About Prefect
Prefect is an open source orchestration tool for Python workflows. It runs data pipelines, machine learning jobs and agent tasks, and handles retries and reporting when steps fail.
What it does
Developers write flows and tasks as Python functions, using decorators to add retries. Prefect runs them on schedules or triggers and shows run history and task timelines. Work can run on your own infrastructure, or through Prefect Cloud, which the company manages.
Key features
- Define flows and tasks in plain Python
- Retries for tasks and whole flows
- Schedule deployments and monitor runs in a dashboard
- Run pipelines on your own cloud or in a managed cloud
- Managed MCP gateway for connecting AI agents to tools
Who it's for
Prefect suits data engineers who want to replace brittle cron jobs with pipelines, ML teams that run jobs on a schedule, and platform teams that manage many workflows. Enterprises with compliance needs can use its private deployment options.
Pricing and good to know
The core framework is open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Prefect Cloud is the managed option, and the site offers a free start. Enterprise options include hybrid and VPC deployments, and the site lists SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and GDPR compliance.
Highlights
- Define flows and tasks in plain Python
- Retries for tasks and whole flows
- Schedule deployments and monitor runs in a dashboard
- Run pipelines on your own cloud or in a managed cloud
- Managed MCP gateway for connecting AI agents to tools
