AWS API Gateway is $1/million requests. Waystation is a self-hosted alternative at $1.99/mo. Here's when each makes sense.
| Waystation | AWS API Gateway | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Self-hosted, your infra | Managed SaaS (cloud only) |
| Data location | Your server, your disk | AWS API Gateway's cloud |
| Free tier | 3 upstreams | Paid only |
| Pro pricing | $1.99/mo | $1/million requests |
| Dependencies | None (single binary + SQLite) | N/A (managed) |
| Setup time | ~30 seconds | Account signup |
| Dashboard | Built-in at /ui | Cloud dashboard |
| License | BSL 1.1 | Proprietary SaaS |
Waystation is a single Go binary with embedded SQLite. Install it with one command, and you are running in under a minute. Your data stays on your server.
curl -fsSL https://stockyard.dev/waystation/install.sh | sh
The pricing math between Waystation and AWS API Gateway changes depending on team size. AWS API Gateway at $1/million requests is reasonable for a solo user. At ten seats, the difference compounds. Waystation is a flat $1.99/mo regardless of seats — the binary does not count how many people use it. For growing teams, this makes Waystation progressively cheaper while AWS API Gateway gets progressively more expensive.
Waystation runs as a single static binary with an embedded SQLite database. There is no application server, no cache layer, no background worker. One process handles HTTP requests and reads from and writes to the database file directly. This simplicity is the entire point — fewer moving parts means fewer things that can break at 2 AM.
Moving from AWS API Gateway does not have to be all-or-nothing. Some teams run Waystation for new data while keeping AWS API Gateway as a read-only archive of historical records. The API makes it straightforward to build a sync script if you need both systems to reflect the same data during a transition period.
Single binary. Free to start. $1.99/mo for Pro.