Dapr OSS vs Catalyst
This document compares Dapr Open Source and Diagrid Catalyst Enterprise across developer experience, AI agents and workflows, scale and availability, security, and enterprise operations.
Developer Experience
How developers build, debug, and reason about applications, agents, and workflows.
| Feature | Dapr OSS | Diagrid Catalyst |
|---|---|---|
| SDKs in multiple languages Language-specific SDKs for building Dapr-based applications using Go, .NET, Java, Python, JavaScript, and Rust with idiomatic APIs. | Yes | Yes |
| Managed cloud dev resources Automatically provisioned state stores, pub/sub, workflows, and supporting infrastructure for development environments. | No | Yes |
| Enhanced UI for Dapr resources Centralized web UI for inspecting applications, components, configurations, and runtime state. | No | Yes |
| Workflow visualizer Graphical visualization of workflow executions including state transitions, timers, and failures. | No | Yes |
| Application metrics and API logs Built-in dashboards for application-level metrics and API logs. | No | Yes |
| Application graph Topology view showing service-to-service and pub/sub communication between applications and backing infrastructure. | No | Yes |
| Workflow app generation from diagrams Generate complete workflow applications in multiple programming languages by sketching a diagram or importing existing models such as BPMN. | No | Yes |
AI Agents and Workflows
Capabilities for building, running, and operating durable workflows and AI agents.
| Feature | Dapr OSS | Diagrid Catalyst |
|---|---|---|
| Managed durable agent execution infrastructure Automatically provisioned infrastructure for running durable, workflow-backed AI agents at scale. | No | Yes |
| Managed agent memory infrastructure Agent memory to persist state across executions and restarts. | No | Yes |
| Agent runtime registry Discover running agents, inspect their configurations, and observe executions across environments. | No | Yes |
| Agent testing and interaction Quickly interact with the model to test agent behavior, inspect executions, and interact with agents through a UI. | No | Yes |
| Workflow execution insights Step-level drill-down into workflow and agent executions with replay and inspection. | No | Yes |
| Manage workflows Start new workflow instances, query workflow state, pause and resume execution, raise events, wait for completion, and purge workflow metadata directly from the UI. | No | Yes |
| Workflow error resolution Discover failing workflows and activities and recover them by rerunning or resuming execution. | No | Yes |
Scale and Availability
How the platform scales applications and maintains reliability under load.
| Feature | Dapr OSS | Diagrid Catalyst |
|---|---|---|
| Postgres-backed scheduler for workflows, jobs, and actors High-performance scheduler backed by PostgreSQL for durable, scalable execution with efficient querying, backup, and archiving. | No | Yes |
| Task throughput Maximum number of tasks executed per second across all workflows and processes. | ~100/sec | 1000+/sec |
| Multi-region execution Run applications and application workloads across multiple cloud regions with regional isolation and failover. | No | Yes |
| High availability with SLA Managed highly available platform with availability backed by agreed SLA. | No | Yes |
| Unlimited Dapr application scale Scale to a virtually unlimited number of Dapr-enabled applications without centralized coordination limits. | Yes | Yes |
Security
Identity, access control, compliance, and secure connectivity.
| Feature | Dapr OSS | Diagrid Catalyst |
|---|---|---|
| Zero-trust service connectivity Applications connect to backing infrastructure using identity-based authentication with no static tokens or secrets in code. | Yes | Yes |
| Organization and project isolation Logical isolation of organizations and projects to represent environments and isolated systems such as development or team environments. | No | Yes |
| Role-based access control (RBAC) Granular role-based permissions for users and services across projects and environments. | No | Yes |
| Secrets management Secure storage and access for sensitive data such as API keys, tokens, and credentials. | Yes | Yes |
| Single sign-on (SSO) Authenticate users using enterprise identity providers for centralized access management. | No | Yes |
| User and application auditing Audit logs capturing user actions and application behavior. | No | Yes |
| Seccomp compliance Support for hardened container security using seccomp profiles. | No | Yes |
| Compliance certifications Platform compliance with standards such as SOC 2 Type II Certified. | No | Yes |
Operations and Enterprise Support
How the platform is operated, deployed, and supported in production environments.
| Feature | Dapr OSS | Diagrid Catalyst |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise SLA Platform availability guarantees backed by a formal service-level agreement. | No | Yes |
| Proactive platform guidance Architectural reviews and operational guidance from the creators and maintainers of Dapr. | No | Yes |
| Workflow history archiving Long-term preservation of workflow execution history for audit and compliance. | No | Yes |
| Air-gapped deployment option Complete control with all components, data plane, and control plane deployed within your infrastructure. Ideal for highly regulated industries. | No | Yes |
| Enterprise support Dedicated customer success manager with regular sync calls and support portal. | No | Yes |
| Training and guidance Dedicated training and customized Dapr workshop sessions for your teams to learn Dapr and onboard to Catalyst. | No | Yes |