Hasura Cloud's Professional plan bills per active project-hour at $1.50/hr on top of $0.13/GB for every request and response that crosses its managed data plane, and connecting a second database type like SQL Server or Snowflake adds its own per-connector charge. That structure penalizes exactly the workloads GraphQL is built for: deeply nested queries that pull more data per round trip as a schema grows. Self-hosting the open-source GraphQL Engine keeps the metadata database inside the same Postgres cluster you already manage, so event triggers, remote schemas, and row-level security policies run through a Docker Compose stack you control end to end. PostgREST and DreamFactory go further and skip the metadata layer entirely, reflecting REST endpoints straight off the live schema with no intermediate database to sync.
| Name | Main Category | Sub-Category | Target Alternative | Free Tier Summary | Self-Hostable? | Short Description | Primary Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PostgREST | Databases & Backend-as-a-Service | Instant API Engine | Hasura Cloud / AWS API Gateway | 100% Free - Open Source (MIT) | Yes - Docker / Binary | A single Haskell binary that serves a fully RESTful API straight from a Postgres schema, handling JWT authentication and delegating authorization to native Postgres roles. | |
DreamFactory Community Edition | Databases & Backend-as-a-Service | Instant API Engine | Hasura Cloud / AWS AppSync | 100% Free - Open Source (Apache 2.0) | Yes - Docker / Binary | Points at MySQL, Postgres, MongoDB, or file storage and generates a documented, role-based REST API for each one, letting a single self-hosted gateway front multiple database engines at once. | |
Directus | Databases & Backend-as-a-Service | Instant API Engine | Hasura Cloud / Firebase | Free Self-Hosted (MSCL 1.0) - Free under $5M Revenue & 50 Employees; Paid Tier for Enterprise | Yes - Docker / Binary | Wraps an existing Postgres, MySQL, or SQLite database in both REST and GraphQL endpoints plus a no-code admin app, so schema introspection powers the API and a visual data studio at once. | |
Hasura Community Edition | Databases & Backend-as-a-Service | Instant API Engine | Hasura Cloud / AWS AppSync | 100% Free - Open Source (Apache 2.0) | Yes - Docker / Kubernetes | Generates realtime GraphQL and REST APIs directly from a Postgres, SQL Server, or BigQuery schema, with role-based access control, event triggers, and remote schema stitching built in. | |
PostGraphile | Databases & Backend-as-a-Service | Instant API Engine | Hasura Cloud / Apollo GraphOS | 100% Free - Open Source (MIT core); optional paid Pro plugin for production hardening | Yes - Docker / Binary | Reflects a Postgres schema into a high-performance GraphQL API at request time, using native database roles and row-level security policies as the source of truth for authorization. |
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