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Upstash QStash vs Trigger.dev

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Upstash QStash and Trigger.dev built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 20 criteria comparedSources last checked

The short answer

Choose Upstash QStash if…

HTTP-first workloads that want scheduling and delay measured in months rather than a day, without running a consumer process.

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…

  • Upstash QStash: The free plan is capped per day rather than per month, so a single burst can exhaust it while a monthly allowance elsewhere would absorb the same volume.
  • 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: Upstash QStash alternatives · Trigger.dev alternatives

5 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Upstash QStash documentationVisit Trigger.dev documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionUpstash QStashTrigger.dev
Pricing
Free tierYesYes
Kind of free offerFree tierFree tier
What the free plan includes1,000 messages a day.$5 of credit each month with 20 concurrent runs and one day of log retention.
Pricing modelPer message rather than per operation, metered against a daily ceiling on the free plan and priced at $1 per 100,000 on Pay as You Go, with monthly bandwidth caps alongside — 50 GB on the smaller plans, 1 TB and 5 TB above.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 month1,000 messages a day on the free plan. Pay as You Go is $1 per 100,000 messages with no daily cap; fixed plans run $180 a month for 1M a day and $420 for 10M.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
1 MB on the free plan, 10 MB on Pay as You Go and 50 MB on the fixed plans.
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 retentionDead letter queue retention of 3 days on the free plan, 7 days on Pay as You Go, 30 days and 3 months on the fixed plans.Log retention of 1 day on the free plan, 7 days on Hobby and 30 days on Pro, with the query period matching.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

What the free plan includes

Upstash QStash
1,000 messages a day.
Trigger.dev
$5 of credit each month with 20 concurrent runs and one day of log retention.
Sources (2) →

Pricing model

Upstash QStash
Per message rather than per operation, metered against a daily ceiling on the free plan and priced at $1 per 100,000 on Pay as You Go, with monthly bandwidth caps alongside — 50 GB on the smaller plans, 1 TB and 5 TB above.
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) →

Included per month

Upstash QStash
1,000 messages a day on the free plan. Pay as You Go is $1 per 100,000 messages with no daily cap; fixed plans run $180 a month for 1M a day and $420 for 10M.
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) →

Maximum message size

Upstash QStash

1 MB on the free plan, 10 MB on Pay as You Go and 50 MB on the fixed plans.

Trigger.dev

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) →

Message retention

Upstash QStash
Dead letter queue retention of 3 days on the free plan, 7 days on Pay as You Go, 30 days and 3 months on the fixed plans.
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) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

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.

Entry paid planTrigger.dev: $10/month for Hobby, which includes $10 of credits; Pro is $50/month including $50 of credits.
RegionsTrigger.dev: Three AWS regions for running tasks: us-east-1 (US East, Virginia), us-west-2 (US West, Oregon) and eu-central-1 (Europe, Frankfurt). Changelog dated July 13, 2026; region set per project or per run on the dashboard Regions page.
Maximum delayUpstash QStash: 7 days on the free plan; 1 year on Pay as You Go and unlimited on the fixed plans.
ConcurrencyTrigger.dev: 20 concurrent runs on the free plan, 50 on Hobby, and more on Pro at $10 a month per additional 50.
Dead letter queueUpstash QStash: Supported
Support on entry paid planTrigger.dev: Community support on the $5 and $10 plans; dedicated Slack support on Pro ($50/month); priority support on Enterprise.
SOC 2Trigger.dev: SOC 2 Type II compliant; latest report available on request for Enterprise customers.
HIPAATrigger.dev: Meets HIPAA Business Associate requirements; a signed BAA is a paid add-on for running PHI workloads on Trigger.dev Cloud.
GDPR / data residencyTrigger.dev: Stated GDPR compliant; DPA forms part of the Terms of Service automatically on sign-up.
Encryption at restTrigger.dev: Data encrypted at rest with AES-256 and in transit with HTTPS/TLS.
Role-based access controlTrigger.dev: Role-based access control (RBAC) and SSO listed as Enterprise plan features.
Private networking / VPCTrigger.dev: AWS PrivateLink to resources in your own AWS VPC; a Pro and Enterprise feature enabled on request.
Dedicated infrastructureTrigger.dev: Cloud is fully managed; the docs route teams with data residency, compliance or infrastructure-control requirements to self-hosting instead.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Should I choose Upstash QStash or Trigger.dev?

Pick Upstash QStash if HTTP-first workloads that want scheduling and delay measured in months rather than a day, without running a consumer process.

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.

Provider pages

Upstash QStashHTTP-based message queue and scheduler, priced per message with a per-day cap rather than a monthly allowance.Trigger.devBackground jobs platform billed as monthly credits against compute, with plan tiers set by concurrent runs.

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.