Bacalhau
by Bacalhau · Distributed compute that runs jobs where the data already is
BenchRank score
Screenshots of Bacalhau
Homepage
Overview
Bacalhau is an open-source platform for running compute jobs on the machines where data is generated and stored. Jobs are submitted as Docker containers or WebAssembly images, so existing workloads run without rewriting. It schedules work across hardware from large VMs and GPUs to edge and IoT devices, and can keep jobs within chosen geographic and privacy boundaries.
- Best for
- Teams running Docker or WASM jobs on the machines where their data is already generated and stored
- Pricing
- No prices are shown; the software is described as open source, with commercial support available through Expanso and no figures published.
- Runs on
- Web
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Runs existing Docker and WASM images without code changes
- Open source, with commercial support available from Expanso
- Runs on hardware from large VMs and GPUs to edge and IoT devices
- Jobs can be scheduled so data stays inside its storage boundary
Trade-offs
- Workloads must be packaged as Docker containers or WASM images
- Commercial support comes from a separate company, Expanso
- No pricing published for the software or the commercial support
How Bacalhau markets itself
A structured read of the promise, proof and page design on Bacalhau’s captured homepage.
Homepage capture
“Distributed Compute Over Data”
- Angle: Outcome / benefit-led
- Hero: Illustration
Pricing
Published plans and prices from Bacalhau’s own pricing page.
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
MCP support
Whether an agent can drive the product through the Model Context Protocol, and how much setup that takes.
API quality
Public API surface: machine-readable spec, official SDKs, documented auth, errors, rate limits and versioning.
Documentation
Publicly reachable docs — coverage, freshness, code samples and machine readability.
Agent friendliness
How readable the site is to an automated client: llms.txt, structured data, server-rendered content, crawler access.
Pricing transparency
Whether real prices are published, self-serve signup exists, and usage costs are knowable without a sales call.
Changelog
A public, dated record of what shipped and when — the clearest signal that a product is still alive.
Marketing site structure
Whether the site answers a buyer's questions: clear positioning, the pages that matter, and accessibility.
Page speed
How fast the site loads for real visitors: Chrome UX Report 75th-percentile LCP, INP and CLS, with a Lighthouse mobile run standing in where a site has too little traffic for field data.
Operational trust
Status page and incident history, security disclosure, compliance and data-processing documentation.
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
Openness
Source availability, self-hosting, data export and open standards. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — paid SaaS is not worse for being paid SaaS.
Maintenance
Release cadence and repository activity. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — it is only measurable for open repositories.
This doesn’t look right — report a problem with Bacalhau’s score
Where this comes from
The Bacalhau pages BenchRank reads when it scores the product — its documentation, release notes, status and security pages, and its repository where there is one.
Alternatives in Orchestration & Scheduling
Ranked 1
82.4 — BenchRank score out of 100Prefect
Prefect · Python-decorator workflow orchestration for data, ML and agents
Best for: Python data and ML teams that want scheduled, self-retrying pipelines without hosting a scheduler
Ranked 2
80.9 — BenchRank score out of 100Temporal
Temporal · Durable execution for workflows, AI agents and long-running jobs
Best for: Engineering teams running long workflows, pipelines or AI agents that must survive crashes and retries
Ranked 3
78.9 — BenchRank score out of 100Inngest
Inngest · Durable execution for background jobs, workflows and AI agents
Best for: Teams adding retries, flow control and step-level tracing to background jobs and AI agents.
Is this your product?
Claim Bacalhau to manage its profile. Claiming lets you suggest edits to the descriptive fields — it never changes scores or rankings.