Comparing MolnOS With Alternatives
MolnOS occupies a unique position in the infrastructure landscape. It’s not trying to replace AWS for global-scale workloads, nor is it competing directly with fully-managed PaaS offerings. Understanding where MolnOS fits—and where it doesn’t—helps you make informed decisions.
Philosophy and Approach
Section titled “Philosophy and Approach”MolnOS
Section titled “MolnOS”Ownership over subscription. MolnOS is infrastructure you purchase once and own forever. It’s self-hosted, portable, and intentionally microscale—providing core cloud primitives without external dependencies or ongoing costs.
Target: Individuals, small teams, edge deployments, and organizations requiring data sovereignty or fixed infrastructure costs.
Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Section titled “Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP)”Scale over simplicity. Hyperscalers provide hundreds of services with global reach, unlimited scale, and managed everything—at the cost of complexity, ongoing consumption-based pricing, and vendor lock-in.
Target: Enterprises and applications requiring global distribution, massive scale, or specialized managed services.
PaaS Platforms (Coolify, Taubyte, Supabase, Pocketbase)
Section titled “PaaS Platforms (Coolify, Taubyte, Supabase, Pocketbase)”Managed convenience over control. PaaS platforms abstract infrastructure concerns, offering batteries-included application hosting with minimal configuration. Most are self-hostable but designed primarily as managed services.
Target: Developers who want application deployment without infrastructure management, often in exchange for platform-specific APIs and deployment patterns.
Feature Comparison Matrix
Section titled “Feature Comparison Matrix”| Feature | MolnOS | Hyperscalers | Coolify | Supabase | Pocketbase | Taubyte |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deployment Model | Self-hosted | Cloud-managed | Self-hosted or managed | Self-hosted or managed | Self-hosted | Self-hosted or managed |
| Pricing Model | Free (private) one-time $499 (business) | Pay-as-you-go | Free (OSS) or managed | Free (OSS) or managed | Free (OSS) | Free (OSS) or managed |
| Binary Size | ~430KB | N/A | ~500MB+ (containers) | ~2GB+ (full stack) | ~40MB | ~100MB+ |
| Runtime | Node.js 24+ | Various | Docker | Docker/Containers | Go binary | WebAssembly |
| Compute | JavaScript functions | Unlimited options | Container/VM hosting | Edge Functions (Deno) | None (admin UI only) | WebAssembly functions |
| Database | Key-value (PikoDB) | Many options | Bring your own | PostgreSQL (full) | SQLite (relational) | Distributed KV |
| Storage | S3-like | S3, blob storage, etc. | Bring your own | S3-like | Local files | Object storage |
| Auth/IAM | RBAC, service accounts, passwordless login for apps running on MolnOS | Extensive IAM | Basic auth | Full auth system | Built-in auth | Identity service |
| Observability | Centralized logging | Full monitoring suites | Basic logs | Analytics, logs | None | Telemetry |
| Edge Deployment | Yes (Raspberry Pi+) | Regional only | No (requires Docker) | No | Yes (single binary) | Yes (WebAssembly) |
| Offline Capability | Full | None | Limited | None | Full | Limited |
| External Dependencies | None | Internet required | Docker required | PostgreSQL required | None | None |
| API Surface | HTTP REST | Vast | Platform-specific | PostgreSQL + REST | REST + SDK | Platform-specific |
| Learning Curve | Moderate | Steep | Moderate | Moderate | Low | Moderate |
| Lock-in Risk | None | High | Low-Moderate | Moderate | Low | Moderate |
Detailed Comparisons
Section titled “Detailed Comparisons”MolnOS vs Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Section titled “MolnOS vs Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP)”When to choose MolnOS:
- You need fixed, predictable infrastructure costs
- Your workload fits within vertical scaling of commodity hardware
- Data sovereignty or air-gap requirements
- Edge or IoT deployments on constrained hardware
- Personal projects or small team applications
- Development/testing environments without cloud dependency
When to choose hyperscalers:
- You need global distribution across continents
- Workload requires elastic scaling to millions of users
- Specialized services (ML, data analytics, managed Kubernetes)
- Compliance certifications inherited from provider
- Enterprise support contracts and SLAs
- Multi-region disaster recovery
Key differences:
- Cost model: MolnOS is one-time purchase; hyperscalers are consumption-based
- Scale ceiling: MolnOS scales to your hardware limits; hyperscalers scale to billions
- Complexity: MolnOS has 5 core services; e.g. AWS has hundreds
- Control: MolnOS runs where you put it; hyperscalers run in their datacenters
- Dependencies: MolnOS has none; hyperscalers require internet and account
MolnOS vs Coolify
Section titled “MolnOS vs Coolify”Coolify is a self-hostable Heroku/Netlify alternative focused on making deployment easy.
When to choose MolnOS:
- You want a smaller footprint (430KB vs 500MB+ containers)
- Edge deployment on ARM/constrained devices
- Integrated cloud primitives (IAM, databases, storage, functions)
- No Docker/container requirement
- Air-gap or offline deployments
When to choose Coolify:
- You’re deploying existing containerized applications
- You need Git-based deployment workflows
- Multi-server orchestration and load balancing
- Docker Compose compatibility
- Managed database provisioning (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, etc.)
