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APIs · head to head

Convoy vs RabbitMQ

Convoy logo

Convoy

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
RabbitMQ logo

RabbitMQ

Databases

Open-source message broker supporting AMQP and other protocols

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.; RabbitMQ not built for replay: once consumed, a message is gone, which is exactly what Kafka exists to change
  • They diverge on capability: Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, RabbitMQ covers Flexible routing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Convoy and RabbitMQ actually diverge.

Attributes where Convoy and RabbitMQ differ
AttributeConvoyRabbitMQ
Pricing modelPer month, flat rate regardless of volumeOpen source, no licence fee; managed services billed separately
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, CloudLinux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes
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 RabbitMQ

  • Flexible routing
  • Multiple protocols
  • Management UI
  • Clustering and mirroring

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

RabbitMQ

  • Distributing background jobs to a pool of workers with retriesnot Convoy
  • Decoupling services that need delivery rather than a replayable historynot Convoy
  • Routing messages by pattern to different consumers from one publishernot 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.

RabbitMQ

  • Not built for replay: once consumed, a message is gone, which is exactly what Kafka exists to change
  • Throughput ceilings are lower than a log-based platform under very heavy streaming loads
  • Queues that build up degrade broker performance, so consumer lag is an operational problem rather than just a backlog
  • Clustering and partition behaviour has historically been a source of hard-to-diagnose problems

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

RabbitMQ

Free
  • RabbitMQFree
    • 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 RabbitMQ if

  • You need flexible routing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want multiple protocols.
RabbitMQ review

Questions people ask

Is Convoy or RabbitMQ better?
Neither clearly leads. Convoy starts at Free and RabbitMQ at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Convoy or RabbitMQ?
Convoy starts at Free and RabbitMQ at Free.
Does Convoy or RabbitMQ run on more platforms?
Convoy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud. RabbitMQ runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
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 RabbitMQ is typically brought in for.
What can Convoy do that RabbitMQ cannot?
Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Broker-driven ingestion, Payload transformation, Portal links. RabbitMQ covers Flexible routing, Multiple protocols, Management UI, Clustering and mirroring.

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.

RabbitMQ: Is RabbitMQ free?

Yes, open source with no licence fee. Broadcom sells commercial support.

Convoy: What does premium cost?

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

RabbitMQ: RabbitMQ or Kafka?

RabbitMQ is a message broker: simpler to run and better at flexible routing and work queues. Kafka is a replayable event log built for very high throughput streaming, and much heavier to operate.

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.

RabbitMQ: Can RabbitMQ replay messages?

Not in the way Kafka can. Messages are removed once acknowledged, so rebuilding state from history is not the model.

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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