Happy Valley

Backenly vs SKI

Backenly and SKI are both developer tools tools. Backenly is aimed at developers and small businesses, while SKI is aimed at developers and freelancers. SKI costs less, from $20/mo versus $25/mo for Backenly. Both have a free plan.

Backenly

Open-source Postgres backend that coding agents build and maintain

SKI

Voice-first Mac harness for running several coding agents at once

PricingOpen source · $25Freemium · $20
Starting price$25/mo$20/mo
Free planYesYes
Free trial——
Built forDevelopers, Small businesses, FreelancersDevelopers, Freelancers, Small businesses
Platformswebmacos
Country—IN
Rating——

Choose Backenly if

Developers building apps with AI coding agents who want a Postgres backend the agent can create and the platform can maintain safely.

  • Open source and self-hostable, including the autonomy engine
  • Standard Postgres with pg_dump exports on every plan
  • Self-healing and API requests are not billed on any plan

Look elsewhere if: Teams that need a mature ecosystem, long track record or a NoSQL model (Supabase, Firebase).

Choose SKI if

Mac developers who already run Claude Code, Codex or Cursor and want to manage several agents by voice.

  • Uses the agent subscriptions you already have instead of reselling models
  • Free plan includes the full harness with two concurrent sessions
  • Projects, code and chats stay on your Mac

Look elsewhere if: Developers who want a single AI editor with built-in models and no extra layer (Cursor).

Backenly vs SKI pricing

Backenly

  • Self-hosted$0Apache-2.0; your servers and Postgres
  • Free$0/mo1 project, 512 MB Postgres, 1 GB storage, 2 seats
  • Pro$25/moUnlimited projects, 8 GB Postgres; $240/yr billed annually
  • EnterpriseCustomSSO (OIDC), custom limits, 12-hour support SLA

SKI

  • Free$0/mo2 concurrent sessions, 300 credits/mo, full harness on your Mac
  • Pro$20/mo12 concurrent sessions, 2,000 credits/mo
  • EnterpriseCustomBetter rates for teams; contact sales

Backenly · Key features

  • MCP tools that let coding agents build Postgres, auth, storage and functions
  • Self-healing loop that checks the backend every minute, with snapshots and undo
  • Human approval for destructive or auth-related changes
  • PostgREST REST APIs with OpenAPI docs for every table
  • Realtime inserts, updates, presence and broadcast over SSE
  • Row-level security policies written from plain descriptions

Cons

  • Very new platform with a small community
  • Free cloud tier lacks triggers, webhooks and custom domains
  • Pro caps (100,000 MAU, 8 GB Postgres) are hard unless you buy overages

SKI · Key features

  • Spoken instructions and spoken status updates for coding agents
  • Runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Antigravity and pi side by side
  • Alerts you when an agent is waiting for input
  • SKI Hub tracks projects, branches and chats across agents
  • Separate git branch and worktree per chat with live diffs
  • Agent chains, for example one agent plans and another builds

Cons

  • macOS only; Windows and Linux are on a waiting list
  • Voice is processed in the cloud, so it needs a connection
  • Credit cost per action is shown only inside the app

Backenly vs SKI: FAQ

Which is cheaper, Backenly or SKI?

SKI starts at $20/mo and Backenly at $25/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.

Do Backenly and SKI have a free plan?

Yes, both Backenly and SKI have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.

Not sure yet?