vs
AWS Step Functions vs Cadence
A side-by-side comparison of AWS Step Functions and Cadence across 26 workflow orchestration capabilities. AWS Step Functions fully supports 18 of them and Cadence fully supports 19; of the 12 mandatory features, AWS Step Functions covers 10 and Cadence covers 9.
AWS Step Functions
AWS Step Functions is a fully managed, serverless workflow orchestration service that coordinates AWS services, Lambda functions and microservices using state machines defined in Amazon States Language.
Features fully supported18 / 26
Mandatory features: 10 / 12View profile
Cadence
Cadence is a durable, fault-tolerant workflow orchestration service for long-running, stateful applications.
Features fully supported19 / 26
Mandatory features: 9 / 12View profile
Feature comparison
8 of 26 capabilities differ between AWS Step Functions and Cadence.
| Capability | Importance* | AWS Step Functions | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
DAG-based workflow definition Define dependencies and execution order Mandatory | Mandatory | Partial | No |
Code-first workflows Versionable, testable workflows Mandatory | Mandatory | Partial | Yes |
Declarative workflow model Predictability, reproducibility Mandatory | Mandatory | Yes | Partial |
Task dependency resolution Correct execution order Mandatory | Mandatory | Yes | Yes |
Persistent workflow state Crash recovery, observability Mandatory | Mandatory | Yes | Yes |
Task retries Handle transient failures Mandatory | Mandatory | Yes | Yes |
Retry policies (backoff, limits) Avoid cascading failures Recommended | Recommended | Yes | Yes |
Scheduling (cron / time-based) Automated recurring workflows Depends | Depends | Partial | Partial |
Event-driven execution React to external systems Depends | Depends | Yes | Yes |
Backfills / replays Reprocess historical data Depends | Depends | No | Yes |
Idempotency support Safe retries & replays Mandatory | Mandatory | Yes | No |
Exactly-once semantics Correctness for business workflows Optional | Optional | Yes | No |
Long-running workflows (days/months) Business processes, approvals Depends | Depends | Yes | Yes |
Human-in-the-loop steps Approvals, manual actions Optional | Optional | Yes | Yes |
Dynamic workflows at runtime Conditional execution Depends | Depends | Partial | Yes |
Workflow versioning Safe evolution over time Recommended | Recommended | Yes | Yes |
Distributed execution Scalability Mandatory | Mandatory | Yes | Yes |
High availability scheduler Production reliability Recommended | Recommended | Yes | Yes |
Fault-tolerant execution Crash safety Mandatory | Mandatory | Yes | Yes |
Observability (logs, states, UI) Debugging & ops Mandatory | Mandatory | Yes | Yes |
Workflow-level visibility Understand end-to-end runs Mandatory | Mandatory | Yes | Yes |
Task isolation Failure containment Mandatory | Mandatory | Yes | Yes |
Native Kubernetes support Modern infra compatibility Depends | Depends | Partial | Partial |
Multi-language SDKs Polyglot systems Optional | Optional | Yes | Yes |
Deterministic replay Safe recovery & correctness Optional | Optional | No | Yes |
Pluggable execution backends Flexibility Recommended | Recommended | No | No |
* To be considered a complete workflow orchestration tool, a tool must implement the features marked as mandatory according to our assessment.
Spotted an inaccuracy? contact@workflows.guru
Learn more
Read the full profiles, including pros and cons, installation and alternatives.
Related comparisons
- AWS Step Functions vs Airflow
- Cadence vs Airflow
- AWS Step Functions vs Prefect
- Cadence vs Prefect
- AWS Step Functions vs Dagster
- Cadence vs Dagster
- AWS Step Functions vs Argo Workflows
- Cadence vs Argo Workflows
- AWS Step Functions vs Temporal
- Cadence vs Temporal
- AWS Step Functions vs n8n
- Cadence vs n8n
- AWS Step Functions vs Luigi
- Cadence vs Luigi
- AWS Step Functions vs Flyte
- Cadence vs Flyte
- AWS Step Functions vs CrewAI
- Cadence vs CrewAI
- AWS Step Functions vs Kestra
- Cadence vs Kestra
- AWS Step Functions vs LangGraph
- Cadence vs LangGraph
- AWS Step Functions vs Pipedream
- Cadence vs Pipedream
- AWS Step Functions vs Workato
- Cadence vs Workato
- AWS Step Functions vs Elsa Workflows
- Cadence vs Elsa Workflows
- AWS Step Functions vs Camunda
- Cadence vs Camunda
- AWS Step Functions vs Kubeflow Pipelines
- Cadence vs Kubeflow Pipelines
- AWS Step Functions vs Metaflow
- Cadence vs Metaflow
- AWS Step Functions vs ZenML
- Cadence vs ZenML
- AWS Step Functions vs Apache NiFi
- Cadence vs Apache NiFi
- AWS Step Functions vs Mage
- Cadence vs Mage
- AWS Step Functions vs Tekton
- Cadence vs Tekton
- AWS Step Functions vs Conductor
- Cadence vs Conductor
- AWS Step Functions vs Windmill
- Cadence vs Windmill
- AWS Step Functions vs Activepieces
- Cadence vs Activepieces
- AWS Step Functions vs Concourse
- Cadence vs Concourse
- AWS Step Functions vs Apache DolphinScheduler
- Cadence vs Apache DolphinScheduler
- AWS Step Functions vs Inngest
- Cadence vs Inngest
- AWS Step Functions vs Restate
- Cadence vs Restate
- AWS Step Functions vs Hatchet
- Cadence vs Hatchet
- AWS Step Functions vs Trigger.dev
- Cadence vs Trigger.dev