--- title: "Celery Pricing, Features & Alternatives (2026)" description: "Celery (Background Jobs & Workflows): Free tier. Plans, pros & cons, and Celery alternatives compared for startups in 2026." source: https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/celery retrieved: 2026-11-13 --- ![Celery logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=celeryq.dev&sz=128) [Background Jobs & Workflows](https://appstackbuilder.com/categories/background%5Fjobs)Free tier # Celery: Pricing, Features & Alternatives Celery is an open-source (BSD) distributed task queue for Python, running asynchronous jobs and periodic tasks via a message broker such as RabbitMQ, Redis or Amazon SQS. It is widely used for background processing in Django and Flask apps. Who it’s for: Python and Django teams who want a free task queue they run themselves on RabbitMQ or Redis. Category Background Jobs & Workflows Pricing Free tier available Free tier Yes Best for Background Jobs & Workflows: Python, Django, self-hosted ## Celery at a Glance What it is Open-source distributed task queue Languages Python What it runs on Your RabbitMQ, Redis or Amazon SQS broker How you pay Free (BSD); you pay for your infrastructure Free access Full open-source project Checked November 2026 against [Introduction to Celery (Celery docs)](https://docs.celeryq.dev/en/stable/getting-started/introduction.html), [Celery on GitHub](https://github.com/celery/celery). [Visit Celery official site](https://docs.celeryq.dev/) ## Celery Pricing Plans (2026) | Plan | Price | Highlights | | ------------------ | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Open SourcePopular | $0 (self-hosted) | BSD-3-Clause licensed · Works with RabbitMQ, Redis or Amazon SQS · Periodic tasks (beat) | Pricing summary: Free. Always confirm current pricing on the official site. ## Key Celery Features * ✓Open source under the BSD-3-Clause license; current stable version 5.6 * ✓RabbitMQ and Redis brokers are feature complete; Amazon SQS is also supported * ✓Result backends include Redis, SQLAlchemy, Django ORM and Memcached * ✓Periodic tasks with celery beat, including crontab expressions * ✓Canvas primitives for groups, chains and chunks of tasks * ✓Supports Python 3.8 to 3.13 and PyPy3.9+ ### ✓ Pros * +Free and open-source * +Mature and in production use for many years * +Deep Django/Flask integration * +Flexible broker support ### ✗ Cons * −Python only * −You run the broker and workers * −Configuration can be complex ## Best Celery Alternatives [Compare all ](https://appstackbuilder.com/tool-alternatives/celery) [![Inngest logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=inngest.com&sz=128)InngestFree · paid from $99/mo](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/inngest)[![Sidekiq logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=sidekiq.org&sz=128)SidekiqFree · paid from $99/mo](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/sidekiq)[![Trigger.dev logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=trigger.dev&sz=128)Trigger.devFree · paid from $10/mo](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/trigger-dev)[![BullMQ logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=bullmq.io&sz=128)BullMQFree · paid from $139/mo](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/bullmq)[![Temporal logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=temporal.io&sz=128)TemporalFree · then usage-based](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/temporal)[![Graphile Worker logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=graphile.org&sz=128)Graphile WorkerFree](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/graphile-worker) ## Celery Compared [Celery vs Inngest](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/celery-vs-inngest)[Celery vs Sidekiq](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/celery-vs-sidekiq)[Celery vs Trigger.dev](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/celery-vs-trigger-dev)[Celery vs BullMQ](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/bullmq-vs-celery)[Celery vs Temporal](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/celery-vs-temporal)[Celery vs Graphile Worker](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/celery-vs-graphile-worker) ## Celery FAQ What is Celery used for?⌄ Celery is a background jobs & workflows tool. The classic distributed task queue for Python: async jobs and scheduled tasks at scale. Is Celery free?⌄ Yes. Celery has a free tier you can start with, and paid plans for more usage and features. How much does Celery cost?⌄ Celery is free to use. What are the best Celery alternatives?⌄ Popular Celery alternatives include Inngest, Sidekiq, Trigger.dev, BullMQ, Temporal. Compare pricing and features on our Celery alternatives page. ## Not sure if Celery fits your stack? Get a free, AI-powered tech stack tailored to your budget, app type, and team size, including the best background jobs & workflows pick for you. [Build my stack free ](https://appstackbuilder.com/)