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Developer Tools · head to head

Helm vs Hookdeck

H

Helm

Developer Tools

The package manager for Kubernetes

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Hookdeck logo

Hookdeck

Developer Tools

Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Helm licensed under Apache License 2.0 per the project's GitHub repository (helm/helm LICENSE); as open source software it has no paid tier or vendor price to compare; Hookdeck pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Helm and Hookdeck actually diverge.

Attributes where Helm and Hookdeck differ
AttributeHelmHookdeck
Pricing modelopen-sourcePer month by delivered event count
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Developer Tools).

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 Helm

Nothing recorded that Hookdeck does not also cover.

Only in Hookdeck

  • Ingest and persist
  • Automatic retries
  • Filters and fan-out
  • Transformations
  • Local development CLI
  • Rate limiting

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Helm

  • Kubernetes package manager and deployment toolnot Hookdeck

Hookdeck

  • A payments integration where losing a Stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfillednot Helm
  • Fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separatelynot Helm
  • Debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fixnot Helm
  • Receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnelnot Helm

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Helm

  • Licensed under Apache License 2.0 per the project's GitHub repository (helm/helm LICENSE); as open source software it has no paid tier or vendor price to compare
  • Contributors must sign commits under the Developer Certificate of Origin to have them accepted, per helm.sh, a process requirement not all Kubernetes tools impose

Hookdeck

  • Pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • Free-tier retention is three days, which is shorter than the time it typically takes to notice a failing integration, so the payloads needed for a replay are often already gone.
  • It becomes a single point of failure in front of every third-party integration, and an outage there means every provider webhook queues or fails at once.
  • The transformation layer runs JavaScript in a constrained environment, so anything that needs a database lookup or an external call has to happen downstream instead.
  • For a team already running Kafka or SQS the value is mostly the console and the replay UI, which is a hard cost to justify against infrastructure they already operate.

Pricing, plan by plan

Helm

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Helm review.

Hookdeck

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to ten thousand events per month
    • Three-day retention
    • One user
  • Team$39/month
    • Ten thousand events included
    • Unlimited users
    • Pay as you go metering above the included events
  • Growth$499/month
    • Ten thousand events included plus metered usage
    • Thirty-day retention
    • Uptime and latency SLAs
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated event volume
    • Custom retention
    • Dedicated support

Which should you pick?

Choose Helm if

  • You want to start without paying.
Helm review

Choose Hookdeck if

  • You need ingest and persist.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want automatic retries.
Hookdeck review

Questions people ask

Is Helm or Hookdeck better?
Neither clearly leads. Helm starts at Free and Hookdeck at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Helm or Hookdeck?
Helm starts at Free and Hookdeck at Free.
Does Helm or Hookdeck run on more platforms?
Helm runs on Web. Hookdeck runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Helm for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Helm best used for?
Helm is most often used for kubernetes package manager and deployment tool. Of those, kubernetes package manager and deployment tool is not what Hookdeck is typically brought in for.
What can Helm do that Hookdeck cannot?
Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Automatic retries, Filters and fan-out, Transformations.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Helm: How much does Helm cost?

Helm is free and open-source. It is a graduated project in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) with no commercial pricing model.

Source
Hookdeck: Is there a free plan?

Yes, ten thousand events a month with three-day retention and one user.

Hookdeck: How is usage counted?

By delivered events, so a single inbound webhook fanned out to three destinations counts as three.

Hookdeck: Can I replay a failed webhook?

Yes, individually or in bulk from the console, with the original payload.

Hookdeck: Does it work for outbound webhooks too?

Yes, the same queueing, retry and observability applies to webhooks you send.

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