, SREs, system administrators, and organizations managing applications across heterogeneous infrastructure. Reusable charms support deployment and lifecycle operations such as…

Read the review →
  1. AWS Step FunctionsIT Orchestration Software 9.2Free plan
  2. JujuIT Orchestration Software 8.6Open source

Strengths and trade-offs

  • AWS Step Functions — where it wins

    • Visual state-machine design with branching, parallelism, retries, and approvals
    • Deep integrations across AWS services and HTTPS endpoints
    • Free tier plus Express Workflows priced from $1 per million requests

    Where it doesn't

    • Cloud deployment limits fit for teams needing broader hosting options
    • Standard pricing scales with state transitions, including retries
    • Express pricing also depends on duration and memory consumption
  • Juju — where it wins

    • Reusable charms support repeatable application deployment and operations
    • Works across Kubernetes, VMs, containers, bare metal, and multiple clouds
    • Broad integrations include AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, OpenStack, and Terraform

    Where it doesn't

    • No visual workflow builder for drag-and-drop orchestration
    • Its breadth may be more than teams with a narrow deployment scope need
    • Requires comfort with controllers, models, charms, and infrastructure operations
  • AWS Step Functions9.2/10 · Free plan

    A capable AWS workflow engine with strong controls and cloud-only deployment.

    Visit siteFull verdict →
  • Juju8.6/10 · Open source

    A broad orchestration engine for application lifecycle operations across mixed infrastructure.

    Visit JujuFull verdict →

More comparisons

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update