head to head · open source
Prefect vs Hatchet
Prefect has 23,857 GitHub stars, 2,528 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hatchet has 7,957 stars, 504 forks, 135 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Prefect leads on adoption by 200% (23,857 vs 7,957 stars). Prefect is written in Python under Apache-2.0; Hatchet is written in Go under MIT. Prefect has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Hatchet 6%. Prefect was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (python), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Prefect | Hatchet | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 8.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 504 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Prefect if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Hatchet if
- You want the Hatchet feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Hatchet fits your workflow better
About Prefect
Prefect is an open source, Python native workflow orchestration framework that lets data and machine learning teams turn ordinary Python scripts into scheduled, resilient, observable production pipelines.
read the full Prefect overview →
About Hatchet
Hatchet is an MIT licensed, Go based orchestration engine for background tasks, AI agents, and durable workflows, built for teams that need reliable queueing, retries, and observability while writing workers in Python, TypeScript, Go, or Ruby.
read the full Hatchet overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Prefect or Hatchet more popular?
Prefect has 23,857 GitHub stars and Hatchet has 7,957. Prefect has the larger community by that measure.
Are Prefect and Hatchet free?
Both are open source. Prefect is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Hatchet under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Prefect and Hatchet?
Prefect is written in Python and Hatchet in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Prefect or Hatchet?
Choose Prefect if you want the larger community (23,857 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Hatchet if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.