Hatchet vs pg-boss

Hatchet5.0Visit PBpg-boss—Visit

Higher score Hatchet #1 in Task Queue Software 5.0/10 Free plan · paid from $10 Free plan✓ 0 of 3 features Visit Hatchet

vs

PB pg-boss #6 in Task Queue Software —/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 3 of 3 features Visit pg-boss

• Hatchet fits best

  Observable durable workflows and AI tasks

• pg-boss fits best

  PostgreSQL-backed JavaScript queues

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Side by side

Feature	Hatchet 5.0/10 Visit ↗	PBpg-boss —/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	5.0	—
Ranking	#1 in Task Queue Software	#6 in Task Queue Software
Best for	Observable durable workflows and AI tasks	PostgreSQL-backed JavaScript queues
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Free
Starting price	Not published	Not published
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Email, Community, Docs	Docs
Integrations	7 integrations	9 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Hatchet 0/3 · pg-boss 3/3
Custom retry policy	Not published	✓ (best)
Scheduled jobs	Not published	✓ (best)
Dead-letter queue	Not published	✓ (best)
Specs
Deployment model	Hybrid	Self_hosted
Maximum payload size	Not published	Not published
Official SDK languages	Not published	JavaScript, TypeScript
Our review
Pros	Durable execution with retries, scheduling, DAGs, and replay Detailed traces, logs, metrics, alerting, and preserved run data Cloud, self-hosted, and hybrid deployment with AI SDK integrations	Retries, backoff, redriveable dead-letter queues, and dependencies Cron, RRULE, deferred jobs, throttling, and debouncing Adapters for Knex, Kysely, Drizzle, and Prisma
Cons	Team starts at $500/month before usage charges Retention is 3 days on Team and 7 days on Scale Advanced compliance and enterprise controls require higher tiers	Self-hosted deployment requires operational ownership Its core fit is strongest for PostgreSQL-compatible systems Official SDK support centers on JavaScript and TypeScript
Our verdict	Hatchet is a developer platform for AI agents, durable workflows, background tasks, and event-driven applications. Engineering teams define workflows in code, while workers run on customer infrastructure and the orchestration engine runs… Read the review →	pg-boss is an open-source background job queue for Node.js applications, built on PostgreSQL for asynchronous execution and worker processing. It suits JavaScript teams that want queue infrastructure alongside an existing PostgreSQL-backed… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Hatchet — where it wins

  • Durable execution with retries, scheduling, DAGs, and replay
  • Detailed traces, logs, metrics, alerting, and preserved run data
  • Cloud, self-hosted, and hybrid deployment with AI SDK integrations

  Where it doesn't

  • Team starts at $500/month before usage charges
  • Retention is 3 days on Team and 7 days on Scale
  • Advanced compliance and enterprise controls require higher tiers

• pg-boss — where it wins

  • Retries, backoff, redriveable dead-letter queues, and dependencies
  • Cron, RRULE, deferred jobs, throttling, and debouncing
  • Adapters for Knex, Kysely, Drizzle, and Prisma

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires operational ownership
  • Its core fit is strongest for PostgreSQL-compatible systems
  • Official SDK support centers on JavaScript and TypeScript

• Hatchet5.0/10 · Free plan · paid from $10

  A code-first queue for durable execution, observable workflows, and AI task orchestration.

  Visit HatchetFull verdict →
• PBpg-boss—/10 · Free plan

  A deep, self-hosted queue for JavaScript teams already working with PostgreSQL.

  Visit pg-bossFull verdict →