head to head · open source
Appwrite vs Convex
Appwrite has 57,404 GitHub stars, 5,727 forks, 1,008 open issues and last shipped today. Convex has 12,569 stars, 814 forks, 220 open issues and last shipped today. Appwrite leads on adoption by 357% (57,404 vs 12,569 stars). Appwrite is written in PHP under BSD-3-Clause; Convex is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Appwrite has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Convex 6%. Convex was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (backend), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Appwrite | Convex | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 13K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Custom / other |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.7K | ⑂ 814 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Appwrite if
- You weight community size — 57K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Convex if
- You want the Convex feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Convex fits your workflow better
About Appwrite
Appwrite is an open source backend platform that consolidates infrastructure services—authentication, databases, storage, functions, messaging, hosting, and real time capabilities—into a single, unified system. It runs as a self hosted service or via a managed cloud offering (Appwrite Cloud), targeting developers who want to avoid assembling and maintaining disparate backend tools.
read the full Appwrite overview →
About Convex
Convex is an open source reactive database for web application developers, with a Rust backend and TypeScript packages, in the backend, database, and TypeScript ecosystem. It combines a database, server functions, and client libraries so developers can fetch data and perform business logic in pure TypeScript while keeping strong consistency and live updating behavior.
read the full Convex overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Appwrite or Convex more popular?
Appwrite has 57,404 GitHub stars and Convex has 12,569. Appwrite has the larger community by that measure.
Are Appwrite and Convex free?
Both are open source. Appwrite is licensed under BSD-3-Clause, and Convex has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Appwrite and Convex?
Appwrite is written in PHP and Convex in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Appwrite or Convex?
Choose Appwrite if you want the larger community (57,404 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose Convex if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.