3
Core services (webserver, daemon, code server) deployed and orchestrated automatically
Workflow AutomationFrom $29/app/month
Managed Dagster Hosting
Cloud-native data pipeline orchestrator
What is Dagster on ManageStacks?
Dagster is a cloud-native data pipeline orchestrator with software-defined assets and built-in data quality checks — deployed and fully managed by ManageStacks on AWS, Azure, or GCP with automated SSL, monitoring, and daily backups.
Dagster is a cloud-native data pipeline orchestrator with software-defined assets and built-in data quality checks — deployed and fully managed by ManageStacks on AWS, Azure, or GCP with automated SSL, monitoring, and daily backups.
Last updated Official siteSource on GitHubDocumentation
About Dagster
What Dagster does, and why teams deploy it.
Dagster is a data orchestration platform built around the concept of software-defined assets. Instead of thinking in terms of tasks and dependencies, you declare the data assets you want to exist and Dagster figures out how to build and maintain them. This asset-centric approach provides built-in data lineage, automated materialization, and integrated data quality checks.
Dagster is ideal for data and analytics engineering teams managing complex data pipelines across multiple sources and destinations. Its type system catches configuration errors before runtime, its partitioning system handles backfills elegantly, and its Dagit web UI provides full observability into asset health, run history, and pipeline structure.
DIY vs ManageStacks
What running Dagster yourself looks like — and what it looks like with us.
DIY self-hosting
- Wrestling with Dagster daemon processes, gRPC code servers, and PostgreSQL event log configuration across multiple services that must stay in sync
- Building custom Kubernetes Helm charts or Docker Compose files to orchestrate the webserver, daemon, and user code deployments as a cohesive system
- Losing pipeline run history and asset materializations when storage volumes fill up because nobody set up log rotation or event log pruning
- Spending days debugging IO manager configurations and resource definitions that work locally but fail in production due to environment mismatches
- Managing scheduler and sensor processes that silently stop evaluating when the daemon crashes, leaving data pipelines stale without any alert
On ManageStacks
- ManageStacks deploys the Dagster webserver, daemon, and code server as coordinated services with shared PostgreSQL backend — all pre-configured and health-checked
- Infrastructure-as-code provisioning handles networking, storage volumes, and service discovery so your team focuses on writing assets and ops, not YAML
- Automated storage management with log rotation, event pruning policies, and daily database backups prevents runaway disk usage and data loss
- Environment parity is enforced — the same container images, environment variables, and resource definitions run in staging and production with a single config switch
- Health monitoring restarts crashed daemons within seconds and alerts your team if schedulers or sensors stop evaluating, preventing silent pipeline failures
Dagster on ManageStacks — key numbers
$29/mo
Flat infrastructure management cost vs. Dagster Cloud's usage-based pricing
99.9%
Daemon uptime with automatic crash recovery and health-check supervision
<15 min
Full Dagster stack deployment including PostgreSQL and networking
Key features
Everything Dagster ships with, running on our stack.
- Software-defined assets with automatic lineage tracking
- Dagit web UI for pipeline visualization and monitoring
- Built-in data quality checks and freshness policies
- Partition-aware scheduling and backfill management
- Type-checked configuration and resource system
- Integrations with dbt, Spark, Snowflake, and more
How it deploys
From subscribe to live in minutes.
Connect your cloud account
Provide ManageStacks with a scoped IAM role for your AWS, Azure, or GCP account. Resources deploy into a private VPC with the Dagster webserver, daemon, and PostgreSQL instance networked automatically.
Upload or link your Dagster user code
Point ManageStacks to your Git repository containing Dagster definitions. The platform builds a container image from your code and deploys it as a gRPC code server that the Dagster webserver and daemon communicate with natively.
Configure IO managers and external resources
Define connections to your data warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift), object stores (S3, GCS, Azure Blob), and any other resources your assets materialize to. Secrets are stored encrypted and injected at runtime.
Launch and schedule your pipelines
Open Dagit, verify your asset graph loads correctly, and enable schedules and sensors. ManageStacks handles compute scaling, daemon supervision, and database maintenance so you ship data products instead of infrastructure tickets.
