Two self-hosted orchestrators, built for two different machines.
Windmill is the closest thing to Cronable in spirit: self-hostable, developer-shaped, with a flow builder over real code. The difference is where each expects to live, and how much you are expected to write.
The short answer
Windmill is a platform your engineers extend by writing scripts. Cronable is narrower on purpose: one daemon on one machine — often the machine you personally use — where you describe the automation in plain English and the assistant wires it, then edit it on a canvas.
That difference decides who can maintain it. A Cronable job is a YAML file in your own git repo that an operator can change through a guided UI without writing code, running with the machine’s own access rather than inside a worker with its own environment.
Cronable vs Windmill
Where Cronable and Windmill actually differ, capability by capability.
| Capability | Cronable | Windmill |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Commercial, on-premises | Open source, self-hostable |
| Primary way you build a job | Plain English to the assistant, then the canvas | Write or AI-generate a script, then compose it into a flow |
| Languages for custom steps | Shell and JavaScript-flavoured code steps | TypeScript, Python, Go, Bash, SQL and more |
| Where jobs are defined | YAML files in your own git repo | Workspace scripts, with git sync available |
| Reach your install from outside the network | Built in — the machine dials out; no port opened | Expose the instance, or run your own tunnel or reverse proxy |
| Inbound webhooks from SaaS apps | Hosted relay forwards them; no port opened | Expose the instance publicly, or tunnel to it |
| Setup effort | A click to install, or one line on a server; a wizard does the rest | One Docker Compose (or Helm) brings up server, Postgres and workers |
| Worker scale-out | No — one machine by design | Yes — many workers |
| Desktop app | macOS and Windows apps | Server-first; no first-party desktop app |
| Runs as your own user with your own access | Yes, by design | Worker processes with their own environment |
| Built-in AI assistant that builds pipelines | Yes, on every plan, aimed at non-developers | AI Flow Chat builds flows from a prompt; AI script generation |
| Non-technical operator experience | Simple mode and a guided wizard | Developer-oriented |
Licence
Cronable
Commercial, on-premisesWindmill
Open source, self-hostablePrimary way you build a job
Cronable
Plain English to the assistant, then the canvasWindmill
Write or AI-generate a script, then compose it into a flowLanguages for custom steps
Cronable
Shell and JavaScript-flavoured code stepsWindmill
TypeScript, Python, Go, Bash, SQL and moreWhere jobs are defined
Cronable
YAML files in your own git repoWindmill
Workspace scripts, with git sync availableReach your install from outside the network
Cronable
Built in — the machine dials out; no port openedWindmill
Expose the instance, or run your own tunnel or reverse proxyInbound webhooks from SaaS apps
Cronable
Hosted relay forwards them; no port openedWindmill
Expose the instance publicly, or tunnel to itSetup effort
Cronable
A click to install, or one line on a server; a wizard does the restWindmill
One Docker Compose (or Helm) brings up server, Postgres and workersWorker scale-out
Cronable
No — one machine by designWindmill
Yes — many workersDesktop app
Cronable
macOS and Windows appsWindmill
Server-first; no first-party desktop appRuns as your own user with your own access
Cronable
Yes, by designWindmill
Worker processes with their own environmentBuilt-in AI assistant that builds pipelines
Cronable
Yes, on every plan, aimed at non-developersWindmill
AI Flow Chat builds flows from a prompt; AI script generationNon-technical operator experience
Cronable
Simple mode and a guided wizardWindmill
Developer-orientedWhat you get by running it on your own machine
Say what you want; it builds the pipeline
Type “every morning, check yesterday’s Stripe refunds and post the total to Slack” and the built-in assistant builds the whole job — the steps, the schedule, the credentials it needs and what happens when one fails — wired and ready to run. You review it on the canvas and change anything. On every plan, including Free.
It runs where your work already is
Cronable installs on the machine you actually use — a Mac or Windows app, or a server you own. A job can open your files, use the CLIs you are already signed in to, and reach anything on your network, because it is running as you, on your box.
Reach it from anywhere — no open ports
Remote control lets you drive your install from a browser wherever you are. The machine dials out to the hosted relay; you never expose a port, forward anything on your router, or run your own tunnel. It is opt-in, off until you switch it on, and included from Basic up.
SaaS webhooks reach your machine
Give Stripe, GitHub or a form tool a URL and the hosted relay forwards the event to your install — again with no port opened and nothing exposed to the internet. Each install gets its own partition, and jobs fire the moment the event lands. Basic and up.
One YAML file per job, in your git repo
Every job is a file in a git repository you own, two-way synced. Review a change as a diff, roll one back, or grep the lot. The definitions are yours whether or not you keep paying us.
Governance built in, not bolted on
Role-based access and a full audit trail of who changed what are there on every plan, not held back for an enterprise tier. On Business, add OIDC single sign-on with your own identity provider and four-eyes approval, so a job change needs a second pair of eyes before it can run.
Cronable and Windmill
Is Cronable open source?
No. It is a commercial product you run entirely on your own infrastructure. Windmill is open source, so if that is a requirement the decision is already made.
Can Cronable run Python?
It can run Python scripts on your machine through the terminal job type, the same way you would run them from a shell. There is also a code job type, but that is a sandboxed JavaScript transform for reshaping data between steps, not a general-purpose runtime. Windmill is the stronger choice if most of your logic is written code in several languages.
Which one is easier for a non-developer?
Cronable, deliberately. It ships a Simple mode, a guided job wizard and an assistant that builds the pipeline from a sentence, so an operator can maintain automations without writing code.
Automate your operations.
Cronable is launching soon. Join the waitlist and we’ll email you the moment self-serve accounts — and the apps for Mac, Windows and Linux — go live.