Temporal

What it is for

Temporal is a durable-execution desk: you write a workflow, an activity retries on failure, and Cloud starts with $150 credits for 90 days (no base monthly fee) then Pay-As-You-Go from $50 per million actions. Use it when the job is a workflow you start on $150 credits, not when you need a $20 chat seat.

What makes it unique: the cover is the official Temporal workflow detail (Completed getAddressFromIP, Input / Result, Event History) from the TypeScript hello-world still — not a pricing card. The page itself is ops of Workflows.

Key features

• Workflows — a durable function that can sleep and resume (workflow still; pricing actions). One run. Event History, Queries, and the cover are ops of this. SDKs are install.
• Activities — a step that retries (getIP / fetch) (activity still). A call, not the workflow. Timeouts and retry policy sit on this.
• Task queues / Workers — the poller that runs activities (pricing Worker Management). A process, not a workflow. You run workers; Cloud does not execute your code.
• Schedules — a cron that starts a workflow (docs). A clock, not a run you started by hand.
• Self-host / Cloud — the MIT server you run, or Temporal Cloud (pricing; GitHub). A deploy, not a workflow. SSO / HA options sit on Cloud.

Actions and storage GBhr are the Cloud meters. Business support is the greater of $500/mo or 10% of usage. The Web UI is ops.

Who it's for

Best fit: backend teams who will burn the $150 / 90-day Cloud credits (no base fee) while they reset a first getAddressFromIP run, then land on Pay-As-You-Go from $50 per million actions — or self-host OSS at $0 when they will run the server.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) from temporal.io/pricing. Cloud is actions + storage. No base monthly fee on Pay-As-You-Go.

• Free credits — $150 for 90 days. No base monthly fee. Start for free.
• Pay-As-You-Go — starting at $50 per million actions. Volume self-serve down to $25 per million. Active storage $0.042/GBhr. Retained storage $0.00105/GBhr. Developer support 10% of usage. 99.9% SLA; 99.99% with HA. SSO via SAML listed as an option.
• Business support add-on — starting at $500/month (greater of $500 or 10% of usage). 2-hour P0 SLA, business hours. Includes 2.5M actions, 2.5 GB active storage, 100 GB retained (as printed on the add-on).
• Self-host — MIT Temporal server (GitHub). You run it. $0 license.

Confirm checkout; taxes follow your location. Higher-volume commits: confirm the live quote — do not invent a third action dollar.

Limitations / costs

• $50 / million actions is the starting Cloud meter, plus $0.042/GBhr active history. A chatty workflow is a bill.
• You still run Workers. Cloud stores history; it does not host your activity code.
• A durable-execution desk, not a data orchestrator. For scheduled data pipelines see Prefect or Dagster.

Alternatives

• Prefect — a dataflow orchestrator when the job is a pipeline, not a durable business workflow.
• Inngest — event functions when you will not run Temporal workers.
• Hatchet — a task queue you can self-host when you do not want Temporal Cloud actions.

Official tutorial

Official Temporal channel video: Extend, Don't Wait: Customizing Temporal's UI for Your Team's Workflow (oEmbed author: Temporal). First-party UI walkthrough; the hello-world workflow-detail still is the cover.

Written path: temporal.io/pricing plus the TypeScript hello world.

Website

https://temporal.io

Repository

https://github.com/temporalio/temporal

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official Temporal workflow-detail Web UI from the TypeScript hello-world still. Dollars checked on temporal.io/pricing ($150 credits / 90 days; PAYG from $50/M actions; storage $0.042/GBhr; Business from $500/mo). Tutorial oEmbed author: Temporal.

Last verified

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