Backendless bundles a visual backend with an app builder, metered by requests per minute. pylo gives your whole team one backend with a generated GraphQL API, permissions, flows, admin UI, forms and analytics included, hosted in Germany.

TL;DR

Backendless is a visual app platform from the US: a database with a schema editor, REST APIs, Codeless logic blocks, cloud code, realtime and push messaging, plus a UI Builder for web and Flutter apps. The cloud plan is metered by your daily peak of API requests per minute, and features like the audit log, unlimited cloud code and admin API access are paid function packs. pylo is a hosted backend where data model, typed GraphQL API, permissions, flows, admin UI, forms, events and AI access are one system, every plan has every feature, and the bill depends on records, flow actions and storage. If you want to build the frontend in the same tool, need push notifications or want to self-host, Backendless is a strong choice. If you want a predictable backend your client's team can work in, pylo is the better fit.

What is pylo?

pylo is a Backend-as-a-Service platform from Germany that you can use to build the operating system for your company. You model entities, fields and relations in the admin panel or through the API, and pylo generates a typed GraphQL API instantly. The same permission model governs that API, the admin UI, forms, flows and the MCP server. pylo flows run business processes and automations on top of your own data model and connect to the tools you already use. With pylo you build apps, automations and products on one coherent data base across your whole team.

What is Backendless?

Backendless is a visual development platform from Backendless Corp. in Texas, around since 2013. It combines a database with a visual schema editor, generated REST APIs and SDKs for JavaScript, Flutter, Android, iOS and .NET, user management, a real-time database, pub/sub messaging and push notifications, geo queries and file storage. Logic is built with Codeless visual blocks or as cloud code in JavaScript or Java. The UI Builder creates web apps and, through a Flutter shell, mobile apps.

At a glance

Data modelling and a GraphQL API

Backendless has a solid visual schema editor with relations, database views and geo types, and it generates REST endpoints and SDK methods for every table. Reviewers often mention that schema mistakes are expensive to undo once an app is live, and there is no native GraphQL.

In pylo you add an entity, a field or a relation in the admin panel and the typed GraphQL API updates at once, without any migration or redeployment. Your frontend asks for exactly the fields and nested relations it needs in one query, with filters across relations, pagination and aggregations. Field types include relations, enums, JSON, public or private files, rich text, dates, booleans and number/text formatters, with validation built in.

Permissions that follow the data everywhere

Backendless has a detailed security model: system and custom roles, permissions at global, table and object level, owner policies and a defined evaluation order. Column visibility needs the Scale plan, and the number of custom roles is capped per plan, with more roles as a paid add-on.

pylo separates tenants at the row level; inside a tenant, any entity can act as the requester (ARO) and any entity as the requested object (ACO), with hierarchies and field-level rules, and there is no limit on roles. Every path into the data is GraphQL, so the same rules apply to the API, the admin panel, forms, flows and MCP.

pylo flows compared to Codeless and cloud code

Backendless logic runs as Codeless blocks or cloud code in JavaScript or Java, triggered by API events, timers or custom API services. Scripts have a 5-second execution limit on the cloud plans, Free allows 2 scripts and Scale 5, and unlimited scripts are a $60/month pack. Reviewers often describe Codeless as hard to learn for non-technical users. Workflow automation lives in FlowRunner, a separate product.

In pylo you build automations in pylo flows, a visual workflow engine inside the backend. Any event in pylo can start a flow, and so can cron schedules and incoming webhooks. Flows include retries, custom rate limiting, error handling and full event logs, and everything is statically typed. pylo ships integrations for email sending and a growing set of third-party systems, and you write your own flow actions in TypeScript. There is no cap on the number of flows.

Admin UI and forms

Backendless's UI Builder is a real strength: you build the actual frontend of your app in the same platform and deliver it to the web or as a Flutter app. For the operations team behind the app, though, the console's data browser is a developer tool, so a back office is another app you build in the UI Builder.

pylo doesn't build your customer-facing frontend, but it ships the back office: you compose list and detail views from predefined components, decide who sees what and show or hide fields depending on a record's state. The form builder maps forms directly to your entities, including relations, with public or authenticated access, hidden fields, conditional rendering and submission limits per form or per user. With the NextJS SDK and the MCP server it is still easy to use your agents to build frontends based on pylo as a backend platform.

Events and dashboards built in with pylo analytics

In Backendless, the audit log, which tracks changes to settings, permissions, users, data and code, is part of the Enterprise Security pack at $399/month.

In pylo, every create, update and delete emits an event with the full before and after state, which you can enrich with your own event data through the API. You build dashboards on events and regular pylo data right next to your workflows, the event data and the change history of your entities are kept for as long as your account exists, on every plan.

