Convex vs Drizzle for Solo Developers

This comparison is a bit unusual because Convex and Drizzle are not the same category of tool. Convex is a full backend platform with its own database. Drizzle is a TypeScript ORM that sits on top of whatever database you choose. But solo developers often evaluate them side by side because both promise a great TypeScript developer experience for data management.

Having used both, I think the real question is: do you want a platform or a library?

Convex Overview

Convex is an all-in-one backend that includes a document database, serverless functions, file storage, scheduling, and real-time subscriptions. You write your entire backend in TypeScript, deploy it to Convex, and your frontend gets automatic reactivity. There is no separate database to provision, no ORM to configure, and no API layer to build.

Your schema lives in TypeScript code alongside your query and mutation functions. Convex validates your schema at deploy time and gives you full type safety from database to frontend.

The free tier offers 1M function calls per month, 0.5GB of database storage, and 1GB of file storage. The Professional plan is $25 per developer per month and bumps you to 25M function calls and 50GB of database storage, with metered overage rates beyond that.

Drizzle Overview

Drizzle is a TypeScript ORM that generates SQL from TypeScript code. It supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite, and it is designed to be lightweight, type-safe, and close to the SQL you would write by hand. Unlike heavier ORMs, Drizzle does not abstract away SQL. It embraces it.

You define your schema in TypeScript, and Drizzle generates the corresponding SQL types and query builders. The queries it produces are predictable, and you can always see the raw SQL being executed. It also includes Drizzle Kit for migrations and Drizzle Studio for browsing your data.

Drizzle is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license. There is no paid tier and no hosted product to sign up for. You only pay for whatever database you connect it to.

Comparison Table

By the Numbers (2026)

Checked on 2026-05-28. These are the figures I would actually put in a decision doc.

Convex

• Latest client package is convex 1.39.1, published 2026-05-15 (npm).
• The hosted free tier includes 1M function calls per month, 0.5GB database storage, 1GB file storage, 1GB database bandwidth, and 1GB data egress (Convex pricing).
• The Professional plan is $25 per developer per month and raises the included limits to 25M function calls, 50GB database storage, and 100GB file storage. Overages past that are metered, for example $2 per additional 1M function calls and $0.20 per additional GB of database storage on the Professional plan (Convex pricing).
• The convex-backend repository sits at roughly 11.7k GitHub stars. It is source-available under the Functional Source License, which restricts competing-use and converts to Apache 2.0 after two years (Convex open-source announcement). Self-hosting is supported (Convex docs).
• The convex npm package pulls roughly 731k weekly downloads (npm downloads API).

Drizzle

• Latest is drizzle-orm 0.45.2, published 2026-03-27, paired with drizzle-kit 0.31.10 from 2026-03-17 (npm).
• Fully free and open source under Apache 2.0. There is no paid or hosted tier.
• The drizzle-orm repository sits at roughly 34.6k GitHub stars with a 98.7% TypeScript codebase (GitHub API).
• drizzle-orm pulls roughly 9.6M weekly downloads and drizzle-kit roughly 8.0M, which puts Drizzle among the most-installed TypeScript ORMs (npm downloads API).
• Dialect coverage spans PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MSSQL, CockroachDB, SingleStore, and Gel, including serverless drivers for Neon, Supabase, PlanetScale, Turso, and Cloudflare D1 (Drizzle docs).

The download and star gap is worth reading carefully. Drizzle is a library that every framework template can include, so its raw install count dwarfs Convex by design. Convex is a platform you adopt deliberately, so 731k weekly downloads against an 11.7k-star backend repo actually signals a healthy, committed user base rather than a small one. Different shapes of adoption, not a quality verdict.

Real Cost at Solo-Dev Scale

Pricing is the one axis where these two genuinely diverge, so here is a concrete scenario rather than hand-waving.

Assume a solo developer running a small live product: a side project that has found a few hundred active users. Say it generates about 5M backend function calls per month (real-time queries re-run on every data change, so this adds up faster than you would expect on a reactive app), holds about 2GB of database data, and stores about 5GB of user-uploaded files.

