8 Best Nhost Alternatives (2026)
The closest alternatives to Nhost are Appwrite, Convex, ElectricSQL and Firebase, with 4 more below. Each shares a comparison category with it, so every rationale here names both tools' real values. Nhost is 6th of 9 on Entry price ($25 /mo), usually where a switch starts.
Why do people look for Nhost alternatives?
- Most people searching for Nhost alternatives are not shopping, they already run it and something has stopped fitting.
- That something is usually a specific number rather than a feeling.
- This page starts from the fields where Nhost genuinely trails the rosters it appears in, and only then covers the reasons that never show up in a table.
The measured reasons.
- Entry price, $25 /mo, 6th of 9. Firebase
records $0 /mo. - GitHub stars, 8,000, 6th of 10. Supabase
records 90,000. - Optimistic writes, No. Convex
records Yes.
- Any one of those is enough on its own if you sized your architecture around it.
- None of them is enough if you didn't, which is why the list is short and specific rather than a general case against Nhost.
The reasons that never make it into a table.
- A price rise after a funding round.
- A licence change that turns a self-host into a subscription.
- A region you now need and they do not have.
- An acquisition.
- A support experience that quietly degrades.
- None of those are fields, and all of them move teams, which is why every entry below links back to Convex alternatives, where the full field set and its sources live.
- The ones we catch get logged on the Nhost timeline.
How the shortlist is ordered.
- Every tool below shares at least one comparison category with Nhost, sorted by how many categories the two overlap in.
- There is no editorial ranking, no sponsorship and no affiliate link, the order is the overlap count.
- The rationale under each is generated from the two tools' own cells, so it names real values rather than adjectives.
1.
Appwrite
- Appwrite, Open-source backend platform: databases, auth, storage, functions, self-hostable.
- It meets Nhost in Convex alternatives.
- It is ahead on GitHub stars (52,000 against 8,000) and Entry price ($15 /mo against $25 /mo).
- What you give up: Transactions (none, where Nhost records mvcc) and Raw SQL (No, where Nhost records Yes).
- Best for teams that must run the whole backend on their own infrastructure.
- The most complete self-hostable option, held back by console-first schema and the weakest transaction story here.
Where Appwrite and Nhost actually differ
Appwrite profileCompare in Convex alternatives- Transactions
- noneNhost: mvcc Inferred
- Raw SQL
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Vector search
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Bulk export
- PartialNhost: Yes Inferred
- GitHub stars
- 52,000Nhost: 8,000 Inferred
- Full-text search
- PartialNhost: Yes Inferred
2.Convex
- Convex, Reactive TypeScript backend: database, functions and live queries in one project.
- It meets Nhost in Convex alternatives.
- It is ahead on Optimistic writes (Yes against No), Agent fit (5 against 3) and TS inference (Yes against Partial).
- What you give up: Raw SQL (No, where Nhost records Yes) and Exit cost (4, where Nhost records 2).
- Best for small teams shipping realtime-shaped product fast.
- Fastest empty-repo-to-realtime path here, but a 4 on exit cost with no SQL escape hatch.
Where Convex and Nhost actually differ
Convex profileCompare in Convex alternatives- Exit cost
- 4Nhost: 2 Inferred
- Auth
- first-party-addonNhost: built-in Inferred
- Agent fit
- 5Nhost: 3 Inferred
3.
ElectricSQL
- ElectricSQL, Postgres
read-path sync: stream subsets of your own database to clients over HTTP. - It meets Nhost in Convex alternatives.
- It is ahead on Local-first sync (Partial against No) and Optimistic writes (Partial against No).
- What you give up: Cron & scheduling (No, where Nhost records Yes) and Auth (bring-your-own, where Nhost records built-in).
- Best for existing Postgres apps that need live read data without a rewrite.
- The narrowest, best-behaved tool: read-path sync over your own Postgres with an exit close to free.
Where ElectricSQL and Nhost actually differ
ElectricSQL profileCompare in Convex alternatives- Cron & scheduling
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- MCP server
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- File storage
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Optimistic writes
- PartialNhost: No Inferred
4.Firebase
- Firebase, Google's app platform: Firestore documents, auth, functions, deep mobile SDKs.
- It meets Nhost in Convex alternatives.
- It is ahead on Optimistic writes (Yes against No), Entry price ($0 /mo against $25 /mo) and Local-first sync (Partial against No).
- What you give up: Self-hostable (No, where Nhost records Yes) and Exit cost (5, where Nhost records 2).
