Why Astro
Astro vs Other Managed Apache Airflow® Services
Astro delivers smarter scaling, built-in observability, and expert support — helping teams reduce risk, resolve issues faster, and keep data flowing reliably.
When tasks start late, delays cascade.
In pipelines with dozens of tasks, lag adds up fast—turning an 8 a.m. dashboard into a mid-morning scramble. Astro’s optimized runtime slashes start times from minutes to seconds, eliminating this hidden tax and keeping your data flowing on time, every time.
Reducing job runtime from 2 hours to 2 minutes
Campspot's Migration from AWS Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow (MWAA) to Astro has brought significant performance improvements to Campspot's operations.
Lean team, faster upgrades, stronger pipelines
WeWork’s move from GCC to Astro helped them modernize orchestration, cut maintenance overhead, and empower a small team to deliver global impact.
Compare your options
See how Astro stacks up against the industry.
| AS OF DECEMBER 2024 |  |  | .svg?_cchid=b830794272fbb66b99671e9652b9684e){kind=small} |
|---|---|---|---|
Build Pipelines Faster | |||
AI-powered Dag authoring purpose-built for Airflow |  |  | |
In-browser testing and seamless deployment | | | |
Local development, testing, and debugging | | Limited Limited image support for Composer Local | Limited AWS CLI and MWAA Local Runner |
Seamless CI/CD integration | GitHub | Manual | Manual |
Branch-based deploys for automated, reliable deployments | | | |
Day-zero support for the latest Airflow versions | | Delayed Support | Delayed Support |
Run Pipelines with Confidence | |||
Optimized task performance | 2x faster | | |
Dynamic, Airflow-aware scaling | Proprietary Hypervisor; | Limited | Limited Fixed worker sizes; |
Scaling worker granularity | Task optimized | Limited Configuration for | Limited Managed on ECS |
Scale-to-zero deployments and hibernation | | | |
Seamless, in-place platform upgrades with rollback support | | Manual Upgrades Manual Upgrades | Limited Minor versions only; |
Run tasks on your own infrastructure with remote execution | Remote execution | | |
Multitenancy for team isolation | | | |
Centralized connections management to data stack | | | |
Bring your own secrets management | | Limited GCP secrets manager only | Limited AWS secrets manager only |
Multi-cloud deployment flexibility | Support for AWS, | Delayed Support | Delayed Support |
Guaranteed Airflow SLAs | 99.5% Uptime | Limited SLA for GCP infra only | Limited SLA for AWS infra only |
Enterprise-grade support from Apache Airflow committers and contributors | 24x7 | No Airflow Support | No Airflow Support |
Observe and Optimize Pipelines | |||
Pipeline-level visibility & real-time data lineage | Automatic lineage with Astro Observe | Limited Via Google | Limited Via integrations with Amazon |
Data product SLA monitoring, for data freshness and timeliness | | | |
AI-powered log summaries for faster RCA | | | |
Centralized view across all Airflow deployments | | Limited Via Google Cloud Logging | Limited Via AWS CloudWatch |
Proactive and data-centric alerting based on SLA status, Dag run, and task states | | Limited Via Cloud Monitoring | Limited Via CloudWatch and |
Airflow deployment health alerting | | Limited Component health only | Limited Component health only |
Data warehouse cost attribution | | | |
Built-in data quality monitoring | | | |
Real-time notifications (Slack, PagerDuty, OpsGenie, Email) | | Limited Via Cloud Monitoring | Limited Via AWS CloudWatch |
A faster, more reliable way to build, run, and observe Airflow pipelines.
Streamlined Developer Experience
Build faster with a better developer experience.
Develop, test, and deploy Dags faster with tools like the Astro CLI for local development, and the in-browser, AI-powered Astro IDE for Airflow-native AI code assistance with zero setup.
Adaptive Airflow-Aware Scaling
Scale dynamically with fine-grain controls.
Astro gives you dynamic autoscaling, multi-cloud flexibility, and granular control over compute, worker queues, and environment configuration, to easily adapt to growing data needs.
Real-Time Pipeline Visibility
Monitor your pipelines with built-in observability.
Track pipeline health, lineage, and SLAs in real time without the heavy lifting, to detect issues early and ensure trusted data delivery.
Enterprise-Grade Support
Deliver data reliably with expert support.
Astro ensures reliable data delivery with a 99.5% uptime SLA and access to real-time support from Airflow experts.
Frequently Asked Questions
I'm using another Airflow managed service today. How difficult is it to migrate to Astro?
Migrating to Astro is designed to be straightforward and efficient. Our team provides comprehensive support throughout the process, including tools and documentation to ensure a smooth transition. For tailored guidance, Astronomer's Professional Services team is available to assist with specific migration strategies and best practices.
What's the easiest way to get started with Astro?
The best way to start with Astro is by signing up for our Developer tier, which offers a Pay-As-You-Go model. This allows you to get up and running quickly and be fully operational on your own. Alternatively, you can sign up for a trial or schedule a demo to explore our platform. We also recommend engaging with our extensive documentation and resource library, which offers tutorials and guides to help you set up your first project and understand how to maximize the platform's capabilities.
How does Astro's pricing compare to other managed Airflow services?
Astro offers four product tiers with different levels of features and support to suit your team's Airflow needs. The Developer tier offers pay-as-you-go pricing starting at $0.35/hr. Learn more about Astro pricing and product tiers here.
