Databases · head to head
Convex vs Privacera
Convex
Databases
Reactive backend combining a document database, TypeScript server functions and live queries, source-available under the Functional Source Licence.
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Privacera
Databases
Centralised data access governance from the creators of Apache Ranger, now rebranding as Trust3 AI
- 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.; Privacera the company is mid-rebrand to Trust3 AI as of March 2026, so documentation, contracts and support channels are in transition and buyers should confirm which entity and which product name their agreement actually names.
- They diverge on capability: Convex covers Reactive queries, Privacera covers Centralised policy authoring.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Convex and Privacera actually diverge.
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 Privacera
- Centralised policy authoring
- Native enforcement
- Attribute-based access control
- Dynamic masking and row filtering
- Sensitive data discovery
- Encryption and de-identification
- Audit reporting
- AI governance agent
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 Privacera
- Agent backends that need durable state, scheduled work and transactional writes without assembling a queue, a database and a cachenot Privacera
- Small product teams who need a complete backend, including auth integration, file storage and subscriptions, without hiring infrastructure engineersnot Privacera
- Prototypes that must become production without a rewrite of the data layer, where end-to-end TypeScript types remove a class of integration bugsnot Privacera
Privacera
- An enterprise running both Databricks and Snowflake that needs one masking policy honoured identically in both rather than two sets of grants to reconcilenot Convex
- A bank that must produce a single access audit across its analytics estate for a regulator without stitching together per-engine logsnot Convex
- A Hadoop shop with years of Apache Ranger policies migrating to cloud analytics and wanting to carry the policy model across rather than rewrite itnot Convex
- A team exposing governed data to LLM applications that needs the same row and column restrictions to apply when an agent queries on a user behalfnot 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.
Privacera
- The company is mid-rebrand to Trust3 AI as of March 2026, so documentation, contracts and support channels are in transition and buyers should confirm which entity and which product name their agreement actually names.
- Investment is visibly shifting towards agentic AI governance, which raises a fair question about how much engineering continues to go into the classic data access governance modules that most existing customers actually bought.
- Native enforcement depends on each engine supporting the policy constructs you need, so what you can express on Databricks may not be enforceable identically on a less capable source, and coverage must be verified source by source.
- It sits between the data platforms and their own governance features, and as Databricks Unity Catalog and Snowflake native governance mature, single-platform customers find the case for a separate layer weakening.
- Pricing is unpublished and scales with connected sources, so an organisation that keeps adding data platforms discovers the governance layer cost grows alongside the platform costs it was meant to rationalise.
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$2500/month minimum
- Supports 50+ developers
- SAML/SSO
- Service SLAs
Privacera
On request- Privacera Platform$undefined/year
- Quoted by connected data sources, users and deployment model
- Self-managed and Privacera Cloud SaaS options
- Free trial available for Privacera Cloud and Trust3 AI
Which should you pick?
Choose Convex if
- You need reactive queries.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want typescript server functions.
Choose Privacera if
- You need centralised policy authoring.
- You work on Web, Linux.
- You also want native enforcement.
Questions people ask
- Is Convex or Privacera better?
- Neither clearly leads. Convex starts at Free and Privacera at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Convex or Privacera?
- Convex has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Convex and On request for Privacera.
- Does Convex or Privacera run on more platforms?
- Convex runs on Web. Privacera runs on Web, Linux.
- Can I use Convex for free?
- Yes. Convex has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Privacera 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 Privacera is typically brought in for.
- What can Convex do that Privacera cannot?
- Convex covers Reactive queries, TypeScript server functions, ACID transactions, Document database. Privacera covers Centralised policy authoring, Native enforcement, Attribute-based access control, Dynamic masking and row filtering.
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.
Privacera: Did Privacera merge with Immuta?
No. They remain independent competitors, and Privacera still publishes comparison material against Immuta. What did happen is a rebrand to Trust3 AI announced in March 2026.
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.
Privacera: Is it the same as Apache Ranger?
It is built on Ranger by Ranger creators, but it adds multi-engine enforcement, discovery, a managed cloud option and support. Ranger alone does not cover Snowflake or cloud storage in the same way.
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.
Privacera: Does it slow down queries?
It pushes policy into the underlying engine rather than proxying, so query execution stays native. Policy synchronisation, not query latency, is the usual operational concern.
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.
Privacera: What does it cost?
Not published. Quoted by connected sources, user count and whether you self-manage or use Privacera Cloud. A free trial of the cloud product is available.
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
Other head to heads
- Convex vs PostgreSQL
- Convex vs Airtable
- Convex vs Cockroach Labs
- Convex vs Amazon Aurora
- Convex vs Readyset
- Convex vs FaunaDB
- Convex vs LanceDB
- Convex vs Xata
- Convex vs Materialize
- Convex vs BigQuery
- Convex vs dbt
- Convex vs Apache Doris
- Convex vs ArangoDB
- Convex vs Canary Labs
- Convex vs Chroma
- Convex vs Cloudinary
- Convex vs DynamoDB
- Convex vs Apache Solr
- Convex vs Immuta
- Convex vs Knack
- Convex vs Teradata
- Convex vs VerneMQ
- Convex vs DuckDB
- Convex vs Turso
- Convex vs Apache Pulsar
- Convex vs Estuary
- Convex vs DataStax
- Convex vs Dgraph
- Privacera vs PostgreSQL
- Privacera vs Airtable
- Privacera vs Cockroach Labs
- Privacera vs Amazon Aurora
- Privacera vs Readyset
- Privacera vs FaunaDB
- Privacera vs LanceDB
- Privacera vs Xata
- Privacera vs Materialize
- Privacera vs BigQuery
- Privacera vs dbt
- Privacera vs Apache Doris
- Privacera vs ArangoDB
- Privacera vs Canary Labs
- Privacera vs Chroma
- Privacera vs Cloudinary
- Privacera vs DynamoDB
- Privacera vs Apache Solr
- Privacera vs Immuta
- Privacera vs Knack
- Privacera vs Teradata
- Privacera vs VerneMQ
- Privacera vs DuckDB
- Privacera vs Turso
- Privacera vs Apache Pulsar
- Privacera vs Estuary
- Privacera vs DataStax
- Privacera vs Dgraph