Who this is for
Built for teams that want Dagster to just work.
Data engineering teams outgrowing Airflow
Teams migrating from Airflow to Dagster for its software-defined assets and type-safe resource system but dreading the operational complexity of running Dagster's multi-service architecture. ManageStacks eliminates the infrastructure gap so you get Dagster's modern paradigm without the ops tax.
Analytics teams needing asset-based orchestration
Data analysts and analytics engineers who think in terms of data assets rather than task DAGs. Dagster's asset-centric model fits how they work, and ManageStacks lets them run it in production without depending on a platform engineering team to keep the infrastructure alive.
Companies avoiding vendor lock-in with Dagster Cloud
Organizations that want Dagster's orchestration capabilities but need to keep data pipelines running on their own infrastructure for cost control or compliance. ManageStacks offers the managed experience of Dagster Cloud at a fraction of the price, deployed entirely within your cloud account.
Compliance & compatibility
What we handle, what Dagster runs on.
Compliance & operations
- All pipeline metadata, run logs, and asset materializations stored in your own cloud-hosted PostgreSQL
- Network isolation ensures the Dagster webserver is accessible only through your VPN or private subnet
- Encrypted secrets management for database credentials, API tokens, and warehouse connection strings
- SOC 2 aligned access controls with IAM-based authentication and role-level permissions
- Data residency guarantees — pipeline execution and storage stay within your chosen cloud region
Compatibility
- Version
- Dagster 1.7+ with Dagster webserver and daemon (latest stable tracked)
- Runtime
- Python 3.9–3.12 with isolated virtual environments for user code
- Dependencies
- PostgreSQL 14+ for event log and run storage (managed by ManageStacks)
- Min. resources
- 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM for light workloads; 4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM for production pipelines with concurrent runs
How ManageStacks helps
We handle the parts you shouldn't be writing yourself.
ManageStacks deploys Dagster with its Dagit web UI, daemon process, and PostgreSQL backend on dedicated infrastructure with automated SSL, Grafana-based monitoring, daily backups, and one-click updates. Skip the Kubernetes configuration and start orchestrating data assets in minutes.
How it compares
Dagster on ManageStacks vs the alternatives.
Compare running Dagster on ManageStacks against Dagster Cloud, other orchestration platforms, and managing your own Dagster deployment.
| Property | ManageStacks + DagsterUs | Dagster Cloud | Prefect Cloud | DIY self-hosted Dagster |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $29/mo flat + compute | From $100/mo + per-credit usage | Free tier + $115+/mo for teams | Cloud compute costs only |
| Infrastructure ownership | Your own cloud account | Dagster-managed or Hybrid | Prefect-managed control plane | Your own infrastructure |
| Setup time | Under 15 minutes | Instant (SaaS) | Instant (SaaS) | 4–8 hours |
| Auto-scaling | Pre-configured scaling rules | Built-in | Work pools with auto-scaling | Manual configuration |
| Asset-based orchestration | Full Dagster asset framework | Full Dagster asset framework | Task-based (no asset model) | Full Dagster asset framework |
| Maintenance | Managed (backups, updates, monitoring) | Vendor-managed | Vendor-managed control plane | All on your team |
Comparison focuses on architectural properties (deployment model, pricing basis, open-source status) that don't change with vendor pricing pages. Verify current pricing on each vendor's own site.
FAQ
Common questions about Dagster on ManageStacks.
How long does it take to deploy Dagster on ManageStacks?
Under 5 minutes. ManageStacks provisions Dagster with its Dagit UI, daemon, PostgreSQL backend, SSL, monitoring, and backups automatically — no Kubernetes or Docker setup required.
Can I migrate my existing Dagster project to ManageStacks?
Yes. Point your existing Dagster repository at your ManageStacks-managed instance. All job definitions, schedules, and sensors transfer by redeploying your code location.
Does ManageStacks handle Dagster version upgrades?
Yes. We test each new Dagster release for compatibility before making it available. You can apply updates with one click or enable automatic updates, and we handle any required database migrations.
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Deploy Dagster in under 5 minutes.
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