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APIs · head to head

Convoy vs K3s

Convoy logo

Convoy

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
K3s logo

K3s

Cloud

Lightweight certified Kubernetes distribution in a single binary

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.; K3s the SQLite default is single-server only; highly available control planes need etcd or an external datastore, which removes much of the simplicity
  • They diverge on capability: Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, K3s covers Single binary.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Convoy and K3s actually diverge.

Attributes where Convoy and K3s differ
AttributeConvoyK3s
Pricing modelPer month, flat rate regardless of volumeOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, CloudLinux, ARM, Self-hosted
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 K3s

  • Single binary
  • SQLite by default
  • Certified conformant
  • Batteries included
  • Low resource footprint
  • Simple install

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 K3s
  • A high-volume platform for which per-message webhook pricing costs more than the flat premium licencenot K3s
  • A team that also receives webhooks from many providers and wants ingestion, verification and deduplication in the same gatewaynot K3s
  • An engineering group that wants webhook delivery driven directly from an existing Kafka or SQS topicnot K3s

K3s

  • Kubernetes on edge sites and IoT hardware where full clusters will not fitnot Convoy
  • Development and CI clusters that must start fast and cost nothingnot Convoy
  • Small production clusters where full Kubernetes is more operations than the workload justifiesnot Convoy
  • Teaching and learning Kubernetes without cloud spendnot 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.

K3s

  • The SQLite default is single-server only; highly available control planes need etcd or an external datastore, which removes much of the simplicity
  • Bundled components such as Traefik are opinionated defaults that larger teams often strip out and replace
  • Removed in-tree cloud provider integrations mean cloud-specific features need external controllers
  • Aimed at small and edge clusters, so very large deployments are better served by a standard distribution

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

K3s

Free
  • K3sFree
    • Full functionality
    • No usage limits
    • Community support

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 K3s if

  • You need single binary.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, ARM, Self-hosted.
  • You also want sqlite by default.
K3s review

Questions people ask

Is Convoy or K3s better?
Neither clearly leads. Convoy starts at Free and K3s at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Convoy or K3s?
Convoy starts at Free and K3s at Free.
Does Convoy or K3s run on more platforms?
Convoy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud. K3s runs on Linux, ARM, Self-hosted.
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 K3s is typically brought in for.
What can Convoy do that K3s cannot?
Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Broker-driven ingestion, Payload transformation, Portal links. K3s covers Single binary, SQLite by default, Certified conformant, Batteries included.

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.

K3s: Is K3s free?

Yes. K3s is open source with no licence fee. SUSE sells commercial support around Rancher separately.

Convoy: What does premium cost?

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

K3s: Is K3s real Kubernetes?

Yes. It is CNCF-certified conformant, so standard manifests, kubectl and Helm charts work without modification.

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.

K3s: Why is K3s smaller than Kubernetes?

It strips legacy, alpha and in-tree cloud provider code, packages everything as one binary, and defaults to SQLite instead of etcd.

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.

K3s: Can K3s run in production?

Yes, and it does, particularly at the edge and for small clusters. For a highly available control plane you need to move off the SQLite default to etcd or an external datastore.

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