airflow
by apache
Apache Airflow is a platform for writing, scheduling and monitoring automated workflows as Python code. It is used to run tasks in a set order, such as moving data between systems or running machine learning jobs, with a web interface to watch progress.
- Stars
- 47.3k +6 a day
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Runs on
- A small server
- Setup
- Technical
- Language
- Python
- Age
- 4214 days
What you can do with it
- Write workflows in Python that run tasks in a set order on a schedule
- Move and transform data between databases and services with ETL or ELT pipelines
- Monitor running pipelines in a web interface and troubleshoot failed tasks
Could replace
- Google Cloud Composer
Our suggestion based on what it does, not a feature-by-feature comparison.
Make money with it
A freelancer with Python skills could offer to build and maintain data pipelines for small businesses using Airflow.
An idea, not financial advice. Check the licence before charging for anything built on it.
Ways a business could use it
- Automate recurring reports and data transfers between sales, accounting and marketing systems instead of paying for hosted integration tools
- Run scheduled data preparation and model retraining jobs for client projects as a freelance data engineer
Can you use it commercially?
Free to use, change and sell, including in paid products. Keep the copyright notice.
Not legal advice. Read the project's licence file before building a product on it.
Getting it running
Install with pip from PyPI or run the official Docker images, then configure a scheduler, database and workers.
Follow the official instructions in the project README.
Things to check
- Needs Python and server administration skills, and is more than most small businesses need
- Designed for mostly static workflows and is not a streaming tool
- Production use needs a separate database and worker setup
Checked 27 Oct 2026. Summary drafted by AI from the project's README.
