No-code apps and databases decision
Convex
A technical user can reproduce a narrow Convex-like stack (DB + realtime sync + function runner) with open components, but fully matching Convex’s managed scaling, type-safety tooling, components library, and enterprise features is a larger engineering effort best justified only if you need to avoid the hosted product long-term.
Visit website↗$25/mo
$300/yr
Per seat. Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off80 h to build
$100/mo12 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 5 seats.
Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All Convex alternatives, with the arithmetic →
Code Convex publishes itself
Not a way out of the subscription - these are the vendor’s own repositories. Worth a look for how they build, and for anything you would have to integrate with.
What a replacement has to do
- Provide a reactive/real-time backend with an ACID-capable datastore, server-side functions/actions, realtime sync to clients, auth, and basic file/search storage.
What it still won’t have
- Managed automatic caching & scaling
- End-to-end TypeScript type-safety across client and backend
- Convex Components library (sandboxed, modular TypeScript building blocks)
- Built-in workpool/workflow primitives with retries and checkpointing
- Enterprise compliance attestations and managed SOC2/HIPAA support
What remains hard
- Infrastructure at scale
Automatic caching & scaling so going viral never takes you down
- Execution quality
All TypeScript, zero glue.
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 5 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal self-hosted Convex-like backend using Postgres, Node.js, and a lightweight WebSocket sync server. Include: (1) Postgres schema with transactional helpers and a changefeed layer (LISTEN/NOTIFY) to publish row changes; (2) a Node.js serverless-style action runner (Express/Koa with job queue) supporting retries and exponential backoff; (3) a WebSocket gateway that subscribes to changefeeds and pushes real-time updates to authenticated clients; (4) OAuth-based auth and session management; (5) S3-compatible file storage with signed URLs; (6) a basic full-text search index (e.g., Postgres tsvector or external search) and a simple vector store integration. Out of scope: building a TypeScript end-to-end codegen system, enterprise SLAs, multi-region managed scaling, or SOC2/HIPAA certification. Provide error handling, retries, logging, and automated tests for core flows (transactions, function execution, realtime delivery, auth).
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- An open-source build was found+5
- 4 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Hard moats found in the evidence-3
- Evidence score64
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 4
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productConvex — product
- official pricingConvex — pricing
- open sourcebaserow/baserow
- open sourcenocodb/nocodb
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
