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Databases · head to head

Convex vs Hookdeck

Convex logo

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
Visit ConvexFull review
Hookdeck logo

Hookdeck

Developer Tools

Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit HookdeckFull review

The short version

  • Free plans on both; paid from $25/mo and $39/mo.
  • Only Convex lists reactive queries; only Hookdeck lists ingest and persist.
  • Where Hookdeck falls short: pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Convex and Hookdeck actually diverge.

Attributes where Convex and Hookdeck differ
AttributeConvexHookdeck
Pricing modelSubscriptionPer month by delivered event count
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows
CategoryDatabasesDeveloper Tools

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 Hookdeck

  • Ingest and persist
  • Automatic retries
  • Filters and fan-out
  • Transformations
  • Local development CLI
  • Rate limiting

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 Hookdeck
  • Agent backends that need durable state, scheduled work and transactional writes without assembling a queue, a database and a cachenot Hookdeck
  • Small product teams who need a complete backend, including auth integration, file storage and subscriptions, without hiring infrastructure engineersnot Hookdeck
  • Prototypes that must become production without a rewrite of the data layer, where end-to-end TypeScript types remove a class of integration bugsnot Hookdeck

Hookdeck

  • A payments integration where losing a Stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfillednot Convex
  • Fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separatelynot Convex
  • Debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fixnot Convex
  • Receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnelnot 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

Hookdeck

  • Pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries
  • Free-tier retention is three days, which is shorter than the time it typically takes to notice a failing integration, so the payloads needed for a replay are often already gone
  • It becomes a single point of failure in front of every third-party integration, and an outage there means every provider webhook queues or fails at once
  • The transformation layer runs JavaScript in a constrained environment, so anything that needs a database lookup or an external call has to happen downstream instead
  • For a team already running Kafka or SQS the value is mostly the console and the replay UI, which is a hard cost to justify against infrastructure they already operate

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

Hookdeck

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to ten thousand events per month
    • Three-day retention
    • One user
  • Team$39/mo
    • Ten thousand events included
    • Unlimited users
    • Pay as you go metering above the included events
  • Growth$499/mo
    • Ten thousand events included plus metered usage
    • Thirty-day retention
    • Uptime and latency SLAs
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Negotiated event volume
    • Custom retention
    • Dedicated support

Which should you pick?

Choose Convex if

  • You need reactive queries.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want typescript server functions.
Convex review

Choose Hookdeck if

  • You need ingest and persist.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want automatic retries.
Hookdeck review

Questions people ask

Is Convex or Hookdeck better?
Neither clearly leads. Convex starts at Free and Hookdeck at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Convex or Hookdeck?
Convex starts at Free and Hookdeck at Free.
Does Convex or Hookdeck run on more platforms?
Convex runs on Web. Hookdeck runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
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 Hookdeck is typically brought in for.
What can Convex do that Hookdeck cannot?
Convex covers Reactive queries, TypeScript server functions, ACID transactions, Document database. Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Automatic retries, Filters and fan-out, Transformations.

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.

Hookdeck: Is there a free plan?

Yes, ten thousand events a month with three-day retention and one user.

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.

Hookdeck: How is usage counted?

By delivered events, so a single inbound webhook fanned out to three destinations counts as three.

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.

Hookdeck: Can I replay a failed webhook?

Yes, individually or in bulk from the console, with the original payload.

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.

Hookdeck: Does it work for outbound webhooks too?

Yes, the same queueing, retry and observability applies to webhooks you send.

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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