Who are Astronomer? Everything you need to know

Astronomer is a global software business operating in the data area, offering one platform for a company's entire data pipeline lifecycle. Headquartered in New York, they are most closely associated with the 'Astro' unified DataOps platform built on Apache Airflow.

In this blog, we look at who Astronomer are, what they do, and everything you need to know to understand the business and its technology capability.

What Do Astronomer Do?

Astronomer's technology helps organizations to reliably build, run, and monitor scalable data pipelines - from analytics and AI use cases to ETL and MLOps.

They provide the following technology:

• Astro (the Managed Platform)

  • A hosted version of Apache Airflow - an open-source tool to automate and manage workflows. Instead of building and maintaining your own setup, Astro handles everything: provisioning resources, autoscaling, updates, platform security, and support with robust SLAs. It allows users to:

    • Develop pipelines locally and deploy easily with built-in CI/CD and CLI tools.

    • Scale reliably in cloud or on-prem environments.

    • Access features from day zero of version 3.0.

      
      

• Astro Observe

  • A telemetry and dashboard tool to monitor pipelines. It offers live tracking (health, cost, lineage), smart alerts, anomaly detection, and tools to troubleshoot issues before they become serious.

    
    

• Astronomer Software (Self-Hosted)

  • For organizations that prefer to run Airflow themselves (e.g., alongside their own Kubernetes clusters). It includes enterprise features: version control, in-place upgrades, role-based access, professional onboarding, and expert support.

    
    

• Tooling Ecosystem

  • Cosmos: Converts dbt workflows into Airflow tasks.

  • Registry: Pre-built integrations and pipeline templates (~1,600).

  • Academy & Professional Services: Training, certifications, migration help, and consulting.

Astronomer Facts and Figures

Here are the key facts and figures relating to Astronomer:

Website - www.astronomer.io

Number of employees - ~400

Headquarters - New York, USA

Year Established - 2018

Private or Public - Private - investors include Bain Capital, Salesforce Ventures.

Funding - Series D May 2025

Valuation - $1 billion

Key Customer Logos - Apple, Ford, Uber

What Makes Astronomer Different?

The company has experienced significant growth in recent years. As the table from LinkedIn highlights below, the employee count almost doubled in just two years (from 240 in summer 2023 to almost 400 in summer 2025).

Why are they experiencing such success compared to their peers? Here is what we believe makes them different:

• Deep ties to Airflow: Astronomer drives 100% of Apache Airflow® releases, with large contributions (55% of code, top committers and PMC members on staff). 

  
  

• Airflow 3 Day‑Zero access: Users get immediate access to the latest Airflow features thanks to Astronomer's central role.

  
  

• Enterprise-grade security & reliability: They offer role-based access control, isolated environments, autoscaling, and 1‑hour SLA support.

  
  

• Unified DataOps approach: Covers build → run → observe stages all in one platform, minimizing tool sprawl.

  
  

• Rich ecosystem: Registry plug‑ins, Cosmos for dbt workflows, Academy for training, and professional service (all integrated into the platform).

  
  

• Trusted by enterprise brands: Used by firms like Apple, Ford, Uber, Autodesk, Texas Rangers, Campspot - citing major time and cost savings

What Are The Alternatives To Astronomer?

If you are looking at alternatives to compare and contrast against Astronomer, or if you have the software already but want to consider options. Here are some possible alternatives:

• Cloud-managed Airflow services: AWS MWAA (Amazon) and Cloud Composer (Google) offer simpler setups but often lag in features like lineage, CI/CD pipelines, or fastest Airflow versions.

  
  

• Self-hosted Apache Airflow: DIY approach gives full control at the cost of engineering time and infrastructure complexity.

  
  

• Competitor orchestrators: Prefect and Dagster tackle newer workflow challenges and data lineage, though Astronomer argues Airflow 2+ addresses many of those pain points.

  
  

• dbt Cloud, Airbyte, Prefect, Dagster: These offer overlapping features in transformations, orchestration, and observability, but none have Astronomer’s tight Airflow integration and comprehensive enterprise support.

Astronomer Customer Examples

According to Astronomer's website, customers include the likes of:

• Autodesk

• Activision

• Marriott

• Molson Coors

• Sonos

• Foot Locker

• Ford

• Adobe

Find Out More About Astronomer

Want to find out more about Astronomer? Take a look at their website (www.astronomer.io) and learn more about their products, solutions and relevant Astronomer resources and documentation.

If you are on the lookout for new technology, why not try our Technology Matchmaker service, where we write up your requirements and bring a host of different vendors to present how they can help you? Or, if you are still in the early stages of your decision process, maybe our 'Stick or Switch Application Review' might be a good first step - where we interview your users and review your current application contract, work with your incumbent to see if they can improve what you have, and look at the market for alternatives - simultaneously.