Databases · head to head
Convex vs Instaclustr
Convex
Databases
Reactive backend combining a document database, TypeScript server functions and live queries, source-available under the Functional Source Licence.
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Instaclustr
Databases
NetApp-owned managed service for Cassandra, Kafka, OpenSearch, PostgreSQL and Cadence with a bring-your-own-cloud model
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Convex has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: 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.; Instaclustr pricing is only obtainable through a configurator or sales conversation, so comparing against AWS MSK or Confluent list prices requires several rounds of quotes rather than a spreadsheet.
- They diverge on capability: Convex covers Reactive queries, Instaclustr covers Unmodified open source.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Convex and Instaclustr actually diverge.
| Attribute | Convex | Instaclustr |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | On request |
| Pricing model | subscription | quote |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Platforms | Web | Cloud, Linux |
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Databases).
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 Instaclustr
- Unmodified open source
- Bring your own cloud
- Multi technology platform
- 24/7 operations
- Managed backups
- Terraform provider
- SOC 2 and compliance
- Consulting and support
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 Instaclustr
- Agent backends that need durable state, scheduled work and transactional writes without assembling a queue, a database and a cachenot Instaclustr
- Small product teams who need a complete backend, including auth integration, file storage and subscriptions, without hiring infrastructure engineersnot Instaclustr
- Prototypes that must become production without a rewrite of the data layer, where end-to-end TypeScript types remove a class of integration bugsnot Instaclustr
Instaclustr
- An enterprise running Cassandra and Kafka that cannot hire and retain specialists for bothnot Convex
- A company with cloud committed spend that wants managed data infrastructure to draw down that commitment through the bring-your-own-cloud modelnot Convex
- A team that left Elastic over the licence change and wants OpenSearch operated by someone else without another proprietary forknot Convex
- An organisation migrating off Amazon MSK or Keyspaces that wants the same open source software with vendor operations but portability intactnot 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.
Instaclustr
- Pricing is only obtainable through a configurator or sales conversation, so comparing against AWS MSK or Confluent list prices requires several rounds of quotes rather than a spreadsheet.
- It manages infrastructure, not data modelling, so a poor Cassandra partition key or a mis-sized Kafka topic still causes outages that the managed service will not prevent.
- NetApp ownership since 2022 has put the roadmap inside a large storage vendor, and the product is now one line in a portfolio rather than the whole company.
- The catalogue is broad but each technology is served at a general level, so teams needing deep, vendor-specific tuning often find a specialist provider goes further on their one technology.
- Bring your own cloud reduces lock-in but shifts networking, IAM and VPC peering complexity onto the customer, which needs cloud engineering capacity the managed service was meant to save.
Pricing, plan by plan
Convex
Free- Free & StarterFree
- Supports 1-6 developers
- Reactive database
- File storage
- Professional$25/month per developer
- Supports up to 20 developers
- All Starter features
- Log streaming
- Business & Enterprise$2500/month minimum
- Supports 50+ developers
- SAML/SSO
- Service SLAs
Instaclustr
On request- Instaclustr Managed Platform$undefined/month
- Priced per node size, technology, cloud provider and region
- Interactive calculator requires configuration before a figure appears
- Discounts on 12 month commitment
Which should you pick?
Choose Convex if
- You need reactive queries.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want typescript server functions.
Choose Instaclustr if
- You need unmodified open source.
- You work on Cloud, Linux.
- You also want bring your own cloud.
Questions people ask
- Is Convex or Instaclustr better?
- Neither clearly leads. Convex starts at Free and Instaclustr at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Convex or Instaclustr?
- Convex has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Convex and On request for Instaclustr.
- Does Convex or Instaclustr run on more platforms?
- Convex runs on Web. Instaclustr runs on Cloud, Linux.
- Can I use Convex for free?
- Yes. Convex has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Instaclustr starts at On request.
- 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 Instaclustr is typically brought in for.
- What can Convex do that Instaclustr cannot?
- Convex covers Reactive queries, TypeScript server functions, ACID transactions, Document database. Instaclustr covers Unmodified open source, Bring your own cloud, Multi technology platform, 24/7 operations.
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.
Instaclustr: Does Instaclustr modify the open source software?
No. Its stated commitment is one hundred per cent open source with no proprietary extensions, which is the main reason licence-averse buyers choose it.
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.
Instaclustr: Who owns Instaclustr?
NetApp, which acquired the company in 2022. It is now branded NetApp Instaclustr.
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.
Instaclustr: Is pricing published?
No. There is an interactive calculator, but figures depend on technology, node size, cloud and region, and commitments are negotiated.
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.
Instaclustr: Can clusters run in my own cloud account?
Yes, through the bring-your-own-cloud model, so the infrastructure spend also counts toward your cloud commitment.
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.
Related pages
More on Instaclustr
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