Ably vs Convex

Our take

Pick Ably if app teams who will stay on Free $0 (200 connections, 500 msg/s, 6M messages/month) while they ship a first React pub/sub page, then buy Standard at $29/month + usage when they need 10k channels / 10k connections / 2.5k msg/s — or Pro at $399/month + usage for 50k / 50k / 10k. Pick Convex if typeScript app teams who will stay on Free $0 (1M function calls, 0.5 GB database, 1–6 developers) while they ship

Ably

realtime pub/sub desk

Visit ably.com

Convex

reactive TypeScript backend

Visit convex.dev

Best for

Messages you start at $0

A hosted backend you start at $0, then $25 per developer

Free plan

$0 · proof of concept. 200 concurrent connections. 500 messages / second. 6M messages / month. Build with any Ably product. Community & email support (best effort). No commitment

$0 · /month. 1–6 developers. 1M function calls then $2.20/1M (Starter pay-as-you-go). 20 GB-hours of action compute then $0.33/GB-hour. 0.5 GB database then $0.22/GB. 1 GB files then $0.033/GB. 0.5 GB search then $0.55/GB. 1 GB database I/O then $0.22/GB. 3,000 search query-GBs then $0.11/1K. 1 GB egress then $0.132/GB. 40 deployments. 1,000 concurrent sessions. Query/mutation compute is free

Lowest paid

Usage $2.50

Business & Enterprise $2/mo

Next step up

Standard $29/mo

Professional $25

Coding agent

AI Transport

Runs where

Hosted

Watch out

$29 / $399 is a floor, not the bill

Free is 1M function calls and 0.5 GB of database

Last checked

2026-10-22 · ably.com/pricing

2026-10-22 · convex.dev/pricing

Best for

Ably Messages you start at $0

Convex A hosted backend you start at $0, then $25 per developer

Free plan

Ably $0 · proof of concept. 200 concurrent connections. 500 messages / second. 6M messages / month. Build with any Ably product. Community & email support (best effort). No commitment

Convex $0 · /month. 1–6 developers. 1M function calls then $2.20/1M (Starter pay-as-you-go). 20 GB-hours of action compute then $0.33/GB-hour. 0.5 GB database then $0.22/GB. 1 GB files then $0.033/GB. 0.5 GB search then $0.55/GB. 1 GB database I/O then $0.22/GB. 3,000 search query-GBs then $0.11/1K. 1 GB egress then $0.132/GB. 40 deployments. 1,000 concurrent sessions. Query/mutation compute is free

Lowest paid

Ably Usage $2.50

Convex Business & Enterprise $2/mo

Next step up

Ably Standard $29/mo

Convex Professional $25

Coding agent

Ably AI Transport

Convex

Runs where

Ably

Convex Hosted

Watch out

Ably $29 / $399 is a floor, not the bill

Convex Free is 1M function calls and 0.5 GB of database

Last checked

Ably 2026-10-22 · ably.com/pricing

Convex 2026-10-22 · convex.dev/pricing

Which one, then?

Pick Ably if

app teams who will stay on Free $0 (200 connections, 500 msg/s, 6M messages/month) while they ship a first React pub/sub page, then buy Standard at $29/month + usage when they need 10k channels / 10k connections / 2.5k msg/s — or Pro at $399/month + usage for 50k / 50k / 10k.

Read the Ably page

Pick Convex if

typeScript app teams who will stay on Free $0 (1M function calls, 0.5 GB database, 1–6 developers) while they ship a prototype, then buy Professional at $25 per developer / month when they need 25M calls, log streaming, and daily backups.

Read the Convex page

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