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8 alternatives · updated Aug 2026

The best Airy alternatives in 2026

8 tools that do the job Airy does. Each one is measured against Airy on price, free plan and our rating, so you can see what you gain by switching.

Shortlist by what you need

Start here if you know why you are leaving Airy.

  1. Want the closest match?

    Datavolo

    Most similar to Airy in what it does, its category and its price.

    Visit (opens Datavolo in a new tab)

  2. Need a free plan?

    Dust

    Has a free plan, rated 4.5 out of 5. Airy has none.

    Visit (opens Dust in a new tab)

  3. Want the lowest price?

    Activeloop

    From $40/mo, the lowest starting price here.

    Visit (opens Activeloop in a new tab)

  4. Want the best rated?

    Trigger.dev

    Rated 4.3 out of 5 in our review, against 3.9 for Airy.

    Visit (opens Trigger.dev in a new tab)

At a glance

Green means better than Airy, red means worse. Prices are starting prices per month.

ToolOur ratingStarts atFree planBest forCompare
AiryBaseline3.9Not listedNoReal-time AI agents that watch your data streams and act on complex patterns automatically - built on Apache Flink, acquired by Confluent.
Datavolo3.6−0.3Not listedNoCloud-native, Apache NiFi-based pipelines that move and prepare multimodal data for generative AI applications.vs Airy
Trigger.dev4.3+0.4FreeYesAiry has noneLong-running TypeScript tasks with retries, queues and no timeouts, Apache-2.0 licensed.vs Airy
Activeloop4.1+0.2$40/moYesAiry has noneDatabase built for AI workloads that stores and streams multimodal training data, embeddings, images, video, and text, at scale.vs Airy
LanceDB4.2+0.3FreeYesAiry has noneOpen-source vector database built on the Lance columnar format for multimodal AI search.vs Airy
Dust4.5+0.6$24/moYesAiry has nonePlatform for building and sharing AI agents that work on company knowledge, with 70+ connectors to tools like Slack, Notion and GitHub, a choice of 20+ models, multi-agent workflows and permission controls.vs Airy
Kaskada3.5−0.4FreeYesAiry has noneA streaming engine that feeds AI models both real-time and historical data, with event detection to trigger proactive behaviour as things happen.vs Airy
Qdrant4.3+0.4FreeYesAiry has noneOpen-source vector database that raised a $50M Series B to power retrieval for AI agentsvs Airy
Heex3.9SameNot listedNoCaptures the relevant slice of data from robots and autonomous vehicles instead of everything.vs Airy

The alternatives in detail

In order of how closely each one matches Airy.

  1. Datavolo

    3.6Not listed

    vs Airy−0.3

    Cloud-native, Apache NiFi-based pipelines that move and prepare multimodal data for generative AI applications.

    • Natural-language-to-dataflow generation built on Apache NiFi
    • Multimodal data support spanning text, image, audio, and video sources
    • Pipeline observability and governance tooling for AI data flows

    Founding team's Apache NiFi pedigree brings real production data-pipeline expertise

    November 2024 Snowflake acquisition creates real uncertainty about Datavolo's future as a standalone, independently purchasable product

    Visit Datavolo (opens Datavolo in a new tab)ReviewCompare with Airy

  2. vs Airy+0.4Free plan

    Long-running TypeScript tasks with retries, queues and no timeouts, Apache-2.0 licensed.

    • Long-running tasks with no timeout limits
    • Durable AI agents with tool calling and human-in-the-loop
    • Realtime streams to frontends

    No timeout ceiling, so tasks are chunked by logic not platform limits

    No pricing figures published

    Visit Trigger.dev (opens Trigger.dev in a new tab)ReviewCompare with Airy

  3. Activeloop

    4.1$40/mo

    vs Airy+0.2Free plan

    Database built for AI workloads that stores and streams multimodal training data, embeddings, images, video, and text, at scale.

    • Open-core database purpose-built for multimodal AI training data
    • Built-in dataset versioning and visualization
    • Streaming access to public and private datasets for model training

    Open-source core (Deep Lake) lets teams self-host and inspect the code

    Free tier's 3 queries/day and 100MB storage cap suit only small experiments

    Visit Activeloop (opens Activeloop in a new tab)ReviewCompare with Airy

  4. LanceDB

    4.2Free

    vs Airy+0.3Free plan

    Open-source vector database built on the Lance columnar format for multimodal AI search.

    • Embedded, serverless vector database with no separate server process required
    • Native support for multimodal data: vectors, images, text, and documents in one table
    • Lance columnar file format optimized for random-access AI workloads

    Apache 2.0 open-source core with no licensing cost for self-hosting

    Younger project than incumbents like Pinecone or Weaviate, with a smaller integration ecosystem

    Visit LanceDB (opens LanceDB in a new tab)ReviewCompare with Airy

  5. Dust

    4.5$24/mo

    vs Airy+0.6Free plan

    Platform for building and sharing AI agents that work on company knowledge, with 70+ connectors to tools like Slack, Notion and GitHub, a choice of 20+ models, multi-agent workflows and permission controls.

    • Custom agents with their own instructions, knowledge and tools
    • 70+ connectors including Slack, Notion, GitHub and Drive
    • Choice of 20+ models per agent

    Free seat to try it with a team

    Prices are in euros and exclude VAT

    Visit Dust (opens Dust in a new tab)ReviewCompare with Airy

  6. Kaskada

    3.5Free

    vs Airy−0.4Free plan

    A streaming engine that feeds AI models both real-time and historical data, with event detection to trigger proactive behaviour as things happen.

    • Streaming engine connecting AI models to real-time and historical data
    • Real-time aggregation precomputing model inputs
    • Event detection triggering proactive AI behaviour

    Handles live and historical data together, which is the actual hard problem

    Engineering infrastructure - no value to non-technical users

    Visit Kaskada (opens Kaskada in a new tab)ReviewCompare with Airy

  7. Qdrant

    4.3Free

    vs Airy+0.4Free plan

    Open-source vector database that raised a $50M Series B to power retrieval for AI agents.

    • Open-source vector database, free to self-host with full source access
    • Qdrant Cloud managed service with a free tier and usage-based paid plans
    • Purpose-built for semantic search, recommendations, and RAG pipelines

    Open-source option gives full control and zero licensing cost for self-hosted deployments

    Self-hosting still requires infrastructure expertise the managed tier is meant to remove

    Visit Qdrant (opens Qdrant in a new tab)ReviewCompare with Airy

  8. Heex

    3.9Not listed

    vs AirySame

    Captures the relevant slice of data from robots and autonomous vehicles instead of everything.

    • Event-triggered data capture
    • Support for robots, warehouse vehicles and autonomous cars
    • Selective extraction rather than full-stream recording

    Captures the relevant slice rather than every sensor stream

    Only relevant to teams running autonomous hardware

    Visit Heex (opens Heex in a new tab)ReviewCompare with Airy

FAQ

Questions people ask

Is Airy free?

Airy does not list a free plan. Check its pricing page for current plans.

What is the best free alternative to Airy?

Dust is the highest-rated alternative here with a free plan (4.5 out of 5). Other free options: Trigger.dev, Qdrant, LanceDB.

What is the cheapest alternative to Airy?

Among paid plans, Dust has the lowest starting price (from eur 24/mo). If you need it free, start with Dust.

How did you pick these alternatives?

We match tools on what they do, their category and their price, using the details in our directory. Ratings come from our reviews and reader reviews.