Windmill vs Tines
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Windmill and Tines.
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Verdict: Tines wins
Tines scores 4.5/5, edging out Windmill at 4.2/5. Security, IT and operations teams that need auditable no-code automation across sensitive systems with human approval gates built in.
Windmill Open-source workflow automation for developers | Tines Workflow automation platform for security and operations teams | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.2 (1 review) | 4.5 (1 review) |
| Pricing Model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting Price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best For | Engineering teams who want code-first internal tools, workflows and APIs on infrastructure they control, with no per-execution billing. | Security, IT and operations teams that need auditable no-code automation across sensitive systems with human approval gates built in. |
| Free Tier | ||
| API Access | ||
| Team Features | ||
| Open Source | ||
| Tags | open sourcefree tierapi access | free tierteam featuresapi access |
| Visit Windmill → | Visit Tines → |
Windmill
Pros
- + Script-first model: typed functions become endpoints, jobs and flow steps with auto-generated UIs — my nightly pipeline was rebuilt in one Docker session
- + Free self-hosted tier carries unlimited executions, not a trial disguised as a plan
- + Rust execution engine kept orchestration overhead sub-second between flow steps in my tests
- + Worker-group model scales throughput with replicas and tag routing instead of redesigns
- + Transparent per-unit Enterprise pricing ($20/builder, $10/non-builder, $50/worker) with published SLA terms
Cons
- - Zero no-code path — teams without developers cannot use it at any price
- - Prebuilt Community Edition images bundle proprietary Windmill Labs terms (no resale/wrapping/modifying), separate from the AGPLv3 source build
- - Worker groups and role configuration have a real learning curve before the platform pays off
- - Small vendor (under twenty employees in 2024 reporting, ~$15M raised) relative to the incumbents it replaces
- - Flow durability is lighter than Temporal for mission-critical long-running orchestration
Tines
Pros
- + Security-native design: credential isolation, immutable audit logs, SSO on the free tier and first-class approval gates — I verified approvals work as a primitive, not a webhook hack
- + A real phishing-response workflow (enrich, branch, Slack approval, ticket write-back) went live on the canvas in under an hour in my testing
- + G2 satisfaction is exceptional for the category: 4.8/5 from ~230 reviews with high-nineties scores on ease of use, setup and support quality
- + Vendor-agnostic by design — anything with an API connects, so you are not stranded by a curated connector marketplace
- + Strong company signals: $125M Series C at a $1.125B valuation (Feb 2025), 1B+ automated actions per week, and an AI-governance (3B) story ahead of rivals
Cons
- - No published pricing above the free tier — every production evaluation runs through sales, and the AWS Marketplace vehicle is a custom contract only
- - The free edition caps at 3 live workflows (and 25,000 monthly events under older terms) — enough to evaluate, not to operate
- - No code escape hatch: deep JSON reshaping and bespoke logic get tedious in event transforms where a JS node would be three lines
- - Tines 3B (self-healing, cross-org monitoring of externally built workflows) launched July 2026 and is young — validate hands-on before betting a governance program on it
- - Category identity is blurred (SOAR, iPaaS, process automation), and non-security use cases feel secondary to the alert-driven core
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Windmill or Tines?▼
Tines scores higher at 4.5/5 vs 4.2/5 for Windmill, making it the better-rated option in our comparison.
What is the difference between Windmill and Tines?▼
Windmill: Windmill is an open-source platform that turns scripts in Python, TypeScript, Go and other languages into workflows, internal apps and scheduled jobs. It is aimed at developers who prefer code over drag-and-drop builders. Tines: Tines is a workflow automation platform used by security and IT teams to build and run processes across sensitive systems without writing code.
Is Windmill or Tines more affordable?▼
Windmill starts at €0/mo, Tines starts at €0/mo. Check the comparison table above for current pricing.
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