DreamFactory vs PostGraphile

DreamFactory is a self-hosted data access platform and AI data gateway that provides governed API access to data sources. It generates documented REST APIs with CRUD operations and query options such as filtering, pagination, and sorting. The company says it supports more than 30 databases, including SQL Server, Oracle, Snowflake, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and SAP HANA. Role-based controls can limit access by endpoint, table, field, operation, or row, while authentication options include OAuth, Active Directory, LDAP, OpenID, Okta, Auth0, and SAML. API calls are logged with user identity, with an ELK stack for traffic reporting. Server-side scripts can run before or after endpoints in Node.js, PHP, or Python. A built-in MCP server exposes databases, file stores, and stored procedures as tools, and its LLM gateway can route application traffic to several named model providers. Deployment options include Linux servers, virtual machines, Docker, and Kubernetes, including air-gapped environments. A free open-source plan includes a PostgreSQL connector; paid plans start at $1,500 a month billed annually. The company describes the platform as intended for seasoned developers and data architects.

PostGraphile creates GraphQL APIs backed primarily by PostgreSQL, for applications such as SaaS backends and internal business tools. Its core features include GraphQL queries and mutations, automatic CRUD mutations, filtering, ordering, plugins, and authentication using JWT or custom pgSettings. It also supports row-level security and role-based access control. PostGraphile V4 Core and Version 5 are open source under the MIT license. Version 5 is built on Grafast, a planning and execution engine intended to improve performance and maintainability. The project can be self-hosted, and its homepage offers an `npx pgl` command to start with a PostgreSQL connection string. PostGraphile Pro adds query-cost, pagination, and query-depth limits, as well as a facility for scaling through database read replicas. The Pro plugin is for V4 Core; Version 5 remains open source and under development. V4 Core costs nothing. Pro License Only costs $25 a month, with up to four production instances and 100 development instances; larger clusters require custom licensing.