DreamFactory vs Stainless

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.

Stainless generates SDKs, documentation and MCP servers from OpenAPI specifications. Its SDK product lists TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, Kotlin, Ruby, Terraform, C# and PHP, with rich types, automatic pagination and retries included. The Docs Platform, built on Astro, keeps REST API, SDK and narrative documentation in sync with an API. Its listed features include AI-powered hybrid search, Markdown copying, AI-tool integration, and light and dark modes. Stainless also generates code-mode MCP servers so agents can work with SDKs and documentation rather than many endpoint schemas; the MCP product page names Claude Code and Cursor as clients. The Free plan costs nothing and allows up to five generators, five seats and 25 endpoints, with 100 preview builds per month and a rate limit of 25 per day. Email support is listed for Free. Users need a GitHub account for authentication and access to generated staging repositories. Exceeding Free plan terms triggers automatic enrollment in a 30-day free trial of a paid plan. Code generation cannot be hosted on-premise, although generated SDKs can be hosted in a private GitHub repository.