- Best for consumer mobile apps where offline behaviour is the product.
- Best offline story and mobile SDKs, worst exit on the page; fine only if you never migrate.
Where Firebase and Nhost actually differ
Firebase profileCompare in Convex alternatives- Exit cost
- 5Nhost: 2 Inferred
- Raw SQL
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Optimistic writes
- YesNhost: No Inferred
5.
InstantDB
- InstantDB, Client-side reactive database with a relational graph model and instant sync.
- It meets Nhost in Convex alternatives.
- It is ahead on Local-first sync (Yes against No), Optimistic writes (Yes against No) and TS inference (Yes against Partial).
- What you give up: Raw SQL (No, where Nhost records Yes) and Cron & scheduling (No, where Nhost records Yes).
- Best for multiplayer or collaborative UIs where every interaction must feel local.
- The most pleasant DX for instant collaborative UIs; the missing server-side runtime is the constraint people hit.
Where InstantDB and Nhost actually differ
InstantDB profileCompare in Convex alternatives- Raw SQL
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Cron & scheduling
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Full-text search
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Vector search
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
6.
Neon + Drizzle
- Neon + Drizzle, The DIY baseline: serverless Postgres, a typed SQL query builder, nothing else.
- It meets Nhost in Convex alternatives.
- It is ahead on TS inference (Yes against Partial), Exit cost (1 against 2) and Backing (big-tech against venture-backed).
- What you give up: Reactivity (manual, where Nhost records push) and Cron & scheduling (No, where Nhost records Yes).
- Best for teams that already know what backend they want to build.
- Not a competitor, the yardstick: you build everything yourself, but nothing you build is owned by anyone else.
- Note that we carry Neon + Drizzle as the do-it-yourself baseline in that roster, the "what if we just ran this ourselves" reference point.
- The honest answer is usually that it is cheaper and considerably more work.
Where Neon + Drizzle and Nhost actually differ
Neon + Drizzle profileCompare in Convex alternatives- Reactivity
- manualNhost: push Inferred
- Cron & scheduling
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Auth
- bring-your-ownNhost: built-in Inferred
- File storage
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Self-hostable
- PartialNhost: Yes Inferred
7.
PocketBase
- PocketBase, One Go binary: SQLite
database, auth, file storage, realtime and an admin UI. - It meets Nhost in Convex alternatives.
- It is ahead on Entry price ($0 /mo against $25 /mo) and GitHub stars (48,000 against 8,000).
- What you give up: MCP server (No, where Nhost records Yes) and Egress metered (No, where Nhost records Yes).
- Best for internal tools and side projects where one VPS is plenty.
- Absurd value for single-machine workloads with the easiest extraction here; the ceiling is one writer, one box.
Where PocketBase and Nhost actually differ
PocketBase profileCompare in Convex alternatives- MCP server
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Egress metered
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Vector search
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- Backing
- solo-maintainerNhost: venture-backed Community-reported
- Cron & scheduling
- PartialNhost: Yes Inferred
8.
Zero
- Zero, Sync engine that puts a queryable client cache in front of your own Postgres.
- It meets Nhost in Convex alternatives.
- It is ahead on Local-first sync (Yes against No), Optimistic writes (Yes against No) and Entry price ($0 /mo against $25 /mo).
- What you give up: Cron & scheduling (No, where Nhost records Yes) and Auth (bring-your-own, where Nhost records built-in).
- Best for teams with an existing Postgres who want a UI that feels local.
- Instant local reads without surrendering the database; a layer, not a platform, that you operate yourself.
Where Zero and Nhost actually differ
Zero profileCompare in Convex alternatives- Cron & scheduling
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- MCP server
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
- File storage
- NoNhost: Yes Inferred
How this list was built
There is no editorial ranking on this page and no sponsorship behind it. The order is mechanical: every tool that shares a comparison category with Nhost, sorted by how many categories the two overlap in. A tool that meets Nhost in three rosters sits above one that meets it in a single roster, because more overlap means the comparison is more like-for-like.
The rationale under each entry is composed from the two tools' own cells. Where they differ on a field we score, the sentence names both values and the unit. Where they don't differ, it says so instead of manufacturing a distinction, which is why some entries are short.
Values, sources and verification dates all live on the category tables: Convex alternatives. If a figure here disagrees with a vendor's current pricing page, the vendor is right and we are stale.
Still deciding whether to move at all? The Nhost profile has the when-to-use and when-not-to-use blocks, and the Nhost timeline has the dated changes that usually trigger a migration.