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APIs · head to head

Convoy vs Rowy

Convoy logo

Convoy

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Rowy logo

Rowy

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet interface for Google Cloud Firestore with cloud functions written in the browser

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.; Rowy every Firestore limit is inherited, including the one megabyte per document ceiling and roughly one sustained write per second per document, which surprises users who expect spreadsheet behaviour.
  • They diverge on capability: Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Rowy covers Firestore backed grid.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Convoy and Rowy actually diverge.

Attributes where Convoy and Rowy differ
AttributeConvoyRowy
Pricing modelPer month, flat rate regardless of volumeOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, CloudWeb
CategoryAPIsSpreadsheets

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 Rowy

  • Firestore backed grid
  • Browser authored cloud functions
  • Typed columns
  • Runs in your Google Cloud project
  • Role based access
  • Form view
  • Open source

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

Rowy

  • A Firebase application that needs an internal admin interface without building onenot Convoy
  • Operations staff correcting production records in Firestore without developer involvementnot Convoy
  • Attaching a small transformation or notification function to a field change without a full deployment pipelinenot Convoy
  • A content team populating documents that a mobile application reads directly from Firestorenot 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.

Rowy

  • Every Firestore limit is inherited, including the one megabyte per document ceiling and roughly one sustained write per second per document, which surprises users who expect spreadsheet behaviour.
  • Firestore has no joins, so linking tables in the grid is a convenience layer rather than a relational feature and reports across collections still need a separate query.
  • It is useful only to teams already on Firebase, so choosing it effectively locks the operational tooling to one cloud vendor.
  • Query costs are billed by document read, and an unfiltered grid on a large collection can generate a bill that a spreadsheet user has no intuition for.
  • Development activity has slowed relative to the broader category, so evaluate current maintenance before making it load bearing for internal operations.

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

Rowy

Free
  • Open source self hostedFree
    • No licence fee
    • Deploys into your own Google Cloud project
    • You pay Google Cloud for Firestore reads, writes and storage

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 Rowy if

  • You need firestore backed grid.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want browser authored cloud functions.
Rowy review

Questions people ask

Is Convoy or Rowy better?
Neither clearly leads. Convoy starts at Free and Rowy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Convoy or Rowy?
Convoy starts at Free and Rowy at Free.
Does Convoy or Rowy run on more platforms?
Convoy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud. Rowy runs on Web.
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 Rowy is typically brought in for.
What can Convoy do that Rowy cannot?
Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Broker-driven ingestion, Payload transformation, Portal links. Rowy covers Firestore backed grid, Browser authored cloud functions, Typed columns, Runs in your Google Cloud project.

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.

Rowy: Where is my data stored?

In your own Firestore instance inside your own Google Cloud project. Rowy does not hold a copy.

Convoy: What does premium cost?

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

Rowy: What does it cost to run?

No licence fee. You pay Google Cloud for Firestore reads, writes, storage and function invocations, and an open grid on a big collection reads a lot.

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.

Rowy: Can it do joins across collections?

Not really. Firestore does not support joins, and no interface layer can add them.

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.

Rowy: Is there a row limit?

Not from Rowy. The limits that bite are Firestore document size and per document write throughput.

Rowy: Is it suitable if I am not on Firebase?

No. It is specifically a Firestore interface.

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