Kestra
Declarative workflow orchestration - flows are YAML authored in the UI, so there is no DAG-deployment problem at all.
One-click deploy, from $25/mo on a Miget plan.
Every Airflow deployment eventually asks the same question: how do DAG files get onto the workers? On a PaaS, that question has no good answer - which is why this catalogue ships Kestra instead. Flows are declarative YAML, authored and versioned in the UI, stored in Postgres: there is nothing to deploy when you add a workflow.
One JVM container does it all (UI, API, scheduler, executor, worker in standalone mode), with both the queue and the repository on the managed Postgres - no Redis, no Celery, no fleet of components. Hundreds of plugins cover HTTP, SQL, dbt, files, and notifications; schedules, webhooks, and flow-dependency triggers come built in.
The platform constraint is handled in the template, not discovered later: script tasks default to Kestra’s Docker runner, which needs a socket - this template pins the PROCESS runner as the plugin default so Python/Shell tasks run in-container.
Upstream project: Kestra
#what you get
- Declarative YAML flows, authored and versioned in the UI
- Hundreds of plugins: HTTP, SQL, dbt, S3, notifications, …
- Schedules, webhooks, and flow-dependency triggers
- Single standalone container - queue and repo on managed Postgres
- Basic auth built in; PROCESS runner pre-configured for scripts
- Apache-2.0 core; scale-out topology available when needed
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| kestra | UI + API + scheduler + worker (:5000) | yes (basic auth) |
| db | Postgres - managed service on Miget, container locally | no |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
4 GiB RAM · 15 GB disk · 2 services
A JVM app: upstream quotes a 4 GiB floor, and 3 GiB allocated runs comfortably for team workloads. Internal storage rides the volume; point it at S3 when flows start moving real data.
Hobby - recommended fit
$25/mo
2 vCPU · 4 GiB · 80 GiB disk
Headroom for your own apps: 8 GiB at $49/mo
Professional - production
$43/mo
2 vCPU · 4 GiB · 25 GiB disk
Dedicated resources, production SLOs - plan details
One Miget plan is a fixed pool of compute - the whole stack (managed databases included) deploys inside it, and anything left over runs your other apps. No per-service or per-seat math.
#vs. the managed service
What the hosted equivalents charge, against the flat Miget plan this stack fits on. Prices as of June 2026, sources linked.
| Service | Plan | Monthly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kestra on Miget ★ | 4 GiB plan | $25 | this whole stack, flat - no usage meters, and room left for your own apps |
| Astronomer | Developer (managed Airflow) | ~$255 | from $0.35/hr per always-on deployment, workers extra - the managed-orchestrator reference point |
Kestra Cloud itself is usage-priced; the open-source core this template ships is the full product for self-hosters.
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (4 GiB RAM, 15 GB disk, 2 containers) elsewhere, from published June 2026 rates.
| Platform | Est. monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $25 flat | compose stacks first-class: one deploy, dedicated vCPU, managed Postgres/Valkey, volumes and TLS all included in the plan |
| Heroku | ~$200 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| Render | ~$54 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| DO App Platform | ~$53 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Railway | ~$42 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$26 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
Estimates assume RAM fully allocated at published on-demand rates - and sticker price isn't the whole comparison: the cheaper rows buy burstable shared CPUs, per-service wiring instead of a compose deploy, and managed databases billed separately. Heroku and DO App Platform have no persistent volumes at all - stateful stacks like this one need workarounds there.
#deploy it
On Miget
- Create a Compose Stack in app.miget.com pointing at the templates repository
- Set the stack path to
kestra -
Set the required variable:
KESTRA_ADMIN_EMAIL / KESTRA_ADMIN_PASSWORD, basic auth (email username; 8+ chars, uppercase + number)
- Deploy. Miget layers
compose.miget.yaml(RAM, privacy, volumes, managed services) automatically
Locally first?
Every template is portable, vanilla Docker Compose - the Miget overrides are ignored locally:
git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd miget-compose-templates/kestra
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
Why Kestra instead of Airflow?
On a PaaS, Airflow’s DAG-file deployment story has no good answer - the stock image ships empty with no ingest mechanism, so a template would deploy an orchestrator you cannot feed. Kestra flows live in the database and are authored in the UI; the problem simply does not exist. (If you are deeply Airflow-invested, Astronomer’s managed offering is the honest recommendation.)
What does managed orchestration cost by comparison?
Astronomer (managed Airflow) starts around $0.35/hour per deployment - roughly $255/month always-on, before workers. Kestra Cloud is usage-priced. This stack is $49/month flat with the full open-source feature set.
Can my flows run Python scripts?
Yes - the template pre-configures the PROCESS task runner (the Docker runner needs a socket the platform does not expose), so scripts execute inside the Kestra container. Bake extra toolchains into a derived image, or call services in your project over HTTP for heavier work.
How does Kestra compare to n8n in this catalogue?
n8n is integration automation (connect SaaS apps, react to events) with a visual editor; Kestra is data/engineering orchestration (pipelines, dependencies, retries, backfills) with declarative YAML. Plenty of teams run both - they meet different needs.
Ship Kestra today
One compose stack, 4 GiB of RAM, from $25/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.