Tag
Jobs
4 reviewed tools: 3 free or open source, 1 hosted with a real free tier.
Order: free and open source first, then hosted products with a real free tier, then paid-led; catalog order inside each group, with quiet or archived repos last. Not a score, and no tool pays for its place.
4 tools
- Trigger.devOpen-source background jobs for Next.js
Free / OSS · Freemium · 16.6k GitHub stars
VerdictOpen-source background jobs with a self-host escape hatch.
Catchv3 was a significant breaking change. The managed platform costs scale with compute. Self-hosting requires maintaining infrastructure.
- BullMQMIT Redis-backed Node job queue vs Inngest/Trigger/Temporal SaaS
Free / OSS · OSS/MIT · 9.5k GitHub stars
VerdictMIT Node+Redis queue. Free core; Pro for Groups/Batches/Observables.
CatchYou operate Redis + workers; not zero-infra like Inngest/Trigger.dev. Groups, Batches, and Observables are BullMQ Pro (commercial). Distinct from Inngest/Trigger SaaS and Temporal durable workflows.
- RiverMPL-2.0 durable Postgres job queue for Go; Pro is paid add-ons
Free / OSS · MPL-2.0 · 5.8k GitHub stars
VerdictMPL-2.0 Postgres jobs. Free forever core; Pro is optional paid power, not required to enqueue.
CatchVs BullMQ (MIT Redis/Node queue), Inngest/Trigger.dev (hosted job platforms), and Temporal (durable *workflow* engine): River is a *Postgres job queue for Go*, not Redis, not a SaaS meter, and not Temporal workflows. River Pro is paid add-ons (workflows, batching, sequences, concurrency limits, DLQ, …) via a private Go module — core stays free MPL-2.0 with no paid code in the OSS tree.
- InngestBackground jobs and workflows with zero infrastructure
Free tier · Source-available · 6k GitHub stars
VerdictThe missing piece for serverless background processing.
CatchLicense first: the Inngest server is under SSPL v1.0, each version converting to Apache-2.0 three years after release — source-available, not OSI open source today. The SDKs are licensed separately. Another service dependency. Debugging distributed workflows requires understanding the execution model. Costs scale with function runs.
FAQ
- What is the top free pick among Jobs?
- Trigger.dev leads the Stack Gems list for Jobs. Verdict: Open-source background jobs with a self-host escape hatch.
- How many Jobs does Stack Gems review?
- 4: 3 free or open source, 1 hosted with a real free tier. Each review has a verdict and an honest Catch; no tool pays for its spot.
- Which Jobs can I self-host for free?
- Trigger.dev, BullMQ and River.
- Which Jobs have the most GitHub stars?
- Trigger.dev (16.6k), BullMQ (9.5k), Inngest (6k), per GitHub on 2026-10-21. Stars measure attention, not fit; read the Catch.
- What is the catch with Trigger.dev?
- v3 was a significant breaking change.