# Apache Airflow: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 90 judge labels across 2 categories by 14 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/apache-airflow

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Workflow orchestration](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/it-data/workflow-orchestration/index.md) | 13% | 3 | 32% | 69 |
| [ETL and ELT](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/it-data/etl-and-elt/index.md) | 2% | 7 | 10% | 21 |

## What the models said for it

- "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, Orchestration)
- "The industry standard and most widely adopted open-source orchestrator... Choose Airflow if you need the largest ecosystem" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, Orchestration)
- "The industry-standard, open-source data pipeline scheduler ... Largest ecosystem of operators and integrations" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, Orchestration)
- "Apache Airflow or Airbyte are popular choices because they're free, have strong community support" (Claude Haiku 4.5, ETL)

## And against it

- "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, Orchestration)
- "Unlike open-source Airflow, which often requires a dedicated data platform engineer to maintain Kubernetes clusters" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, Orchestration)
- "Apache Airflow is widely used but is frequently cited as a caution for teams without dedicated platform engineering" (Muse Glimmer 30B, Orchestration)
- "for mid-sized teams, self-hosting can become a maintenance burden... it's showing its age compared to newer tools" (Grok 4.20, Orchestration)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Grok 4.20 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Kimi K2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Apache Airflow, from 202 of the 244 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- zapier.com: 69
- getorchestra.io: 60
- kestra.io: 54
- github.com: 50
- ones.com: 48
- skyvia.com: 41
- airbyte.com: 33
- gane.ai/index: 32
- thedigitalprojectmanager.com: 29
- cflowapps.com: 28

### Pages cited

- https://zapier.com/blog/workflow-orchestration-tools: 58
- https://cflowapps.com/best-workflow-orchestration-tools: 28
- https://skyvia.com/blog/best-data-orchestration-tools: 24
- https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/tools/workflow-orchestration-tools: 23
- https://ones.com/blog/solution-guide/workflow-orchestration-tools-2026: 22
- https://kestra.io/resources/infrastructure/workflow-orchestration-tools: 21
- https://wrike.com/workflow-guide/workflow-orchestration-tools: 19
- https://github.com/ismanf/just-system-design/blob/main/17-big-data/data-pipelines.md: 18

## In its own words

What Apache Airflow's own pages state, read 2026-09-28. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.


## What it publishes

Every page apache.org exposes, read 2026-09-29: 2858 addresses. By kind, pages and the last 90 days:

- blog: 228 pages, 1 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-07-01
- case study: 2 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- webinar or virtual event: 2 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- conference or event: 10 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-06-09
- report or ebook: 14 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- template or tool: 38 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- glossary or explainer: 9 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- news or press: 1081 pages, 12 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-09-03
- Recent: 2026-09-03 news or press: Security scanning at foundation scale https://news.apache.org/foundation/entry/security-scanning-at-foundation-scale
- Recent: 2026-09-02 news or press: Asf plus one newsletter august 2026 https://news.apache.org/foundation/entry/asf-plus-one-newsletter-august-2026
- Recent: 2026-09-01 news or press: The apache software foundation advances open source infrastructure and celebrates community growth in fy26 https://news.apache.org/foundation/entry/the-apache-software-foundation-advances-open-source-infrastructure-and-celebrates-community-growth-in-fy26
- Recent: 2026-09-01 news or press: The apache software foundation announces keynote speakers for community over code glasgow 2026 https://news.apache.org/foundation/entry/the-apache-software-foundation-announces-keynote-speakers-for-community-over-code-glasgow-2026
- Recent: 2026-08-27 news or press: The apache software foundation announces new top level projects 6 https://news.apache.org/foundation/entry/the-apache-software-foundation-announces-new-top-level-projects-6
- Recent: 2026-08-18 news or press: Apache geode 2 0 part iii lessons learned and the path forward https://news.apache.org/foundation/entry/apache-geode-2-0-part-iii-lessons-learned-and-the-path-forward

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.