Softwr

APIs · head to head

Column vs Convoy

Column logo

Column

APIs

A nationally chartered US bank that ships its own API, with no middleware in between

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: Column column publishes no pricing whatsoever, so there is no way to model cost before a sales process, and terms are negotiated per programme which favours larger, more sophisticated buyers.; 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: Column covers National bank charter, Convoy covers Inbound and outbound.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Column and Convoy actually diverge.

Attributes where Column and Convoy differ
AttributeColumnConvoy
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer month, flat rate regardless of volume
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APILinux, 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 Column

  • National bank charter
  • Direct Federal Reserve access
  • Ledger and accounts
  • International wires
  • Real-time payments
  • Lending
  • Cheque handling
  • Correspondent banking

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.

Column

  • A fintech that has been burned by a middleware provider failing and wants its deposits held by the same entity that provides the APInot Convoy
  • A payments company needing direct Fedwire and Swift access rather than routing through a correspondent it cannot seenot Convoy
  • A lender that wants origination, funding and deposit accounts from one chartered institution instead of three counterpartiesnot Convoy
  • A payroll or treasury platform where same-day settlement certainty matters more than fast onboardingnot Convoy

Convoy

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

Where each one falls short

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

Column

  • Column publishes no pricing whatsoever, so there is no way to model cost before a sales process, and terms are negotiated per programme which favours larger, more sophisticated buyers.
  • Onboarding is bank diligence rather than vendor sign-up, and programmes routinely spend several months on compliance review, flow of funds documentation and volume forecasting before the first live transaction.
  • Column selects its customers and declines many, so the charter advantage is only available to programmes it considers acceptable risk, which excludes most early-stage teams.
  • It is United States only, so any programme with international account or local payment needs must add a second banking relationship and reconcile across both.
  • Being the bank means Column also carries the bank's regulatory constraints, so product changes that affect risk, such as new customer segments or higher-risk flows, need approval rather than a configuration change.

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

Column

On request
  • Column Bank Platform$undefined/year
    • Deposit accounts and ledger
    • ACH, wire, RTP and cheque rails
    • International wires over Swift

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 Column if

  • You need national bank charter.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want direct federal reserve access.
Column 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 Column or Convoy better?
Neither clearly leads. Column 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, Column or Convoy?
Convoy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Column and Free for Convoy.
Does Column or Convoy run on more platforms?
Column runs on Web, API. 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. Column starts at On request.
What is Column best used for?
Column is most often used for a fintech that has been burned by a middleware provider failing and wants its deposits held by the same entity that provides the api, a payments company needing direct fedwire and swift access rather than routing through a correspondent it cannot see, a lender that wants origination, funding and deposit accounts from one chartered institution instead of three counterparties, a payroll or treasury platform where same-day settlement certainty matters more than fast onboarding. Of those, a fintech that has been burned by a middleware provider failing and wants its deposits held by the same entity that provides the api and a payments company needing direct fedwire and swift access rather than routing through a correspondent it cannot see are not what Convoy is typically brought in for.
What can Column do that Convoy cannot?
Column covers National bank charter, Direct Federal Reserve access, Ledger and accounts, International wires. Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Broker-driven ingestion, Payload transformation, Portal links.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Column: Is Column actually a bank?

Yes. It is a nationally chartered, FDIC-insured bank, which is why there is no sponsor bank behind it.

Convoy: Is Convoy really open source?

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

Column: How is that different from Synctera or Unit?

Those are technology providers that connect you to a separate sponsor bank. With Column the API provider and the depository institution are the same company.

Convoy: What does premium cost?

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

Column: What does Column cost?

Nothing is published. Pricing is negotiated per programme.

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.

Column: How long does onboarding take?

Expect months. This is bank-grade diligence on your compliance programme, not a vendor sign-up.

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.

Share

Related pages

More on Column

More on Convoy

Keep looking

Other head to heads