# Convoy vs Upstash QStash

> Upstash QStash scores 72.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Convoy's 62.2 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Convoy leads on reliability. Both do events webhooks send. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convoy-vs-upstash-qstash
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convoy-vs-upstash-qstash.md (~2,050 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convoy-vs-upstash-qstash.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convoy-vs-upstash-qstash.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Upstash QStash scores 72.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Convoy's 62.2 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Convoy leads on reliability. Both do events webhooks send.

- Convoy: grade B, 62.2/100, rank #308 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/convoy.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/convoy.json
- Upstash QStash: grade BB, 72.3/100, rank #90 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/upstash-qstash.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/upstash-qstash.json

## Which one, for what

### Convoy (B)

Good for: A product that has to send signed webhooks to its customers' endpoints with retries, replay and a delivery log, or receive third-party webhooks and route them inward.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 92 against 83

Watch for: Advisory GHSA-p5vg-v7mj-f6q4 (24 July 2026, High) let a caller on one project read another project's source and broker credentials before v26.6.8

### Upstash QStash (BB)

Good for: Agents and serverless apps that need a delayed, retried or scheduled HTTP call without running a queue.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 83 against 69
- Security & auth, 61 against 53
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30
- Transparency & trust, 81 against 67

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- No incidents deducted, where Convoy loses 6 points for them

Watch for: One full-access token and one read-only token per region. No per-queue or per-destination scopes were found


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Convoy | Upstash QStash | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 92 | 83 | Convoy +9 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 78 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 83 | Upstash QStash +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 53 | 61 | Upstash QStash +8 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 40 | Upstash QStash +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 77 | Convoy +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 81 | Upstash QStash +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.2 · B** | **72.3 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Convoy | Upstash QStash |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Frain Technologies Inc. | Upstash |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://qstash.upstash.io/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Elastic Licence 2.0 for the gateway (source available, not an OSI licence). The convoy.js SDK is MIT per npm. Convoy Cloud is a proprietary hosted service under Convoy's terms of use | Proprietary hosted service under Upstash's terms of service. The TypeScript and Python SDKs and the MCP server are MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 10 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.upstash/mcp-server` |
| Last release | 2026-09-27 | 2026-09-29 |
| Terms last updated |  |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2023-06-01 |  |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 2.9k stars, 2.3k npm/wk, 679 PyPI/wk | 269 stars, 816k npm/wk, 91k PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**Convoy.** Convoy Cloud runs the same HTTP API as the self-hosted gateway, with a public OpenAPI spec of 68 operations, project-scoped keys, idempotency keys on events and replay endpoints. Two credential exposures were fixed in July and August 2026, one published as a high-severity advisory. Cloud access needs a browser signup, and the trial allows 100 events a day.

**Upstash QStash.** A public OpenAPI 3.1 file covers 43 operations, and publishing has no per-second limit, deduplication IDs and a dead letter queue with replay. Each region has one full-access token and one read-only token, and the token may travel in the URL. The Markdown pricing page contradicts itself on whether retries are billed.

## Before you call either

### Convoy

1. Use the regional base URL, https://us.getconvoy.cloud/api/v1 or https://eu.getconvoy.cloud/api/v1. A project key works only under /projects/{projectID}/
2. Create an endpoint, then a subscription, then the event. An event sent to an endpoint with no subscription isn't dispatched
3. Send `idempotency_key` on every event. A repeated key creates the event but no delivery, and the key stays reserved until retention deletes the event
4. Create projects with a personal API key and the `orgID` query parameter. The project key in that response is shown once
5. Before retrying an endpoint or subscription create, list endpoints by `ownerId`. Idempotency keys cover event ingestion only

### Upstash QStash

1. Use the regional host that matches the token. `qstash.upstash.io` is the EU region, and US tokens work only on `qstash-us-east-1.upstash.io`
2. Send `Upstash-Deduplication-Id` on every publish so a retried request isn't queued twice. The window is 10 minutes
3. Budget for retries. Per the pricing FAQ each delivery attempt is billed as a message, so set `Upstash-Retries` deliberately
4. Give monitoring agents the read-only token, and set `Upstash-Redact-Fields` on publish, because that token still reads message bodies and headers
5. Make the destination idempotent on `Upstash-Message-Id`. Delivery is at least once, and duplicates can follow a server restart

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Convoy or Upstash QStash?

Upstash QStash scores 72.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Convoy's 62.2 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Convoy leads on reliability.

### Do Convoy and Upstash QStash need an API key?

Convoy needs an API key. Upstash QStash takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Convoy and Upstash QStash without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Convoy. Upstash QStash has a hosted endpoint at https://qstash.upstash.io/v2.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convoy-vs-upstash-qstash.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convoy-vs-upstash-qstash.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "convoy", "b": "upstash-qstash"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare convoy upstash-qstash`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/convoy.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/upstash-qstash.json

## Other comparisons with Convoy or Upstash QStash

- [Ably vs Convoy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ably-vs-convoy.md)
- [Convoy vs Hookdeck](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convoy-vs-hookdeck.md)
- [Convoy vs Svix](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convoy-vs-svix.md)
- [Svix vs Upstash QStash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/svix-vs-upstash-qstash.md)
- [Hookdeck vs Upstash QStash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hookdeck-vs-upstash-qstash.md)
- [Ably vs Upstash QStash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ably-vs-upstash-qstash.md)