AI and MCP with guardrails

Backendless offers AI plugins for transcription, translation and image generation, an OpenAI service and an official console MCP server that can create, read, update and delete tables, records, users and cloud code, writing directly into your database.

pylo's MCP server is made for developers who use agentic coding and for team members who want to analyze their data. The AI gets exactly the connected user's read permissions, nothing else and to decrease the risk of unwatned changes, pylo never applies an AI's writes directly: they arrive as proposals that a human accepts or declines inside pylo.

File handling

Backendless includes file storage and can serve static and Node content.

pylo stores any file type in EU-hosted object storage with public or private links, a file library and no file size limit.

Agencies and multi-tenant work

Backendless bills per app and gives every plan unlimited developer seats, and it runs a partner program for agencies. Each client app is its own subscription, and moving an app between the US and EU region costs a fee.

With pylo, agencies run many client workspaces from one user account. Each workspace is its own tenant separated by RLS, and one login switches between them. Client teams get the admin UI, forms and dashboards in the same product, with unlimited users on every plan.

Pricing

Backendless is cheap to start, and unlimited seats are a plus, but the bill then follows your busiest minute of each day, and features like the audit log or more cloud code are separate packs. That makes the monthly cost hard to predict for an app with traffic peaks beforehand.

pylo's price already includes hosting, flows, the admin UI, forms, analytics and personal onboarding. API requests are unlimited on every plan. Plans differ only in included usage for records, flow actions and file storage.

Hosting, compliance and reliability

All pylo content data, data models and databases live in data centres in Germany. Our subprocessor list is public and names every non-EU parent company openly. A GDPR data processing agreement is part of the terms, and we never use customer data to train AI models. Paid plans come with a 99.5% availability SLA, hourly encrypted backups kept for 30 days at a separate German location, and support from the team that builds the product.

Backendless is a US company. Backendless Cloud runs in its own data centres in Dallas or in France, chosen when you create the app. It publishes a GDPR DPA. Daily backups come with the Scale plan.. If you self-host Backendless Pro, hosting and compliance are in your hands.

Where Backendless is the better choice

We would rather tell you than have you find out later:

• The UI Builder lets you build the customer-facing web and Flutter app in the same platform. pylo is the backend and back office; you build the frontend with your own stack.

• It has push notifications, pub/sub messaging and geo queries built in.

• It ships SDKs for JavaScript, Flutter, Android, iOS and .NET. pylo ships Next.js and Node SDKs plus MCP.

• You can self-host it, free on a single server

If you want one tool for a mobile app's backend and frontend, Backendless is a strong pick. pylo is for teams that want the backend and the back office done properly and keep the frontend in their own stack.

Where pylo is a great Backendless alternative

We think these are the main reasons to pick pylo over Backendless:

• Predictable pricing. No billing by requests per minute and no function packs. Unlimited users and API requests and all features on every plan; only flow actions, records, and file storage/traffic are billed.

• A typed GraphQL API. Generated from your data model, with nested relations, filters and aggregations, and SDKs that fail the build when a field is renamed.

• Permissions that hold everywhere. API, admin panel, forms, flows and MCP all go through the same permission layer, with hierarchies, field-level rules and no cap on roles.

• Flows without script limits. Event, cron and webhook triggers with retries, rate limiting, typed actions and full logs, and custom actions in plain TypeScript.

• A back office your client's team can use. Configurable admin views and a form builder come with the backend, so you don't build an admin app first.

• Analytics and audit included. Every change is recorded as an event with before and after state, kept as long as your account exists.

• AI access that's safe for production. MCP runs with the connected user's exact read permissions, and every write goes through human approval in pylo.

• German hosting from a German company. Data stays in Germany and the DPA is part of the terms. You get a 99.5% SLA from the first paid plan, hourly backups with 30-day retention, and personal support from the people who build the product.

FAQs - Questions and answers about pylo

• Can I build my app's frontend in pylo? No, pylo ships the backend, the admin UI and forms. Your customer-facing app runs on your own stack, for example Next.js. With our Open Source SDKs and the MCP server we still make it easy to create apps on top of pylo, either done by developers or agents.

• Does pylo send push notifications? Not natively, but you can send them through a provider like Firebase Cloud Messaging or OneSignal with a pylo flow, based on our GraphQL subscriptions.

• Is pylo open source? No, but you can export all data at any time as CSV or JSON or through the API. The data models, flow definitions and generated SDK code are yours to keep, even after you leave.

• Can I self-host pylo? No, but if you need specific hosting options, we can discuss them as part of the Enterprise plan.

• Does pylo scale? Yes, production workspaces of our customers already run with millions of records today.

• Where exactly is my data? Content data is in data centres in Germany and backups are kept at a different German location.

• Can I get access now? pylo is currently in private beta, so you simply request access and we will set up your first entities with you on a call and onboard you personally for your first project.