Hasura DDN builds a GraphQL API over the databases you already run. pylo gives your whole team the finished backend: data model, permissions, flows, admin UI, forms and analytics, hosted in Germany.

TL;DR

Hasura DDN is an API platform: it puts a GraphQL API with role-based permissions on top of databases and services you already run, from Postgres to Snowflake and composes them into one supergraph. Your developers bring the database, the schema migrations, the auth provider, the business logic and every screen the team needs and define the API in metadata files with the Hasura CLI. pylo is a backend platform where data model, permissions, flows, admin UI, forms, events and AI access are one system, for developers and the rest of the team. If you need one API over many existing data sources, Hasura is excellent. If you would otherwise build the database, auth, automation and back office around that API yourself, pylo gives you all of that from day one.

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 Hasura?

Hasura, Inc. is based in San Francisco. Its current product, Hasura DDN, is built on engine v3 and connects more than 45 sources through data connectors, from Postgres, MySQL and MongoDB to Snowflake, BigQuery and Databricks. You describe models, commands, relationships and permissions in metadata files, build and deploy them with the DDN CLI and get one coherent GraphQL API with subscriptions across all sources. Custom logic runs in lambda connectors written in TypeScript or Python; the engine and connectors are open source under Apache 2.0, while the CLI and console are proprietary, and running DDN completely on your own infrastructure is an Enterprise option.

At a glance

A finished backend instead of an API layer

Hasura DDN is very good at one thing: turning data you already have, wherever it lives, into one fast, coherent and developer-friendly GraphQL API. Everything around that is yours to build and run: you operate the databases, handle schema migrations with separate tools, connect an auth provider, write lambda connectors for your logic and build the screens your team works in. The API itself lives in metadata files that you author and build with the CLI, which suits engineering teams with a strong CI/CD setup.

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 kind of migration or redeployment. Field types include relations, enums, JSON, public or private files, rich text, dates, booleans and number/text formatters, with validation built in. You filter across relations and group aggregations by any field, even across deeply nested data structures. There is no database for you to run and no metadata build step.

Permissions that follow the data everywhere

Hasura's permissions are among the best in the GraphQL world: per role you define which rows a model returns, which fields a type exposes and which commands a role can run, with filters that compare data to session variables like the user's ID. They protect the GraphQL API. Your auth provider, your services and any admin tool you build next to it need their own checks.

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. Every path into the data is GraphQL, so the same rules apply to the API, the admin panel, forms, flows and MCP. With email/password, Microsoft and Google SSO and API keys, pylo also handles login, so you don't wire up a separate auth provider.

pylo flows instead of services you write

In Hasura DDN, custom logic runs in lambda connectors that you write in TypeScript or Python and deploy with your supergraph. Event triggers that react to data changes are still in progress and cron triggers aren't supported, so scheduled jobs and reactions to changes need a separate service. Retries, rate limits, logging and connections to other systems are code you have to write yourself.

In pylo you build the same logic in a visual workflow engine called pylo flows, where any event in pylo can start a flow, additionally you can use cron schedules and incoming webhooks. pylo 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 selection of third-party systems, but you can easily code your own flow actions in TypeScript.

An admin dashboard your operations team will actually use

The Hasura DDN console is a developer tool for exploring the API, its traces and its metadata; authoring happens in files, not in the console. There are no list views, forms or screens for the people who run the business, so teams build or buy a back office on top.

pylo's admin UI is built for your whole team, no matter if they are developers or not: 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 pylo 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.

Events and dashboards built in with pylo analytics

Hasura DDN comes with traces, metrics, query plans and usage analytics per model and field, which are great for running an API. Reporting on your business data means building it yourself or moving the Hasura data into an analytics tool to extend other sources.

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 our API. On top of your events and regular pylo data you can build customized dashboards directly next to your data and workflows.

AI and MCP with guardrails

Hasura's AI strategy is PromptQL, a separate platform for AI agents on business data with its own pricing. We found no official MCP server for Hasura DDN itself; the official PromptQL MCP server only reads and community servers fill the gap with varying write behavior.

pylo's MCP server is made for both, developers who want to use agentic coding and team members who want to analyze their data. The AI gets exactly the connected user's read permissions, nothing else. pylo never applies an AI's writes directly, instead they arrive as proposals that a human accepts or declines, so you can benefit from the speed of AI without kicking the human out of the loop.

File handling

Hasura doesn't handle files; uploads and storage go to a separate service like S3 that you connect yourself.

pylo stores files in EU-hosted object storage with public or private links, no file size limit and for any file type, as fields on your entities with the same permissions as the rest of the record.

Agencies and multi-tenant work

With pylo, agencies can run many client workspaces from one user account; each workspace is its own tenant separated by RLS and one login switches between them. With Hasura, each client needs its own database, auth setup, logic and back office, plus a supergraph, so the API layer is the smallest part of the work per client.

Pricing

Hasura's API pricing is fair and API requests are unlimited, but the Hasura bill only covers the API layer. The database, auth provider, file storage, the services for your business logic and the back office come on top, plus the time your developers spend building and running them.

pylo's price already includes all of that, plus flows, forms, analytics and personal onboarding. Every pylo plan has every feature and unlimited users, plans differ only in included usage.

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.

Hasura DDN runs on Google Cloud with a public region in Belgium, and paid plans can choose a dedicated region. Hasura, Inc. is a US company and holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and HIPAA; uptime SLAs are offered for private DDN deployments. Your databases and everything else you connect are hosted wherever you run them.

Where Hasura is the better choice

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

• Hasura puts one API over many existing sources, from Postgres and MongoDB to Snowflake and BigQuery. pylo brings its own database.

• The engine and connectors are open source under Apache 2.0.

• Mature row- and field-level permissions based on session variables.

• Federation across teams and sources, and schema-as-code with CI/CD workflows.

• Built-in OpenTelemetry and Prometheus, unlimited API requests and enterprise certifications.

If your developers need one GraphQL API over data that already lives in many places, Hasura is an excellent choice. pylo is for teams that would rather not build the database, auth, automation and back office around their API.

Where pylo is a great Hasura alternative

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

• The whole backend, not only the API. Database, auth, permissions, flows, admin UI, forms, events and MCP come with your data model. You don't assemble them from separate services.

• Schema changes without a deploy. Add an entity or field and the typed GraphQL API is live immediately, without migrations, metadata builds or redeployment.

• Permissions you can't bypass. API, admin panel, forms, flows and MCP all go through the same permission layer, down to single fields, and pylo handles login itself.

• Business logic without deployments. The flow builder covers event, cron and webhook triggers, with retries, rate limiting, typed actions and full logs. Custom actions are plain TypeScript.

• Non-developers can work without you. Configurable admin views, state-dependent fields and a full form builder let operations teams handle their own changes. Not every change has to become a developer ticket.

• Analytics you don't have to instrument. pylo records every change as an event with before and after state, and dashboards sit right next to the data.

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

• One bill. You get unlimited users and API requests and all features on every plan, with no separate database, auth or hosting costs. Only three meters are billed: flow actions, records, and file storage/traffic.

• Built for agencies. You can run many client workspaces with separate tenants and permissions, and switch between them with one login.

• German hosting from a German company. pylo hosts user data 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 pylo put an API over my existing database like Hasura? No, pylo brings its own database. You import your existing data once, or let pylo flows sync it from other systems. pylo makes connecting and transferring other databases very easy, though.

• Does pylo support GraphQL subscriptions? Yes, pylo's GraphQL API supports subscriptions, and webhooks notify other systems when data changes.

• 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. Request access and we will set up your first entities with you on a call and onboard you personally for your first project.