Prefect

What it is for

Prefect is a Python workflow desk: you watch flow runs on a board, and you can start Cloud Hobby at $0 (2 users, 5 deployments, 500 min Serverless, 7-day run retention) or self-host OSS at $0. Use it when the job is runs you start at $0, not when you need a $20 chat seat.

What makes it unique: the cover is the official Prefect Flow Runs board (date range, work pools, Late / Completed rows) from the GitHub flows1 still — not a pricing card. The board itself is ops of Flow runs.

Key features

• Flow runs — one execution you watch (flows1 still; write and run; Run any Python flow). One run. Logs, late/completed state, and run retention sit on this. The Python decorator is install.
• Deployments — a server-side definition you schedule or trigger (deployments; pricing “A server-side definition of a flow”). A schedule, not one run. Hobby 5 / Starter 20 / Team 100 are quotas on this, not extra products.
• Work pools — the compute target a run lands on (pricing Work Pools). Your infra or Prefect Serverless. A pool, not a flow. Serverless minutes / hours are the meter on this pool, not a second desk. FastMCP Gateway is a different product on the same site — do not count it here.
• Automations — a rule that reacts to a workflow event (pricing Automations). An alert or a follow-up run, not the flow you wrote. Hobby 5 / Starter 10 / Team 50 sit on this. Webhooks are how an external system hits this.
• Self-host / Cloud — the OSS Prefect server you run (open source schema.org Offer price 0 USD; self-host), or hosted Cloud Hobby at $0 (pricing). A control plane, not a run. Workspaces and seats are quotas on the Cloud card.

Who it's for

Best fit: data / ML teams who will self-host OSS at $0, or stay on Cloud Hobby at $0 (2 users, 5 deployments, 500 min Serverless, 7-day retention) until they need Starter at $100/month or Team at $100/user/month for more deployments, service accounts, and a 24-hour audit log.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) from prefect.io/pricing and the open-source Offer (price: 0 USD). Cloud is users + deployments + Serverless credits. Bring-your-own compute is not a second Cloud SKU on Starter.

• Open Source (self-host) — $0. Apache 2.0. Schema.org Offer on the open-source page: price 0 USD. Run a Prefect server on your infra (self-host).
• Hobby (Cloud) — $0, “Free forever.” 2 users. 1 workspace. 5 deployments. 500 min Prefect Serverless / month. 1 custom work pool. 5 automations. 7-day run retention. 625 API requests/min. Community support.
• Starter (Cloud) — $100/month. 3 users. 20 deployments. 75 hours Serverless. 3 custom work pools. 10 automations. Webhooks. 1,250 API requests/min. Bring your own compute. Community support.
• Team (Cloud) — $100/user/month. 4–8 users. 100 deployments. 225 hours Serverless. Unlimited custom work pools. 50 automations. Service accounts. 24-hour audit log. 14-day run retention. Email + portal support.
• Enterprise — custom / Talk to Sales. SSO (SAML/OIDC), SCIM, IP allowlisting, PrivateLink, unlimited deployments, 99.9% uptime SLA. Confirm the live quote — do not invent an Enterprise dollar.

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Limitations / costs

• Hobby is 5 deployments, 2 users, and 7-day run retention. A sixth deployment is Starter at $100/month.
• Team is $100 per user / month. A fifth teammate is another seat, not a flat card.
• Serverless minutes are a meter. Burst past 500 min (Hobby) or 75 hours (Starter) and you are on the included-credit card, not a second product. FastMCP Gateway has its own pricing page — do not mix it into this flow-run desk.
• A workflow desk, not a PaaS Deploy Settings form. For git → VPS see Dokploy. For event functions without a Flow Runs board see Inngest.

Alternatives

• Inngest — durable event functions when you will not run Prefect deployments and work pools.
• Dagster — asset-oriented pipelines when the unit is a data asset, not a flow run row.
• Mage — notebook-style pipelines when you want a different OSS orchestrator than Prefect’s run board.

Official tutorial

Official Prefect channel video: Run any Python flow on any infrastructure — just add a decorator (oEmbed author: Prefect). First-party product explainer; the GitHub Flow Runs still is the cover. Newer listed uploads we opened were FastMCP / offsite / case-study episodes — do not embed those as a run-board tour.

Written path: prefect.io/pricing plus the flows1 still.

Website

https://www.prefect.io

Repository

https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official Prefect Flow Runs board from the project docs still. Dollars checked on prefect.io/pricing (Hobby $0 / 2 users / 5 deployments / 500 min; Starter $100/mo; Team $100/user/mo; OSS Offer $0). Tutorial oEmbed author: Prefect.

Last verified

2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.