head to head · open source
Directus vs Convex
Directus has 38,782 GitHub stars, 4,989 forks, 402 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Convex has 12,773 stars, 842 forks, 220 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Directus leads on adoption by 204% (38,782 vs 12,773 stars). Directus is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Convex is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Directus has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Convex 7%. Convex was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (database), 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
| Directus | Convex | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 13K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 842 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Directus if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- 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 Directus
The Collaborative Backend for Builders & AI Connect any SQL database and get instant REST and GraphQL APIs, a visual management Studio, and a native MCP server for AI agents. 45M+ downloads · 500K+ projects deployed [!NOTE] Free for most organizations. Under $5M annual revenue and 50 employees? Directus is completely free. Apply for an Open Innovation Grant license and get a key in minutes. Learn more about our license. 🐇 Introduction Directus wraps any SQL database with a REST and GraphQL API layer and a visual Studio. Engineers control schema and access. Non technical teammates and AI agents work directly…
read the full Directus overview →
About Convex
Convex is the open source reactive database designed to make life easy for web app developers, whether human or LLM. Fetch data and perform business logic with strong consistency by writing pure TypeScript. Convex provides a database, a place to write your server functions, and client libraries. It makes it easy to build and scale dynamic live updating apps. Read the docs to learn more. Development of the Convex backend is led by the Convex team. We welcome small bug fixes and love receiving feedback. We keep this repository synced with any internal development work within a handful of days. Convex is a well…
read the full Convex overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Directus or Convex more popular?
Directus has 38,782 GitHub stars and Convex has 12,773. Directus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Directus and Convex free?
Neither Directus nor Convex declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Directus and Convex?
Directus is written in TypeScript 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, Directus or Convex?
Choose Directus if you want the larger community (38,782 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Convex if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.