Cloudflare Queues vs Trigger.dev
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Cloudflare Queues and Trigger.dev built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose Cloudflare Queues if…
Workers applications that want a queue with no egress or throughput charges and a retention window measured in days rather than hours.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Trigger.dev if…
Teams that want background jobs written as normal code with the bill expressed as compute credits rather than a per-message meter.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Cloudflare Queues: Billing is per 64 KB operation rather than per message, so a large payload or a chatty retry loop costs several times what the message count suggests.
- Trigger.dev: Concurrency is the axis that forces an upgrade — 20 simultaneous runs on free, 50 on Hobby, then $10 a month per additional 50.
Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Cloudflare Queues alternatives · Trigger.dev alternatives
6 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Cloudflare Queues 0
Trigger.dev 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Cloudflare Queues | Trigger.dev |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Free tier |
| What the free plan includes | The first 1,000,000 standard operations a month are not billed; beyond that the rate is $0.40 per million, and each message costs three operations. | $5 of credit each month with 20 concurrent runs and one day of log retention. |
| Pricing model | Billed per operation, not per message: one operation per 64 KB written, read or deleted, and a message larger than 64 KB counts as several. Cloudflare states a normal delivery takes three operations — one write, one read, one delete — so a million messages is nearer three million operations. Workers Paid includes 1,000,000 operations a month, then $0.40 per million; the free plan allows 10,000 a day. | A monthly plan fee that is also a credit balance — the fee buys compute rather than sitting on top of it — with concurrency, preview branches, dashboards and schedules each priced as separate add-ons beyond the plan's allowance. |
| Queues | ||
| Included per month | 1,000,000 operations a month on Workers Paid, then $0.40 per million. An operation is each 64 KB written, read or deleted, so a typical message costs three — Cloudflare's own formula is ((messages × 3) − 1,000,000) / 1,000,000 × $0.40. Workers Free allows 10,000 operations a day. | Credits rather than a message or execution count: $5 a month free, $10 included on Hobby and $50 on Pro, spent against compute. |
| Maximum message size | 128 KB per message, with roughly 100 bytes of that taken by internal metadata. | 3 MB per trigger payload (each batch item up to 3 MB on SDK 4.3.1+); task outputs up to 10 MB; payloads over 512 KB offloaded to object storage. |
| Message retention | 4 days by default on Workers Paid, configurable up to 14 days. Workers Free is fixed at 24 hours. | Log retention of 1 day on the free plan, 7 days on Hobby and 30 days on Pro, with the query period matching. |
| Concurrency | 250 concurrent consumer invocations, push-based only, with per-queue throughput capped at 5,000 messages a second. | 20 concurrent runs on the free plan, 50 on Hobby, and more on Pro at $10 a month per additional 50. |
Where they differ.
What the free plan includes
- Cloudflare Queues
- The first 1,000,000 standard operations a month are not billed; beyond that the rate is $0.40 per million, and each message costs three operations.
- Trigger.dev
- $5 of credit each month with 20 concurrent runs and one day of log retention.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Queues Pricing — Cloudflare ↗
“you can use the following formula to estimate your monthly bill: ((Number of Messages * 3) - 1,000,000) / 1,000,000 * $0.40”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Pricing — Trigger.dev ↗
“Free $0/month [...] $5 / month free credits [...] 20 concurrent runs [...] 1 day log retention”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Pricing model
- Cloudflare Queues
- Billed per operation, not per message: one operation per 64 KB written, read or deleted, and a message larger than 64 KB counts as several. Cloudflare states a normal delivery takes three operations — one write, one read, one delete — so a million messages is nearer three million operations. Workers Paid includes 1,000,000 operations a month, then $0.40 per million; the free plan allows 10,000 a day.
- Trigger.dev
- A monthly plan fee that is also a credit balance — the fee buys compute rather than sitting on top of it — with concurrency, preview branches, dashboards and schedules each priced as separate add-ons beyond the plan's allowance.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Cloudflare Queues docs ↗
“An operation is counted for each 64 KB of data that is written, read, or deleted. [...] Standard operations 10,000 operations/day included 1,000,000 operations/month included + $0.40/million operations [...] In most cases, it takes 3 operations to deliver a message: 1 write, 1 read, and 1 delete.”
Read 2026-09-07 · official docs · Report a correction
- Pricing — Trigger.dev ↗
“$10 / month credits included [...] Then $10/month per 50 [...] Then $20/month per seat [...] Then $10/month per branch [...] Then $10/month per 1,000”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
Included per month
- Cloudflare Queues
- 1,000,000 operations a month on Workers Paid, then $0.40 per million. An operation is each 64 KB written, read or deleted, so a typical message costs three — Cloudflare's own formula is ((messages × 3) − 1,000,000) / 1,000,000 × $0.40. Workers Free allows 10,000 operations a day.
- Trigger.dev
- Credits rather than a message or execution count: $5 a month free, $10 included on Hobby and $50 on Pro, spent against compute.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Cloudflare Queues docs ↗
“1,000,000 operations/month included + $0.40/million operations [...] An operation is counted for each 64 KB of data that is written, read, or deleted. [...] In most cases, it takes 3 operations to deliver a message [...] 10,000 operations/day included”
Read 2026-09-06 · official docs · Report a correction
- Pricing — Trigger.dev ↗
“$5 / month free credits [...] $10 / month credits included [...] $50 / month credits included”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
Maximum message size
128 KB per message, with roughly 100 bytes of that taken by internal metadata.
3 MB per trigger payload (each batch item up to 3 MB on SDK 4.3.1+); task outputs up to 10 MB; payloads over 512 KB offloaded to object storage.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Queues limits — Cloudflare Docs ↗
“Feature Limit Queues 10,000 per account Message size 128 KB 1 Message retries 100 Maximum consumer batch size 100 messages [...] Messages can include up to ~100 bytes of internal metadata that counts towards total message limits.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Limits - Trigger.dev ↗
“Single trigger payload Must not exceed 3MB Batch trigger payload Each item can be up to 3MB (SDK 4.3.1+). Prior: 1MB total combined Task outputs Must not exceed 10MB”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Message retention
- Cloudflare Queues
- 4 days by default on Workers Paid, configurable up to 14 days. Workers Free is fixed at 24 hours.
- Trigger.dev
- Log retention of 1 day on the free plan, 7 days on Hobby and 30 days on Pro, with the query period matching.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Queues pricing — Cloudflare Docs ↗
“Message retention 24 hours (non-configurable) 4 days default, configurable up to 14 days”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Pricing — Trigger.dev ↗
“1 day log retention 1 day query period [...] 7 day log retention 7 days query period [...] 30 day log retention”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
Concurrency
250 concurrent consumer invocations, push-based only, with per-queue throughput capped at 5,000 messages a second.
20 concurrent runs on the free plan, 50 on Hobby, and more on Pro at $10 a month per additional 50.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Queues limits — Cloudflare Docs ↗
“Per-queue message throughput 5,000 messages per second 2 Message retention period 3 Configurable up to 14 days. Per-queue backlog size 4 25GB Concurrent consumer invocations 250 push-based only Consumer duration (wall clock time) 15 minutes”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Pricing — Trigger.dev ↗
“20 concurrent runs [...] 50 concurrent runs [...] Then $10/month per 50”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.
Questions this comparison answers.
Should I choose Cloudflare Queues or Trigger.dev?
Pick Cloudflare Queues if Workers applications that want a queue with no egress or throughput charges and a retention window measured in days rather than hours.
Pick Trigger.dev if Teams that want background jobs written as normal code with the bill expressed as compute credits rather than a per-message meter.
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