Key differences:
- Deployment focus: Coolify deploys your applications; MolnOS provides cloud primitives
- Container dependency: Coolify requires Docker; MolnOS is a single Node.js process
- Database approach: Coolify provisions databases; MolnOS includes integrated key-value database
- Resource usage: Coolify needs Docker overhead; MolnOS runs directly on Node.js
- Use case: Coolify for app hosting; MolnOS for building platforms
MolnOS vs Supabase
Section titled “MolnOS vs Supabase”Supabase is an open-source Firebase alternative built on PostgreSQL.
When to choose MolnOS:
- You need minimal resource footprint
- Key-value storage is sufficient (vs relational database)
- Edge/IoT deployment scenarios
- No PostgreSQL management complexity
- Air-gap deployments
- Serverless functions with customizable service bindings (permissions)
When to choose Supabase:
- You need a full-featured PostgreSQL database
- Real-time subscriptions to database changes
- Built-in authentication with multiple providers
- Row-level security policies
- Auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs from schema
- Managed service option with generous free tier
Key differences:
- Database: Supabase is PostgreSQL-first; MolnOS uses lightweight key-value
- Resource requirements: Supabase needs ~2GB+; MolnOS is ~430KB
- Deployment complexity: Supabase requires PostgreSQL; MolnOS is self-contained
- API generation: Supabase auto-generates from schema; MolnOS requires function deployment
- Real-time: Supabase has native real-time; MolnOS requires implementation in functions
- Scale model: Supabase scales PostgreSQL; MolnOS scales within single-node limits
MolnOS vs Pocketbase
Section titled “MolnOS vs Pocketbase”Pocketbase is a single-file Go backend with embedded SQLite, real-time subscriptions, and admin UI.
When to choose MolnOS:
- You need IAM with granular RBAC and service accounts
- Serverless functions for business logic
- Service bindings with automatic permission scoping
- Multiple isolated databases (tables)
- Centralized observability across services
When to choose Pocketbase:
- You want a relational database (SQLite)
- Built-in real-time subscriptions
- Admin dashboard out of the box
- File uploads with built-in storage
- Simpler setup for CRUD applications
- Email/OAuth authentication providers
Key differences:
- Database: Pocketbase has relational SQLite; MolnOS has key-value PikoDB
- Functions: MolnOS has serverless functions; Pocketbase requires hooks/extensions
- Admin UI: Pocketbase includes full admin UI; MolnOS focuses on API/primitives
- Auth: Pocketbase has built-in OAuth; MolnOS has email-based passwordless signin and IAM/RBAC focus
- Size: Pocketbase ~40MB; MolnOS ~430KB
- Language: Pocketbase is Go; MolnOS is Node.js/JavaScript
Similarities:
- Both are self-hosted, single-binary deployments
- Both work offline without external dependencies
- Both are lightweight and edge-deployable
- Both offer one-time purchase models (no subscriptions)
MolnOS vs Taubyte
Section titled “MolnOS vs Taubyte”Taubyte is a distributed cloud platform built on WebAssembly and IPFS.
When to choose MolnOS:
- You want simpler deployment (Node.js vs distributed system)
- JavaScript/Node.js ecosystem over WebAssembly
- Immediate production readiness
- Lower operational complexity
- Traditional HTTP APIs over distributed protocols
When to choose Taubyte:
- You want distributed-first architecture
- WebAssembly runtime for multi-language functions
- IPFS-based storage and content addressing
- Peer-to-peer network capabilities
- Innovative distributed computing model
Key differences:
- Architecture: Taubyte is distributed p2p; MolnOS is centralized control plane
- Runtime: Taubyte uses WebAssembly; MolnOS uses JavaScript/Node.js
- Storage: Taubyte uses IPFS; MolnOS uses local S3-like storage
- Maturity: MolnOS is production-ready; Taubyte is emerging technology
- Deployment: MolnOS is just a few processes; Taubyte is distributed cluster
- Complexity: Taubyte requires understanding distributed systems; MolnOS is straightforward
Hybrid and Combined Approaches
Section titled “Hybrid and Combined Approaches”You don’t have to choose exclusively. Many effective architectures combine multiple platforms:
MolnOS + Hyperscaler
Section titled “MolnOS + Hyperscaler”Run sensitive workloads on MolnOS on-premises while using cloud CDN, managed databases, or specialized services where appropriate. MolnOS handles sovereign data; cloud handles global distribution.
MolnOS + Coolify
Section titled “MolnOS + Coolify”Use MolnOS for cloud primitives (IAM, storage, databases, functions) and Coolify for deploying containerized applications that consume those services.
MolnOS for Dev, PaaS for Production
Section titled “MolnOS for Dev, PaaS for Production”Develop against MolnOS locally (no cloud costs, fast iteration) then deploy to managed PaaS for production (convenience, managed infrastructure).
Multi-Instance MolnOS
Section titled “Multi-Instance MolnOS”Run multiple MolnOS instances for different isolation levels, environments, or customers. Lightweight enough to spawn per-tenant instances.
What This Means For You
Section titled “What This Means For You”MolnOS isn’t “better” than these alternatives—it serves different needs. It excels at providing cloud primitives you own and control, at microscale, with zero dependencies (except for sending emails). It’s not trying to be AWS, Supabase, or Coolify.
Choose MolnOS when ownership, sovereignty, portability, and fixed costs matter more than managed convenience or infinite scale.
For many use cases—personal projects, edge deployments, sovereign infrastructure, development environments—MolnOS provides exactly what you need without what you don’t. For others, hyperscalers or PaaS platforms are better fits.
The key is understanding your requirements and choosing accordingly. With MolnOS’s one-time purchase model and portability, it’s easy to try it alongside other platforms and use each where it fits best.
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