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APIs · head to head

Convoy vs Highnote

Convoy logo

Convoy

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Highnote logo

Highnote

APIs

Card issuing, acquiring and ledger on one platform for embedded payments

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Convoy has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Highnote card issuing requires a sponsor bank, and that bank sets programme approval, compliance obligations and often minimum volumes, so a small programme can be rejected regardless of technical fit.
  • They diverge on capability: Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Highnote covers Card issuing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Convoy and Highnote actually diverge.

Attributes where Convoy and Highnote differ
AttributeConvoyHighnote
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer month, flat rate regardless of volumequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, CloudWeb, API

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).

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 Highnote

  • Card issuing
  • Merchant acquiring
  • Unified ledger
  • Spend controls
  • GraphQL API
  • Programme management
  • Dispute handling
  • Real time authorisation webhooks

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 Highnote
  • A high-volume platform for which per-message webhook pricing costs more than the flat premium licencenot Highnote
  • A team that also receives webhooks from many providers and wants ingestion, verification and deduplication in the same gatewaynot Highnote
  • An engineering group that wants webhook delivery driven directly from an existing Kafka or SQS topicnot Highnote

Highnote

  • A marketplace that both pays out to sellers and issues them spend cards, wanting one settlement ledgernot Convoy
  • A vertical software company embedding card acceptance and card issuing for the same customer basenot Convoy
  • A fintech launching a commercial charge card programme with custom authorisation logicnot Convoy
  • A platform replacing separate issuing and acquiring vendors to remove cross system reconciliationnot 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.

Highnote

  • Card issuing requires a sponsor bank, and that bank sets programme approval, compliance obligations and often minimum volumes, so a small programme can be rejected regardless of technical fit.
  • Pricing is entirely quoted, including platform fees, per active card charges and monthly minimums that do not appear on the website, so the true cost per card is only visible late in a sales process.
  • Interchange sharing is the real revenue model for most customers, and the split is negotiated, capped for regulated debit under the Durbin amendment and sensitive to your spend mix, so revenue projections built on headline interchange rates overstate income.
  • Running issuing and acquiring with one provider concentrates risk: an outage or a compliance action affects both money in and money out at the same time.
  • Highnote is a younger company than the established issuer processors, so long term programme continuity, network certifications in new geographies and international coverage are thinner than the incumbent alternatives.

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

Highnote

On request
  • Highnote platform$undefined/year
    • Quoted per programme with no public rate card
    • Requires a sponsor bank relationship for card issuing
    • Interchange sharing terms negotiated per programme

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 Highnote if

  • You need card issuing.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want merchant acquiring.
Highnote review

Questions people ask

Is Convoy or Highnote better?
Neither clearly leads. Convoy starts at Free and Highnote at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Convoy or Highnote?
Convoy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Convoy and On request for Highnote.
Does Convoy or Highnote run on more platforms?
Convoy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud. Highnote runs on Web, API.
Can I use Convoy for free?
Yes. Convoy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Highnote starts at On request.
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 Highnote is typically brought in for.
What can Convoy do that Highnote cannot?
Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Broker-driven ingestion, Payload transformation, Portal links. Highnote covers Card issuing, Merchant acquiring, Unified ledger, Spend controls.

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.

Highnote: Do I need a sponsor bank?

Yes for card issuing in the United States. Highnote is a processor and programme platform, not a bank, and the sponsor bank sets approval and compliance terms.

Convoy: What does premium cost?

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

Highnote: How do customers make money on a card programme?

Mostly interchange sharing. Negotiate the split explicitly and model it against your actual spend mix, since regulated debit interchange is capped.

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.

Highnote: Can Highnote handle both accepting and issuing payments?

Yes since its 2025 acquiring launch, on the same ledger, which is its main structural differentiator.

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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