Our take
Pick Encore if backend teams who will stay on Starter $0 (2 Encore Cloud envs, 1M traces, Discord) while they Call API on a first urlshortener, then start the 14-day Pro trial and land on $49/member + $99/env + $2.50/resource when they need AWS/GCP and preview environments. Pick Trigger.dev if app teams who will burn the Free $5 credits on a first durable task, then buy Hobby $10 or Pro $50 when concurrency and
backend-as-code desk
Best for
Encore A backend you start at $0
Trigger.dev Long-running agents or background jobs you meter in credits
Free plan
Encore $0 · email only. Local development with automated infra (no Terraform/YAML). 2 free Encore Cloud dev environments. 1M tracing events/month, 7-day retention. CI/CD and automated testing. Discord community support
Trigger.dev $0 · /month. $5 free credits. 20 concurrent runs. 5 members. 10 schedules. 1-day logs. 10 Realtime connections. Community support
Lowest paid
Encore Not published by the vendor
Trigger.dev Invocation $0.000025
Next step up
Encore
Trigger.dev Compute $0.0000338
Runs where
Encore Local; you host it
Trigger.dev
Watch out
Encore Starter is 2 Encore Cloud envs and 1M traces
Trigger.dev Free is $5 of credits, then you stop
Last checked
Encore 2026-10-22 · encore.dev/pricing
Trigger.dev 2026-10-22 · trigger.dev/pricing
backend teams who will stay on Starter $0 (2 Encore Cloud envs, 1M traces, Discord) while they Call API on a first urlshortener, then start the 14-day Pro trial and land on $49/member + $99/env + $2.50/resource when they need AWS/GCP and preview environments.
Read the Encore pageapp teams who will burn the Free $5 credits on a first durable task, then buy Hobby $10 or Pro $50 when concurrency and retention matter.
Read the Trigger.dev page