Databases · head to head
Convex vs Dagger
Convex
Databases
Reactive backend combining a document database, TypeScript server functions and live queries, source-available under the Functional Source Licence.
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
Dagger
Developer Tools
Programmable CI/CD engine that runs your pipeline as containers on any runner
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Free plans on both; paid from $25/mo and $50/mo.
- Only Convex lists reactive queries; only Dagger lists pipelines as code.
- Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Convex and Dagger actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).
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 Convex
- Reactive queries
- TypeScript server functions
- ACID transactions
- Document database
- Scheduling and workflows
- File storage
- Text and vector search
- End-to-end types
Only in Dagger
- Pipelines as code
- Local and CI parity
- Content-addressed caching
- Dagger Functions and modules
- CI-provider agnostic
- Dagger Cloud traces
- GitHub Checks integration
- Container-native execution
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Convex
- Collaborative applications where several users see the same data and every client must reflect a change immediatelynot Dagger
- Agent backends that need durable state, scheduled work and transactional writes without assembling a queue, a database and a cachenot Dagger
- Small product teams who need a complete backend, including auth integration, file storage and subscriptions, without hiring infrastructure engineersnot Dagger
- Prototypes that must become production without a rewrite of the data layer, where end-to-end TypeScript types remove a class of integration bugsnot Dagger
Dagger
- A platform team maintaining near-identical build YAML across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls insteadnot Convex
- An engineering organisation migrating off a CI provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migrationnot Convex
- A team whose engineers waste hours pushing commits to debug CI-only failures and needs to reproduce the exact run locallynot Convex
- A monorepo where most commits touch a small subset of services and cache-accurate step skipping cuts build minutes materiallynot Convex
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Convex
- The Functional Source Licence is not an OSI open source licence: competing use is prohibited until each release reaches its second anniversary and converts to Apache 2.0, so you may self-host but you may not build a service on it
- Transactions are bounded at one second of user code, 16 MiB read and written, 32,000 documents scanned and 16,000 written, so every backfill, migration or bulk import has to be chunked into scheduled batches rather than written as a single operation
- There is no SQL and no query planner; you declare up to 32 indexes per table and traverse them, and joins are loops in TypeScript, so an unanticipated access pattern requires a schema and index change rather than a new query
- It is not an analytical database, so reporting means streaming data out to a warehouse and BI tools cannot be pointed at Convex directly, which adds a pipeline the architecture diagram did not originally include
- The application is written against Convex's function and client APIs rather than a standard protocol, so leaving means rewriting the data access layer and replacing the reactivity model, not repointing a connection string
Dagger
- Dagger is not a CI provider, so you keep paying for GitHub Actions or GitLab runners underneath it; the Dagger Cloud subscription is an addition to your CI bill, not a replacement for it
- Writing pipelines in Go or TypeScript raises the barrier to entry: a release engineer who could edit a YAML step now needs to read code, and the people who can fix a broken build shrink to those comfortable with the SDK
- The engine runs as a container on the runner and needs a persistent cache volume to deliver its main benefit, so ephemeral CI runners give you correctness without the speed, and provisioning durable cache storage is extra platform work
- The Team plan caps at ten users and ten million events per month; an organisation of any size crosses that quickly and moves to Enterprise pricing that is not published, so cost at scale is unknowable up front
- The module ecosystem is young and thinly maintained relative to the marketplace of a mature CI provider, so integrations that exist as a one-line Action often have to be written yourself as a Dagger function
Pricing, plan by plan
Convex
Free- Free & StarterFree
- Supports 1-6 developers
- Reactive database
- File storage
- Professional$25
- Supports up to 20 developers
- All Starter features
- Log streaming
- Business & Enterprise$2,500/month minimum
- Supports 50+ developers
- SAML/SSO
- Service SLAs
Dagger
Free- IndividualFree
- One user
- One million events per month
- Workflow logs and function call traces
- Team$50/mo
- Up to ten users
- Ten million events per month
- Module insights and module catalogue
- EnterpriseOn request
- Custom user and event limits
- SSO
- Managed single-tenant deployment
Which should you pick?
Choose Convex if
- You need reactive queries.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want typescript server functions.
Choose Dagger if
- You need pipelines as code.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
- You also want local and ci parity.
Questions people ask
- Is Convex or Dagger better?
- Neither clearly leads. Convex starts at Free and Dagger at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Convex or Dagger?
- Convex starts at Free and Dagger at Free.
- Does Convex or Dagger run on more platforms?
- Convex runs on Web. Dagger runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
- Can I use Convex for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Convex best used for?
- Convex is most often used for collaborative applications where several users see the same data and every client must reflect a change immediately, agent backends that need durable state, scheduled work and transactional writes without assembling a queue, a database and a cache, small product teams who need a complete backend, including auth integration, file storage and subscriptions, without hiring infrastructure engineers, prototypes that must become production without a rewrite of the data layer, where end-to-end typescript types remove a class of integration bugs. Of those, collaborative applications where several users see the same data and every client must reflect a change immediately and agent backends that need durable state, scheduled work and transactional writes without assembling a queue, a database and a cache are not what Dagger is typically brought in for.
- What can Convex do that Dagger cannot?
- Convex covers Reactive queries, TypeScript server functions, ACID transactions, Document database. Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Local and CI parity, Content-addressed caching, Dagger Functions and modules.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Convex: Is Convex open source?
It is source-available under FSL-1.1-Apache-2.0. You may read, modify and self-host it, but competing use is prohibited until each release converts to Apache 2.0 on its second anniversary.
Dagger: Does Dagger replace GitHub Actions?
No. Dagger runs inside GitHub Actions or any other CI. It replaces the YAML that describes your pipeline steps, not the trigger and runner layer.
Convex: Can I self-host it?
Yes. The backend, dashboard and CLI can run on your own infrastructure, with most of the features of the cloud product. Self-hosted instances include a telemetry beacon that can be disabled.
Dagger: Is the engine open source?
Yes, the Dagger engine and SDKs are open source and free. Dagger Cloud, the observability product, is what costs money.
Convex: Does it support SQL?
No. Data is accessed through a TypeScript query builder over declared indexes. Relationships are traversed in code, which is explicit and type-safe but means no ad hoc querying.
Dagger: What is an event in the pricing?
Dagger Cloud meters pipeline telemetry events. One million per month is free; the Team plan at 50 USD per month allows ten million.
Convex: What happens if a mutation exceeds the limits?
It fails rather than running longer, so bulk work must be split into batches and scheduled. The limits are per transaction: one second of user code, 16 MiB read and written, 32,000 documents scanned and 16,000 written.
Dagger: Can I run the same pipeline on my laptop?
Yes, that is the main reason teams adopt it. The dagger CLI executes the identical graph locally, so CI-only failures become reproducible.
Convex: How does reactivity actually work?
Queries are deterministic functions and Convex records the data each one read. When a mutation changes that data, affected queries are re-run and subscribed clients receive the new result, so cache invalidation is handled by the platform.
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