You host and manage the orchestration platform
Best for:
Managed orchestration. Your workflows and data stay in your infrastructure.
Best for:
Your code and data never leave your infrastructure
No inbound connections to your network. You control firewall rules and security posture.
Workflows execute in your environment with direct access to your databases and resources.
Run history, logs, and lineage live in Prefect Cloud. Your actual data never transits our systems.
Engineers spend valuable time managing infrastructure rather than building data products
Your workers run in your infrastructure—Kubernetes, ECS, Lambda, or any compute you choose.
Detailed comparison of every feature across both platforms
| Feature | Prefect OSS | Prefect Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Where orchestration runs | Your infrastructure | Prefect-managed |
| Where workflows execute | Your infrastructure | Your infrastructure |
| Scheduling | ||
| Python & REST API | ||
| Interactive dashboard | ||
| Events and automations | ||
| Webhooks | ||
| System metrics | ||
| Custom authentication (SSO, SCIM) | ||
| Granular permissions (team, project, object levels) | ||
| Managed orchestration server and API | ||
| Support |
Real-world results from companies who made the switch
Cox Automotive chose Prefect Cloud to streamline scenario planning for its 70 U.S. auction sites. With Prefect's robust security and scalability, the Cox team automated hundreds of data pipelines.
Prefect Cloud enabled EF Education First, a 10,000-employee travel learning company, to scale data orchestration. This improved workflow management and observability for data analysts and scientists throughout the organization.
No. Your workflows execute in your infrastructure with direct access to your data. Prefect Cloud only stores metadata (run history, logs, scheduling info).
No. Prefect Cloud requires your workers to poll our API over the internet. For air-gapped deployments, use self-hosted Prefect OSS.
Prefect Cloud's Hobby tier is free forever: 2 users, 5 deployed workflows, managed infrastructure. Perfect for small teams and side projects. View full pricing details →
Update one config line to point your workers at Cloud's API. No code changes needed. You can run both simultaneously during migration.
Try Prefect Cloud free with the Hobby tier, or install self-hosted if you need full control