Workflow orchestration · November 2026 Edition
Apache Airflow vs Temporal
Zero of fourteen models named Apache Airflow first on the direct prompt; two named Temporal. Both were named by all fourteen models and Apache Airflow carries 69 labels and Temporal 42, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in two categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share13%4%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate32%12%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#3#8A position in a field of 16; printed, not drawn.
Labels6942A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Apache Airflow reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.n8n was named alongside these two in nine of the fourteen direct answers. Prefect vs Apache Airflow · Prefect vs Temporal · Dagster vs Apache Airflow
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the workflow orchestration page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Apache AirflowFirst choices, of fourteen modelsTemporal
Direct021 against Apache Airflow
Paraphrase305 against Apache Airflow
Comparative100
Budget-constrained303 against Apache Airflow · 1 against Temporal
Scale-constrained101 against Apache Airflow · 1 against Temporal
Negative2012 against Apache Airflow · 3 against Temporal
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Apache Airflow and Temporal were named in the same answer 105 times, of the 244 answers naming Apache Airflow and the 115 naming Temporal. In those answers Temporal took the first choice thirteen times and Apache Airflow twenty-six.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Apache Airflow and Temporal stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | | |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | ||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | | |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | | |||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | | ||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | | |
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | ||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | |
Apache Airflow Temporal first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Apache Airflow on the left and Temporal on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Apache Airflow and Temporal stood in it.
Temporal first, Apache Airflow an alternative
2 of 14 modelsApache Airflow was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniTemporal alternatives: Apache Airflow, Prefect
Gemini 3.5 FlashDagster, Prefect, Temporal, n8n alternatives: Amazon Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow, Astronomer Astro, Make
Neither was the first choice, one was named
5 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Claude Haiku 4.5Prefect, Zapier/Make alternatives: Apache Airflow
Mistral SmallPrefect alternatives: Apache Airflow, Camunda Platform 8, Dagster, Microsoft Power Automate, Workato
Llama 4 MaverickPrefect alternatives: Apache Airflow, Dagster, Make, Microsoft Power Automate, Workato, Zapier, n8n
Qwen 3.7 FlashMake alternatives: Apache Airflow, Microsoft Power Automate, n8n
GPT-6 LunaWorkato alternatives: Camunda Platform 8, Microsoft Power Automate, Temporal, n8n
Neither was named
7 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Perplexity SonarWorkato alternatives: Make, Microsoft Power Automate, Zapier, n8n
Grok 4.20Zapier alternatives: Camunda Platform 8, Make, Microsoft Power Automate, SnapLogic, Workato, n8n
DeepSeek V4 FlashWorkato alternatives: Make, Prefect, Zapier, n8n
Kimi K2Microsoft Power Automate, Zapier alternatives: Make, Workato, n8n
GLM 4.7 FlashXMake alternatives: Microsoft Power Automate, Tray.io, Workato, Zapier, n8n
MiniMax M2.5no first choice
Muse Glimmer 30BWorkato alternatives: Boomi, Make, Microsoft Power Automate, SnapLogic, Zapier
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Apache Airflow leads by two points.
Apache Airflow4%#5 of 10Temporal2%#7 of 10Mid-marketThe figures above
Apache Airflow leads by nine points.
Apache Airflow13%#3 of 16Temporal4%#8 of 16Enterprise
Apache Airflow leads by thirteen points.
Apache Airflow29%#1 of 20Temporal16%#2 of 20What the models said about Apache Airflow
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“running Airflow in production requires managing the scheduler, workers, metadata database, and web server, and it's not suited for business process automation or teams without Python expertise” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · soft negative
“Unlike open-source Airflow, which often requires a dedicated data platform engineer to maintain Kubernetes clusters” Gemini 3.5 Flash · direct prompt · soft negative
“Apache Airflow is widely used but is frequently cited as a caution for teams without dedicated platform engineering” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · soft negative
“Airflow is the pioneer of modern code-as-configuration workflows... Choose Apache Airflow if you operate in a traditional enterprise data setting” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“The industry standard and most widely adopted open-source orchestrator... Choose Airflow if you need the largest ecosystem” DeepSeek V4 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“The industry-standard, open-source data pipeline scheduler ... Largest ecosystem of operators and integrations” GLM 4.7 FlashX · comparative prompt · first choice
What the models said about Temporal
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Avoid: Proprietary paid tools like Temporal Cloud or heavy enterprise suites until you have budget for them.” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · hard negative
“Temporal - It is not recommended unless you're building a complex, long-running distributed system and have a dedicated DevOps/infrastructure team.” Llama 4 Maverick · negative prompt · soft negative
“Emerging/niche tools (e.g., Kestra, Temporal): Generally positive, but watch for immaturity” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Winner: Temporal ... is the industry standard for developer-centric durable execution.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“the best default choice is usually Temporal” GPT-5.4 mini · direct prompt · first choice
“Best for reliable, durable execution of complex business logic or microservices... has a steeper learning curve.” Grok 4.20 · scale prompt · alternative
Also compared
Prefect vs Apache AirflowPrefect vs TemporalDagster vs Apache AirflowDagster vs TemporalApache Airflow vs n8nApache Airflow vs MakeApache Airflow vs WorkatoApache Airflow vs Zapiern8n vs TemporalMake vs TemporalWorkato vs TemporalZapier vs TemporalAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full orchestration standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.