# Apache Airflow

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/airflow/

14 people recommended Apache Airflow in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 12 months, in 12 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Widely used open-source engine for scheduled ETL pipelines, valued for Python workflows and its UI; critics say it fits recurring jobs better than durable or database-aware workflows.

Summary written by Claude from 20 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Widely used across industry (2 comments in the sample): "Airflow is one of the most widely used technologies out there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47903648)) "used by me and many machine learning folks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47833760))
- Preferred over other orchestrators (2 comments in the sample): "I like Airflow the best, but it's closer to Argo Workflows in terms of more long-lived workflows." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46085583)) "Honestly I liked the airflow version the best, python is just better than bash" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47175171))
- Enforced DAG structure for workflows (2 comments in the sample): "they force workflows into DAGs, which is an enforceable structural constraint" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48767756)) "solved by the DAG schedulers like Apache Airflow for a while now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48414641))

## What people warn about

- Lacks durable, database-aware workflows (2 comments in the sample): "AirFlow doesn't even have the capability to do that in the first place" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48338771)) "Airflow tasks, and durable workflows as a whole on top of a database" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48939127))
- Some users moved to other tools (2 comments in the sample): "it feels much better than previous orchestrators I used like Prefect or Airflow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48333843)) "I am currently ditching both airflow and dbt." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46669003))

## Other workflow engines people recommend

- [Temporal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/temporal/): 58 recommend, 29 mixed, 28 criticize
- [DBOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dbos/): 22 recommend, 9 mixed, 7 criticize
- [Restate](https://hackerapproved.com/p/restate/): 15 recommend, 0 mixed, 2 criticize
- [Absurd Workflows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/absurd/): 11 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Apache Airflow", https://hackerapproved.com/p/airflow/ (14 recommend, 4 mixed, 5 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.