Softwr

APIs · head to head

Convoy vs OpenSearch

Convoy logo

Convoy

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
OpenSearch logo

OpenSearch

Databases

Open-source search and analytics suite forked from Elasticsearch

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.; OpenSearch diverged from Elasticsearch since 7.10, so clients, plugins and features no longer map one to one
  • They diverge on capability: Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, OpenSearch covers Full-text search.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Convoy and OpenSearch actually diverge.

Attributes where Convoy and OpenSearch differ
AttributeConvoyOpenSearch
Pricing modelPer month, flat rate regardless of volumeOpen source, no licence fee; managed services billed separately
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, CloudLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted
CategoryAPIsDatabases

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 OpenSearch

  • Full-text search
  • OpenSearch Dashboards
  • Log analytics
  • Vector search

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

OpenSearch

  • Log and observability storage where an Apache-2.0 licence is a requirementnot Convoy
  • Replacing Elasticsearch after the licence change without changing architecturenot Convoy
  • Search plus analytics on one cluster rather than two systemsnot 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.

OpenSearch

  • Diverged from Elasticsearch since 7.10, so clients, plugins and features no longer map one to one
  • Operationally heavy in the way Elasticsearch is: cluster sizing, shard strategy and JVM tuning are ongoing work
  • Smaller ecosystem of third-party tooling than Elasticsearch, which most integrations still target first
  • Overkill for plain application search, where a dedicated search engine is far simpler

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

OpenSearch

Free
  • OpenSearchFree
    • Full functionality
    • Self-hosted
    • No usage limits

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 OpenSearch if

  • You need full-text search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
  • You also want opensearch dashboards.
OpenSearch review

Questions people ask

Is Convoy or OpenSearch better?
Neither clearly leads. Convoy starts at Free and OpenSearch at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Convoy or OpenSearch?
Convoy starts at Free and OpenSearch at Free.
Does Convoy or OpenSearch run on more platforms?
Convoy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud. OpenSearch runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, 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 OpenSearch is typically brought in for.
What can Convoy do that OpenSearch cannot?
Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Broker-driven ingestion, Payload transformation, Portal links. OpenSearch covers Full-text search, OpenSearch Dashboards, Log analytics, Vector search.

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.

OpenSearch: Is OpenSearch free?

Yes, Apache 2.0 licensed under the Linux Foundation. Amazon OpenSearch Service is a paid managed option.

Convoy: What does premium cost?

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

OpenSearch: Why does OpenSearch exist?

Elastic moved Elasticsearch off the Apache 2.0 licence in 2021. AWS forked the last Apache-licensed version, and the project now sits under the Linux Foundation.

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.

OpenSearch: Is OpenSearch compatible with Elasticsearch?

It was at the 7.10 fork point. Both have developed independently since, so compatibility weakens with every release and should be verified for the features you use.

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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