Napkin vs Lagon
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Napkin and Lagon.
Quick Verdict
3.5/5
Napkin
0 reviews
2.0/5
Lagon
0 reviews
Napkin is rated higher (3.5 vs 2.0). Napkin lets you write and run Node.js and Python serverless functions directly in the browser with zero setup, deploying them as authenticated HTTP endpoints. Lagon is a free, open source serverless runtime for JavaScript/TypeScript that can be self-hosted or used via their cloud. Cloudflare Workers-compatible API.
Napkin Write and deploy Node.js and Python functions as HTTP endpoints from a browser editor | Lagon Open source Cloudflare Workers alternative | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.5 (0 reviews)✓ | 2.0 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | freemium | free |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free |
| Best for | Developers who need an HTTP endpoint today — webhooks, bots, scheduled automations, and prototypes — without opening a cloud console or running infrastructure. | Nobody as a hosted platform; self-hosters, researchers and forkers who want an AGPL-3.0 Rust/V8 edge-runtime codebase and are prepared to maintain it |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tier | free tieropen sourceself hostable |
| Visit Napkin → | Visit Lagon → | |
Napkin
Pros
- + Genuinely free plan: $0/month with 25,000 API calls, unlimited functions, custom domains, and team invites
- + One-click deploy from a browser editor — Node.js and Python, no cloud console or CLI required
- + Clear published limits: 500 MB/0.5 vCPU free (2 GB/2 vCPU Pro), 15s/30s timeouts, explicit rate caps
- + Endpoint SSL, auth, production logs, and scheduled triggers included on both tiers
- + Pro tier is capacity-only at $10 per user per month — no feature gating, no sales call
Cons
- - No published SLA, regions, or data residency; small-vendor reliability story
- - Free tier caps at 5 requests/second and a 15-second timeout — real design constraints
- - Browser-only workflow with no local development story and no obvious export path
- - Node.js and Python only — no Go, Rust, PHP, or Ruby runtimes
- - Stale limit figures circulate on marketing and third-party pages, so verify before budgeting
Lagon
Pros
- + Genuinely open source (AGPL-3.0) with a self-hostable full stack
- + Sound architecture: Rust runtime on V8 isolates with WinterCG-style Web APIs
- + Everything an edge platform needs was in the box: CLI, cron triggers, custom domains, rollback, logs
- + Free while it existed — no bill to model
- + The team and technology now sit inside Vercel, so the ideas live on
Cons
- - Discontinued: acquired by Vercel, cloud shut down, repo archived March 2026
- - Never left alpha — breaking changes and missing features were documented by the project itself
- - No SLA, no published pricing, no support channel
- - lagon.app still advertises a live product with no shutdown notice
- - Self-hosting an unmaintained V8-based runtime is a security liability
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