Convex vs LangChain
The reactive database where queries are TypeScript code
vs. The framework for building LLM apps — chains, agents, RAG, LangGraph
Pricing tiers
Convex
Starter (Free)
Free with overage via usage-based billing. Great for prototypes.
Free
Professional
$25/developer/month. Overage: $2/M function calls. Daily backups, email support, custom domains.
$25/mo
Business / Enterprise
From $2,500/month. SAML/SSO, SLA, dedicated deployments, Slack Connect support.
$2500/mo
LangChain
OSS (MIT)
MIT-licensed core library. Free forever. Python + JS.
$0 base (usage-based)
LangSmith (see entry)
Observability layer — Developer free, Plus $39/seat. Separate platform.
$0 base (usage-based)
LangGraph Platform — Developer
Deploy LangGraph agents as an API. Free tier — limited execution minutes.
$0 base (usage-based)
LangGraph Platform — Plus
$39/seat/mo (tied to LangSmith Plus). More execution credit. Production features.
$39/mo
Enterprise
Custom. Self-host, dedicated support, SSO.
Custom
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing starter on Convex vs oss on LangChain.
| Metric | Convex | LangChain |
|---|---|---|
| db storage gb | 0.5 GB | — |
| deployments | 40 deployments | — |
| egress gb month | 1 GB/month | — |
| file storage gb | 1 GB | — |
| function calls month | 1000000 calls/month | — |
| team members | 6 users | — |
Features
Convex · 18 features
- Actions — Non-deterministic functions for external I/O (fetch, AI APIs, email). Cannot rea…
- Authentication — Convex Auth (built-in) or BYO provider (Clerk, Auth0, Kinde, WorkOS). ID tokens …
- Convex Agents — AI agent framework with durable memory, threads, tool use. Works with OpenAI / A…
- Convex Auth — First-party auth library: passwords, magic links, OAuth, phone — stored in your …
- Convex Components — Reusable backend modules (rate limiter, workflow, aggregate, action-retrier, etc…
- Cron Jobs — Recurring schedules defined in convex/crons.ts. UTC, cron-style patterns.
- Durable Workflows — Long-running multi-step workflows with retries and at-least-once guarantees.
- Exception Reporting — Auto-capture errors to Sentry, Axiom, Datadog.
- File Storage — Upload/download via storage API. Returns storage IDs referenced in documents.
- Full-Text Search — BM25 search index on table fields. withSearchIndex query helper.
- HTTP Actions — Expose public HTTP endpoints for webhooks, OAuth callbacks, third-party integrat…
- Log Streams — Stream function logs to Axiom, Datadog, Sentry. Pro+.
- Mutations — Transactional write functions. All reads + writes in one mutation are ACID; conf…
- Preview Deployments — Every Git branch gets its own isolated deployment. Integrates with Vercel/Netlif…
- Queries — Deterministic read-only TS functions. Automatically cached and re-run when under…
- Real-Time Subscriptions — useQuery auto-subscribes; server invalidates when data a query read changes. No …
- Scheduler — schedule.after / schedule.at — enqueue functions to run later. Durable, survives…
- Vector Search — Native vector index on tables. withIndex + filter fields. Up to 4096 dims.
LangChain · 18 features
- Agents — Tool-using agents with reasoning loops.
- Chains (LCEL) — LangChain Expression Language — pipe primitives into chains.
- Checkpointers (LangGraph) — Persist agent state to SQL, Mongo, Redis, Postgres.
- Document Loaders — 150+ loaders for PDF, HTML, Notion, Google Drive, S3, GitHub, etc.
- Human-in-the-loop — Pause agent for approval, then resume.
- LangGraph — Stateful graph-based agent runtime. Durable, replayable, human-in-the-loop.
- LangGraph Platform — Managed hosting for LangGraph agents with state persistence.
- LangGraph Studio — Desktop IDE for debugging agent graphs.
- LangServe — Deploy chains as FastAPI endpoints.
- Memory — Buffer, summary, entity, vector memory stores.
- Output Parsers — Structured JSON, Pydantic schemas, function calling.
- Prompt Templates — Templating + partial filling + output parsers.
- RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) — Standard patterns + 50+ retrievers.
- Streaming — First-class streaming at every layer.
- Subgraphs — Compose agent graphs hierarchically.
- Text Splitters — Recursive, token, semantic splitters for chunking.
- Tools — 400+ pre-built tools (web search, code, databases, APIs).
- Vector Store Integrations — 60+ vector DBs (Pinecone, Chroma, Weaviate, PGVector, Qdrant, Milvus).
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Convex | LangChain |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | Convex CLI | — |
| SDK | Android / Kotlin Client, iOS / Swift Client, JavaScript/TypeScript Client, Next.js Integration, Python Client, React Client (useQuery), Rust Client, Svelte Client, Vue Client | @langchain/core (Node), langchain (Python), langgraph (JS), langgraph (Python), LangServe |
| REST | Deploy / Dashboard API, HTTP Actions | LangGraph Platform |
| OTHER | WebSocket Subscriptions | — |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to Convex and LangChain are plain references to their official websites. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.
Want this comparison in your AI agent's context? Install the free Staxly MCP server.