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Convex vs Databricks
Short answer: Pick Convex if you want reactive TypeScript backend with built-in AI support; pick Databricks if you want unified lakehouse for data, analytics and AI. Both have a free plan.
Which to pick
Pick Convex if you want…
- Reactive TypeScript backend with built-in AI support
- Scalable MySQL/Postgres
- Open-source code (get-convex/convex-backend on GitHub)
- Integrations with TypeScript, Node.js or Stripe (on Convex's list, not Databricks')
Pick Databricks if you want…
- Unified lakehouse for data, analytics and AI
- Integrations with Delta Lake, SQL or R (on Databricks' list, not Convex's)
Side by side
- What it is
- Convex:Convex is a reactive, TypeScript-first backend platform offering database, functions, sync, search and AI-ready features.
- Databricks:Databricks is a unified Data + AI platform that combines data engineering, warehousing, governance and AI workloads on a lakehouse.
- Best for
- Convex:Reactive TypeScript backend with built-in AI support
- Databricks:Unified lakehouse for data, analytics and AI
- Who it’s for
- Convex:Developers building TypeScript apps, AI agents and real-time applications.
- Databricks:Data engineers, analysts, ML engineers and AI product teams needing integrated analytics and AI.
- Pricing
- Convex:Freemium
- Databricks:Freemium
- Free plan or trial
- Convex:Free plan (Free)
- Databricks:Free trial
- Plans
- Convex:Free $0 · Professional $25 per developer/month per month · Enterprise $2,500 monthly minimum per month
- Databricks:Data Engineering $0.15 / DBU per second · Data Warehousing $0.22 / DBU per second · Interactive workloads $0.40 / DBU per second · Operational Database $0.069 / CU per second
- Open source
- Convex:Yes, 12,633 GitHub stars
- Databricks:—
- Works with
- Convex:TypeScript, Node.js, Stripe, Twilio, PostHog, Workpool, Workflow, AI Gateway
- Databricks:Delta Lake, SQL, R, Spark, AWS, Azure, GCP
Convex features
- Reactive database. ACID-compliant, type-safe database that updates clients in real time.
- End-to-end type safety. Ensures TypeScript types are enforced across schema, functions and client code.
- Automatic caching & scaling. Handles caching and scales automatically to support viral workloads.
- Real-time sync. Pushes data changes instantly to all connected users.
- Workpool background jobs. Runs model calls and jobs with retries, backoff and parallelism.
- Workflow engine. Multi-step processes that checkpoint, retry and resume automatically.
Databricks features
- Lakebase. Serverless Postgres-compatible database integrated with the lakehouse for transactional workloads.
- Lakeflow. Unified ETL engine for building batch and streaming data pipelines.
- Genie. Conversational analytics that answers natural-language queries with text, tables and visualizations.
- Unity Catalog. Open governance layer for data, models, dashboards and AI agents.
- AI/BI. AI-powered business intelligence with natural-language dashboard creation and conversational insights.
- Operational Database. Fully-managed Postgres service for serving data and features to applications.
Convex vs Databricks FAQ
What is the difference between Convex and Databricks?+
Convex: PlanetScale provides hosted MySQL/Postgres scaling, lacking integrated AI and lakehouse features.
Should I use Convex or Databricks?+
Pick Convex if you want reactive TypeScript backend with built-in AI support, scalable MySQL/Postgres or open-source code (get-convex/convex-backend on GitHub). Pick Databricks if you want unified lakehouse for data, analytics and AI or integrations with Delta Lake, SQL or R (on Databricks' list, not Convex's).
Is Convex or Databricks free?+
Convex has a free plan and paid plans. Databricks has a free plan and paid plans.
Is Convex or Databricks open source?+
Convex is open source (get-convex/convex-backend on GitHub). DevHunt has no public source repository on record for Databricks.
Do Convex and Databricks integrate with the same tools?+
Their integration lists don't overlap: Convex lists TypeScript, Node.js, Stripe, Twilio and 4 more; Databricks lists Delta Lake, SQL, R, Spark and 3 more.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.