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APIs · head to head

Astra vs Convoy

Astra logo

Astra

APIs

Instant payments API for push-to-card, card-to-account and FedNow transfers

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Convoy logo

Convoy

APIs

Open source webhooks gateway you self-host, handling both sending and receiving

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Convoy has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Astra push-to-card costs materially more per transaction than ACH, so a platform that switches all payouts to instant sees payment costs rise sharply, and the usual answer of charging the recipient for speed only works where recipients will pay.; Convoy the default deployment is self-hosted, so you operate Convoy plus Postgres and Redis and carry the on-call burden for the system that delivers your customers' events.
  • They diverge on capability: Astra covers Instant disbursements, Convoy covers Inbound and outbound.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Astra and Convoy actually diverge.

Attributes where Astra and Convoy differ
AttributeAstraConvoy
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer month, flat rate regardless of volume
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsAPI, Web, iOS, AndroidLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Astra

  • Instant disbursements
  • Card to account
  • Net debit mode
  • FedNow and RTP transfers
  • ACH transfers
  • Routing logic
  • SDK
  • Sandbox

Only in Convoy

  • Inbound and outbound
  • Broker-driven ingestion
  • Payload transformation
  • Portal links
  • Circuit breaking
  • Retry policies
  • OpenTelemetry export
  • Role-based access control

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Astra

  • A gig or marketplace platform paying workers to their debit cards at the end of a shift rather than on a weekly ACH cyclenot Convoy
  • An insurer settling small claims instantly to a claimant debit card to remove the cheque processnot Convoy
  • A lending product disbursing approved funds in seconds so the borrower experience matches the approval decisionnot Convoy
  • A consumer fintech letting users fund a new account from an existing debit card so the balance is usable immediatelynot Convoy

Convoy

  • A fintech that cannot route customer webhook traffic through a third-party SaaS for compliance reasonsnot Astra
  • A high-volume platform for which per-message webhook pricing costs more than the flat premium licencenot Astra
  • A team that also receives webhooks from many providers and wants ingestion, verification and deduplication in the same gatewaynot Astra
  • An engineering group that wants webhook delivery driven directly from an existing Kafka or SQS topicnot Astra

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Astra

  • Push-to-card costs materially more per transaction than ACH, so a platform that switches all payouts to instant sees payment costs rise sharply, and the usual answer of charging the recipient for speed only works where recipients will pay.
  • Original Credit Transaction support is not universal across card issuers, so a proportion of payouts fall back to slower rails and you must build and explain a two speed experience rather than promising instant to everyone.
  • The programme depends on Cross River Bank as sponsor, a bank with concentrated fintech exposure and a documented regulatory history, so a single supervisory action on that institution is a direct operational risk to your payouts.
  • Nothing is published on pricing, and per transaction economics vary by rail and volume, so small platforms cannot estimate cost before a sales conversation and have limited leverage in it.
  • FedNow reach still depends on the recipient bank participating, so instant account-to-account is not available to every recipient and the routing logic has to degrade gracefully, which is more integration work than the single API framing suggests.

Convoy

  • The default deployment is self-hosted, so you operate Convoy plus Postgres and Redis and carry the on-call burden for the system that delivers your customers' events.
  • Frain Technologies is a small startup, and putting customer-facing delivery infrastructure on it means accepting real vendor continuity risk on a component that is hard to swap out quickly.
  • The premium tier at a flat 999 US dollars a month is poor value below substantial volume, while the community edition omits the portal, transformations and RBAC that most production deployments end up wanting.
  • The hosted cloud trial is capped at one project and 100 events a day, which is too small to properly evaluate the service before committing.
  • Documentation and the third-party ecosystem are thinner than the established webhook services, so unusual configurations often mean reading the Go source.

Pricing, plan by plan

Astra

On request
  • Astra Payments$undefined/year
    • Per transaction pricing quoted by volume and rail
    • Push-to-card economics differ materially from ACH
    • Net debit mode available in place of prefunding

Convoy

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • Self-hosted open source gateway
    • Inbound and outbound webhooks
    • Automatic retries and message broker support
  • Premium$999/month
    • Flat rate irrespective of message volume
    • Portal links and payload transformation
    • RBAC, circuit breaking and white labelling
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • SAML SSO
    • Dedicated support with SLA
    • On-premises deployment assistance
  • Cloud$undefined/month
    • Hosted by Convoy
    • 14 day trial limited to one project and 100 events a day
    • Usage-based tiers above the trial

Which should you pick?

Choose Astra if

  • You need instant disbursements.
  • You work on API, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want card to account.
Astra review

Choose Convoy if

  • You need inbound and outbound.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want broker-driven ingestion.
Convoy review

Questions people ask

Is Astra or Convoy better?
Neither clearly leads. Astra starts at On request and Convoy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Astra or Convoy?
Convoy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Astra and Free for Convoy.
Does Astra or Convoy run on more platforms?
Astra runs on API, Web, iOS, Android. Convoy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
Can I use Convoy for free?
Yes. Convoy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Astra starts at On request.
What is Astra best used for?
Astra is most often used for a gig or marketplace platform paying workers to their debit cards at the end of a shift rather than on a weekly ach cycle, an insurer settling small claims instantly to a claimant debit card to remove the cheque process, a lending product disbursing approved funds in seconds so the borrower experience matches the approval decision, a consumer fintech letting users fund a new account from an existing debit card so the balance is usable immediately. Of those, a gig or marketplace platform paying workers to their debit cards at the end of a shift rather than on a weekly ach cycle and an insurer settling small claims instantly to a claimant debit card to remove the cheque process are not what Convoy is typically brought in for.
What can Astra do that Convoy cannot?
Astra covers Instant disbursements, Card to account, Net debit mode, FedNow and RTP transfers. Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Broker-driven ingestion, Payload transformation, Portal links.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Astra: Who is the sponsor bank?

Cross River Bank. All banking and payment services run through that relationship, so the bank should be part of your diligence rather than an implementation detail.

Convoy: Is Convoy really open source?

Yes, the community edition is open source and self-hostable, covering both inbound and outbound webhooks with retries.

Astra: Do I have to prefund payouts?

Not necessarily. Astra offers a net debit arrangement where disbursements settle against a reserve rather than a permanently funded float account, which is the main working capital argument for the product.

Convoy: What does premium cost?

A flat 999 US dollars a month, self-hosted, regardless of message volume.

Astra: Is every payout instant?

No. Push-to-card requires the recipient card issuer to support Original Credit Transactions, and FedNow requires the recipient bank to participate. The rest fall back to ACH.

Convoy: Does it receive webhooks as well as send them?

Yes, inbound ingestion with verification and deduplication is a first-class feature, unlike most webhook services.

Astra: What does it cost?

Nothing is published. Pricing is per transaction and varies by rail and volume, and card rails cost considerably more than ACH.

Convoy: Do I have to self-host?

No, there is a hosted cloud, but the trial is capped at 100 events a day and self-hosting is the primary model.

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