Deployd vs KrakenD: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Deployd and KrakenD are both backend server solutions that are used to build APIs and web services. However, these two solutions have some key differences which set them apart. In this document, we will discuss and explain these differences in detail.

1. Architecture: Deployd is a development platform that allows you to create custom APIs by defining data models and RESTful routes. It provides a self-hosted solution where the deployment is done on your own servers. On the other hand, KrakenD is an API gateway that acts as a middle layer between clients and multiple backend services. It provides aggregation, composition, and transformation of data from these backend services. It is designed to be a lightweight and highly performant solution.

2. Scalability: Deployd is suitable for small to medium-sized projects where scalability is not a significant concern. It is not designed to handle high traffic or large-scale applications. In contrast, KrakenD is designed for high scalability and can handle heavy traffic loads. It utilizes a distributed architecture and can horizontally scale by adding more instances of the KrakenD service.

3. Ease of use: Deployd provides a simple and intuitive interface for creating and managing APIs. It has a visual data modeling tool and a web-based admin dashboard for managing data. It is beginner-friendly and requires minimal coding knowledge. On the other hand, KrakenD is more developer-centric and requires coding skills to configure and customize the API gateway. It provides a flexible configuration file where you can define the backend services, routes, and transformations.

4. Security features: Deployd does not have built-in security features and it is the responsibility of the developer to implement authentication and authorization mechanisms. It does not provide features like rate limiting, access control, or JWT validation out of the box. In contrast, KrakenD provides various security features such as rate limiting, access control, IP whitelisting, and JWT validation. It also supports integration with OAuth providers for authentication.

5. Backend compatibility: Deployd supports various databases like MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc., and you can easily connect to these databases to store and retrieve data. It provides a GUI-based approach to define data models and their relationships. On the other hand, KrakenD is backend-agnostic and can work with any existing backend services, regardless of the technology stack or database used. It acts as a layer of abstraction between the clients and the backend services.

6. Extensibility: Deployd is primarily focused on providing a complete backend solution with limited extensibility options. It does not have a plugin system or support for custom middleware. On the other hand, KrakenD provides an extensible architecture with support for plugins and custom middleware. You can easily customize the behavior of the API gateway by writing your own plugins or middleware.

In summary, Deployd and KrakenD differ in their architecture, scalability, ease of use, security features, backend compatibility, and extensibility. Deployd is a self-hosted development platform for creating custom APIs, while KrakenD is an API gateway designed for scalability and integration with existing backend services.