On Convex, that workload sits inside the $25 per developer per month Professional plan, which already includes 25M function calls, 50GB of database storage, and 100GB of file storage. You are nowhere near the included ceilings, so your bill is a flat $25 per month with no overages. If you stayed on the free tier instead, 5M calls and 2GB of data would blow past the 1M-call and 0.5GB free limits, so the Professional plan is the honest number to quote (Convex pricing).

On Drizzle, the library is free, so your only cost is the database you point it at. Pair it with a managed Postgres provider on a small paid plan in the rough $20 to $30 per month range, and 2GB of data plus 5GB of files lands in similar territory to Convex. Pair it instead with a free-tier Postgres like Neon or Turso while you are still small and your direct cost is $0, with the tradeoff that file storage and any real-time layer become things you wire up and pay for separately.

So the headline is not that one is cheap and one is expensive. At this scale they land within a few dollars of each other once you add a database under Drizzle. What you are really buying with Convex's $25 is that the real-time layer, file storage, and server functions are already inside that number. With Drizzle the $0-to-$30 is just the database, and everything else is your job to assemble and host. Check current pricing before committing, since metered rates and managed-DB plans both move.

When to Pick Convex

Choose Convex when you want to eliminate as many infrastructure decisions as possible. If you are a solo developer who wants to go from idea to deployed product without setting up a database, writing API routes, or configuring a deployment pipeline, Convex handles all of it.

The real-time reactivity is genuinely useful for apps that need live updates. Instead of polling or setting up WebSockets, your React components automatically re-render when data changes. For collaborative tools, dashboards, or social features, this saves significant development time.

Convex is also the right choice if you are building a frontend-heavy app and want your backend to feel like an extension of your frontend code. The tight integration between Convex functions and React hooks makes the boundary between client and server almost invisible.

When to Pick Drizzle

Choose Drizzle when you want full control over your database and hosting while still getting a great TypeScript developer experience. If you prefer relational data modeling with proper joins and transactions, and you want to see the actual SQL your app generates, Drizzle gives you that transparency.

Drizzle shines when you already have a database you like. Maybe you are using Neon, Supabase, Turso, PlanetScale, or a self-hosted PostgreSQL instance. Drizzle connects to all of them and gives you type-safe queries without forcing you onto a specific platform.

It is also the better choice for solo developers who want zero vendor lock-in. Drizzle is open source, works with standard databases, and your schema definitions double as documentation for your data model. If you need to switch ORMs or drop down to raw SQL later, the migration path is clean.

Cost is another factor. Drizzle itself is free. Pair it with a free-tier database like Neon or Turso and your total database cost is zero for a long time.

Verdict

Convex and Drizzle solve the problem at different levels. Convex replaces your database, your API layer, and your real-time infrastructure. Drizzle replaces just the query layer and leaves the rest up to you.

For solo developers who want maximum speed and minimal ops, Convex gets you to a working product faster. For solo developers who want flexibility, control, and the ability to choose their own database, Drizzle with a managed database provider is the more versatile foundation. Both deliver excellent TypeScript experiences, which is what matters most when you are the only one reading the code.

Sources

All figures checked on 2026-05-28.

• Convex pricing, tiers, free-tier limits, and overage rates: https://www.convex.dev/pricing
• Convex open-source announcement and FSL license: https://news.convex.dev/convex-goes-open-source/
• Convex self-hosting docs: https://docs.convex.dev/self-hosting
• convex-backend GitHub repository (stars, license): https://github.com/get-convex/convex-backend
• convex npm package (version 1.39.1): https://www.npmjs.com/package/convex
• convex npm weekly downloads (downloads API): https://api.npmjs.org/downloads/point/last-week/convex
• Drizzle ORM docs (supported dialects, Drizzle Kit, Drizzle Studio): https://orm.drizzle.team/
• drizzle-orm GitHub repository (stars, Apache 2.0 license, language breakdown): https://github.com/drizzle-team/drizzle-orm
• drizzle-orm npm package (version 0.45.2): https://www.npmjs.com/package/drizzle-orm
• drizzle-orm npm weekly downloads (downloads API): https://api.npmjs.org/downloads/point/last-week/drizzle-orm