Airflow if you already live in DAGs (the Astronomer shape). Dagster if you want assets. Pick one orchestrator.

Is this Fivetran or dbt?

No. Fivetran is extract — /replace/fivetran. dbt is SQL transforms — /replace/dbt-cloud. This page schedules those jobs.

Yes. Apache License 2.0 on apache/airflow. Astronomer is the hosted product this page leaves.

Stacks / Analytics

Medium

Apache Airflow / Dagster

Pipelines you schedule. Airflow is Apache-2.0; Dagster is Apache-2.0 — Astronomer without the Airflow seat.

The problem

Astronomer is hosted Apache Airflow. You wanted the scheduler on hardware you control. Apache Airflow is Apache-2.0 (apache/airflow). Dagster is Apache-2.0 (dagster-io/dagster) if you want that asset-oriented orchestrator. This is not every Astronomer Cloud SKU, Astro CLI deploy, or a Fivetran connector pack — ELT stays on /replace/fivetran. dbt stays on /replace/dbt-cloud.

Replaces

Astronomer

Replace Astronomer See all best open-source data tools

Estimated SaaS saved

$1,200

per year, small team, before lock-in

Start on Railway

Meltano if this is extract-and-load, not the scheduler

Sponsor this stack Tip jar

Placeholder: Airflow (webserver + scheduler + worker + Postgres + a volume for DAGs) or Dagster + a database. This is several processes. No one-click template in this repo yet — Start on Railway. ELT stays on /stacks/meltano-elt; transforms on /stacks/dbt-core-transform.

The stack

Apache Airflow
Apache-2.0 workflow authoring, scheduling, and monitoring
Catalog entry →
Dagster
Apache-2.0 data-asset orchestrator if you want that lineage
Catalog entry →

Cost table

You stop paying	Typical / year	Self-host instead
Astronomer (small team)	$1,200	Airflow or Dagster

Agent setup prompt

Replace Astronomer with Apache Airflow (preferred if you already have DAGs) or Dagster.

- Official compose: metadata DB, scheduler, webserver, worker. Persist logs. Import one DAG you actually run.
- Do not claim every Astronomer Cloud feature. Write AGENT_PROMPT.md.
- ELT stays on /stacks/meltano-elt. dbt stays on /stacks/dbt-core-transform.

Also as markdown: /stacks/airflow-orchestrate.md

FAQ

Airflow or Dagster?: Airflow if you already live in DAGs (the Astronomer shape). Dagster if you want assets. Pick one orchestrator.
Is this Fivetran or dbt?: No. Fivetran is extract — /replace/fivetran. dbt is SQL transforms — /replace/dbt-cloud. This page schedules those jobs.
Is Airflow OSI?: Yes. Apache License 2.0 on apache/airflow. Astronomer is the hosted product this page leaves.