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Temporal vs Trigger.dev
Trust Score comparison · March 2026
Signal Comparison
200k / wknpm downloads120k/wk
200 commitsCommits (90d)380
12k ★GitHub stars8k
800 q'sStack Overflow800
GrowingCommunityGrowing
TemporalTrigger.dev
Key Differences
| Factor | Temporal | Trigger.dev |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | Apache 2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript / Python | TypeScript |
| Hosted | Self-hosted | Self-hosted |
| Free tier | — | ✓ Yes |
| Open Source | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| TypeScript | ✓ | ✓ |
Pick Temporal if…
- Long-running business processes (order fulfillment, multi-step payments) that must complete reliably
- Replacing complex retry logic, dead-letter queues, and state machines with simple code
- Workflows that span hours, days, or weeks and need human-in-the-loop steps
Pick Trigger.dev if…
- Serverless/edge app that needs durable background tasks
- You want to write jobs as plain TypeScript without a Redis queue
- Long-running tasks (>10s) that would timeout in Vercel serverless
Side-by-side Quick Start
Temporal
import { Worker, NativeConnection } from '@temporalio/worker';
import { workflowFn } from './workflows';
const worker = await Worker.create({
connection: await NativeConnection.connect({ address: 'localhost:7233' }),
namespace: 'default',
taskQueue: 'my-queue',
workflowsPath: require.resolve('./workflows'),
activities: { greet: async (name) => `Hello, ${name}!` },
});
await worker.run();Trigger.dev
import { task } from '@trigger.dev/sdk/v3';
export const sendWelcomeEmail = task({
id: 'send-welcome-email',
retry: { maxAttempts: 3, minTimeoutInMs: 1000, factor: 2 },
run: async (payload: { userId: string; email: string }) => {
const user = await db.users.findUnique({ where: { id: payload.userId } });
await resend.emails.send({
from: 'hello@myapp.com',
to: payload.email,
subject: 'Welcome!',
html: `<p>Welcome, ${user.name}!</p>`,
});
return { sent: true };
},
});
// Trigger from anywhere:
await sendWelcomeEmail.trigger({ userId: '123', email: 'alice@example.com' });Community Verdict
Based on upvoted notes🏆
Temporal wins this comparison
Trust Score 82 vs 80 · 2-point difference
Temporal leads on Trust Score with stronger signal data across downloads and community health. That said, the other tool is worth considering if your use case matches its specific strengths above.