Databases · head to head
Convex vs Vespa
Convex
Databases
Reactive backend combining a document database, TypeScript server functions and live queries, source-available under the Functional Source Licence.
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Vespa
Databases
Distributed AI search platform for retrieval, ranking, and inference
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- 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.; Vespa pricing not publicly listed, requires contacting sales
- They diverge on capability: Convex covers Reactive queries, Vespa covers Vector search.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Convex and Vespa actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Vespa
- Vector search
- Text and structured search
- Machine-learned ranking
- Real-time serving
- SQL interface
- Automatic scaling
- Open-source
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 Vespa
- Agent backends that need durable state, scheduled work and transactional writes without assembling a queue, a database and a cachenot Vespa
- Small product teams who need a complete backend, including auth integration, file storage and subscriptions, without hiring infrastructure engineersnot Vespa
- Prototypes that must become production without a rewrite of the data layer, where end-to-end TypeScript types remove a class of integration bugsnot Vespa
Vespa
- Build RAG systems with semantic search over documentsnot Convex
- Power e-commerce search with ML rankingnot Convex
- Create recommendation engines for personalizationnot Convex
- Implement real-time search for news or feedsnot Convex
- Deploy private semantic search over sensitive datanot 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.
Vespa
- Pricing not publicly listed, requires contacting sales
- Steeper learning curve compared to simpler search tools
- Operational complexity for self-hosted deployments
- Smaller ecosystem compared to cloud-native alternatives
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
Vespa
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Vespa review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Convex if
- You need reactive queries.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want typescript server functions.
Choose Vespa if
- You need vector search.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Cloud, Self-hosted.
- You also want text and structured search.
Questions people ask
- Is Convex or Vespa better?
- Neither clearly leads. Convex starts at Free and Vespa at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Convex or Vespa?
- Convex starts at Free and Vespa at Free.
- Does Convex or Vespa run on more platforms?
- Convex runs on Web. Vespa runs on Cloud, 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 Vespa is typically brought in for.
- What can Convex do that Vespa cannot?
- Convex covers Reactive queries, TypeScript server functions, ACID transactions, Document database. Vespa covers Vector search, Text and structured search, Machine-learned ranking, Real-time serving.
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.
Vespa: Is Vespa open-source?
Yes, Vespa is open-source under the Apache 2.0 license. The code is available on GitHub, and you can self-host or use the managed cloud service.
SourceConvex: 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.
Vespa: What latency can Vespa achieve?
Vespa is designed for sub-100 millisecond latencies with thousands of queries per second, suitable for real-time search and recommendation applications.
SourceConvex: 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.
Vespa: Does Vespa support vector search?
Yes, Vespa provides native vector search capabilities alongside text, structured data, and tensor operations for building comprehensive search and AI applications.
SourceConvex: 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.
Vespa: What is the pricing model for Vespa Cloud?
Vespa Cloud pricing is not publicly listed and requires contacting their sales team to discuss your specific use case and scale requirements.
SourceConvex: 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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