Softwr

APIs · head to head

Convoy vs Crossplane

Convoy logo

Convoy

APIs

Open source webhooks gateway you self-host, handling both sending and receiving

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Crossplane logo

Crossplane

Cloud

The Cloud-Native Framework for Platform Engineering

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Convoy the default deployment is self-hosted, so you operate Convoy plus Postgres and Redis and carry the on-call burden for the system that delivers your customers' events.; Crossplane requires Kubernetes expertise and infrastructure
  • They diverge on capability: Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Crossplane covers Kubernetes extension.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Convoy and Crossplane actually diverge.

Attributes where Convoy and Crossplane differ
AttributeConvoyCrossplane
Pricing modelPer month, flat rate regardless of volumeUnknown
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, CloudKubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCP
CategoryAPIsCloud

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Convoy

  • Inbound and outbound
  • Broker-driven ingestion
  • Payload transformation
  • Portal links
  • Circuit breaking
  • Retry policies
  • OpenTelemetry export
  • Role-based access control

Only in Crossplane

  • Kubernetes extension
  • Custom API building
  • Resource management anywhere
  • Declarative interfaces
  • Component library
  • Provider ecosystem

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Convoy

  • A fintech that cannot route customer webhook traffic through a third-party SaaS for compliance reasonsnot Crossplane
  • A high-volume platform for which per-message webhook pricing costs more than the flat premium licencenot Crossplane
  • A team that also receives webhooks from many providers and wants ingestion, verification and deduplication in the same gatewaynot Crossplane
  • An engineering group that wants webhook delivery driven directly from an existing Kafka or SQS topicnot Crossplane

Crossplane

  • Building platform-as-a-service offerings for internal teamsnot Convoy
  • Creating unified control layers for multi-cloud infrastructurenot Convoy
  • Designing declarative APIs for infrastructure provisioningnot Convoy

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Convoy

  • The default deployment is self-hosted, so you operate Convoy plus Postgres and Redis and carry the on-call burden for the system that delivers your customers' events.
  • Frain Technologies is a small startup, and putting customer-facing delivery infrastructure on it means accepting real vendor continuity risk on a component that is hard to swap out quickly.
  • The premium tier at a flat 999 US dollars a month is poor value below substantial volume, while the community edition omits the portal, transformations and RBAC that most production deployments end up wanting.
  • The hosted cloud trial is capped at one project and 100 events a day, which is too small to properly evaluate the service before committing.
  • Documentation and the third-party ecosystem are thinner than the established webhook services, so unusual configurations often mean reading the Go source.

Crossplane

  • Requires Kubernetes expertise and infrastructure
  • Steep learning curve for teams new to Kubernetes patterns
  • Provider ecosystem smaller than Terraform

Pricing, plan by plan

Convoy

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • Self-hosted open source gateway
    • Inbound and outbound webhooks
    • Automatic retries and message broker support
  • Premium$999/month
    • Flat rate irrespective of message volume
    • Portal links and payload transformation
    • RBAC, circuit breaking and white labelling
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • SAML SSO
    • Dedicated support with SLA
    • On-premises deployment assistance
  • Cloud$undefined/month
    • Hosted by Convoy
    • 14 day trial limited to one project and 100 events a day
    • Usage-based tiers above the trial

Crossplane

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Crossplane review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Convoy if

  • You need inbound and outbound.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want broker-driven ingestion.
Convoy review

Choose Crossplane if

  • You need kubernetes extension.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCP.
  • You also want custom api building.
Crossplane review

Questions people ask

Is Convoy or Crossplane better?
Neither clearly leads. Convoy starts at Free and Crossplane at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Convoy or Crossplane?
Convoy starts at Free and Crossplane at Free.
Does Convoy or Crossplane run on more platforms?
Convoy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud. Crossplane runs on Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCP.
Can I use Convoy for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Convoy best used for?
Convoy is most often used for a fintech that cannot route customer webhook traffic through a third-party saas for compliance reasons, a high-volume platform for which per-message webhook pricing costs more than the flat premium licence, a team that also receives webhooks from many providers and wants ingestion, verification and deduplication in the same gateway, an engineering group that wants webhook delivery driven directly from an existing kafka or sqs topic. Of those, a fintech that cannot route customer webhook traffic through a third-party saas for compliance reasons and a high-volume platform for which per-message webhook pricing costs more than the flat premium licence are not what Crossplane is typically brought in for.
What can Convoy do that Crossplane cannot?
Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Broker-driven ingestion, Payload transformation, Portal links. Crossplane covers Kubernetes extension, Custom API building, Resource management anywhere, Declarative interfaces.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Convoy: Is Convoy really open source?

Yes, the community edition is open source and self-hostable, covering both inbound and outbound webhooks with retries.

Crossplane: Is Crossplane free?

Yes, Crossplane is open source and free to use. It requires a Kubernetes cluster but has no licensing costs.

Source
Convoy: What does premium cost?

A flat 999 US dollars a month, self-hosted, regardless of message volume.

Crossplane: What is Crossplane used for?

Crossplane is used to build control planes and platforms for infrastructure management, enabling platform teams to expose safe APIs to other teams.

Source
Convoy: Does it receive webhooks as well as send them?

Yes, inbound ingestion with verification and deduplication is a first-class feature, unlike most webhook services.

Convoy: Do I have to self-host?

No, there is a hosted cloud, but the trial is capped at 100 events a day and self-hosting is the primary model.

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