Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Encore.dev VS Helm.sh

Compare Encore.dev VS Helm.sh and see what are their differences

Encore.dev logo Encore.dev

Encore Cloud helps you scale your engineering, not your DevOps.

Helm.sh logo Helm.sh

The Kubernetes Package Manager
  • Encore.dev Encore Cloud Dashboard
    Encore Cloud Dashboard //
    2025-02-12

Encore Cloud automates infrastructure and DevOps, letting you ship 3x faster with 90% less DevOps work, using your own cloud on AWS & GCP. ✓ Get enterprise-grade infrastructure without the complexity and DevOps overhead ✓ Enable safe AI-assisted development with built-in guardrails ✓ Gain full visibility across your stack with built-in Service Catalog, API documentation, and tracing

Key Features:

Production-Ready AI Assisted Development: Encore's parser validates all generated code to ensure it correctly implements service and API definitions, infrastructure integrations, etc.

No boilerplate: Encore drastically reduces the boilerplate needed to set up a production ready backend application. Define backend services, API endpoints, and call APIs with a single line of Go code.

Distributed Tracing: Encore instruments your application for excellent observability. Automatically captures information about API calls, goroutines, HTTP requests, database queries, and more. Automatically works for local development as well as in production.

Infrastructure Automation: Encore automatically provisions and manages your cloud infrastructure. Works with all the major cloud providers and you deploy to your own account (AWS/Azure/GCP).

Simple Secrets: Easily store and securely use secrets and API keys. Never worry about how to store and get access to secret values again.

Service Catalog and Automatic API Documentation: Encore parses your source code to understand the schemas for all your APIs and automatically generate interactive API Documentation.

  • Helm.sh Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-30

Encore.dev

Website
encore.dev
$ Details
freemium $99.0 / Monthly (Pro, per user)
Platforms
AWS Cloud Web Browser Google Cloud Platform GCP CLI
Release Date
2021 May

Helm.sh

Website
helm.sh
Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

Encore.dev features and specs

  • Infrastructure Automation
    Encore Cloud automates infrastructure provisioning and deployment in your cloud on AWS and GCP.
  • Automatic API Documentation
    Encore Cloud automatically provides API documentation and a complete Service Catalog for your entire system.
  • Observability
    Encore Cloud provides distributed tracing, metrics, and logs, without requiring any manual instrumentation.
  • AI Enablement
    The Open Source Encore framework extends the capabilities of AI coding tools like Cursor and Copilot, enabling them to create both application and infrastructure.
  • Preview Environments
    Encore Cloud sets up dedicated Preview Environments for each pull request.

Possible disadvantages of Encore.dev

  • Learning Curve
    New users may face a steep learning curve due to the unique concepts and abstractions introduced by Encore.dev.
  • Limited Language Support
    Encore.dev may have limited support for programming languages compared to more established platforms, which could be a drawback for developers using unsupported languages.
  • Opinionated Framework
    The framework is opinionated, which means it imposes specific ways of accomplishing tasks that may not align with all developers' preferences or existing workflows.
  • Dependency on Platform
    Relying on Encore.dev for backend development may lead to platform lock-in, making it difficult to switch to other solutions in the future.
  • Customization Limitations
    The abstraction layers, while simplifying development, may limit customization and flexibility for developers who need more control over the infrastructure and configuration.

Helm.sh features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Helm simplifies the deployment and management of Kubernetes applications by providing a package manager format that is easy to understand and use. It abstracts complex Kubernetes configurations into simple YAML files called Charts.
  • Reusable Configurations
    Helm Charts allow for reusable Kubernetes configurations, making it easier to maintain and share best-practice templates across different environments and teams.
  • Versioning
    Helm supports versioning of Helm Charts, enabling rollbacks to previous application states, which is critical for managing updates and rollbacks in production environments.
  • Extensibility
    Helm is highly extensible with Plugins and the ability to use community-contributed Charts. This extensibility facilitates customizations and leveraging the community for improved and varied functionality.
  • Templating Engine
    Helm Charts support Go templating, which allows for dynamic configuration values, making Helm Charts more flexible and powerful.
  • Broad Adoption
    Helm is widely adopted in the Kubernetes ecosystem, leading to a vast repository of pre-built Charts, extensive documentation, and strong community support.

Possible disadvantages of Helm.sh

  • Complexity
    While Helm simplifies many tasks, the templating language and Chart configurations can become complex and hard to manage, especially for large-scale applications.
  • Learning Curve
    New users of Helm may face a steep learning curve, particularly those who are not already familiar with Kubernetes concepts or YAML configuration syntax.
  • Security
    Helm's default Tiller component (used in Helm v2) had security concerns related to role-based access control (RBAC). While Helm v3 removed Tiller, previous versions may still be in use, leading to potential security risks.
  • Debugging
    Debugging issues with Helm Charts can be challenging, especially due to the abstraction and layering between the Helm template engine and the actual Kubernetes resources deployed.
  • Resource Abstraction
    Helm can sometimes abstract away too much of the Kubernetes internals, which might hinder advanced users who need fine-grained control over their deployments.
  • Dependency Management
    Managing dependencies between different Helm Charts can become cumbersome and lead to complex dependency trees that are hard to manage and debug.

Encore.dev videos

Encore.ts is 9x faster than Express.js

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to build and event-driven application with Encore
  • Demo - Encore Framework introduction

Helm.sh videos

Review: Helm's Zind Is My Favorite Black Boot (Discount Available)

More videos:

  • Review - Helm Free VST/AU Synth Review
  • Review - Another Khracker From Helm - Khuraburi Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Encore.dev and Helm.sh)
Backend Framework
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
19 19%
81% 81
DevOps Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Cloud Computing
17 17%
83% 83

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Encore.dev and Helm.sh

Encore.dev Reviews

10 Top Firebase Alternatives to Ignite Your Development in 2024
Encore is designed for startups building ambitious, event-driven, and distributed systems. If you’re a team that values speed, productivity, and code quality, Encore’s purpose-built tooling and streamlined workflows will help you move faster and build better backends.
Source: genezio.com

Helm.sh Reviews

We have no reviews of Helm.sh yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Helm.sh should be more popular than Encore.dev. It has been mentiond 170 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Encore.dev mentions (79)

  • How to use Logto for your Encore application
    Encore is a backend development platform that makes it easy to build production-ready APIs and microservices. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
  • How to build a Polling System with Node / TypeScript using Encore.ts
    Encore is an open-source backend framework for building scalable, distributed systems. It’s a dev-friendly tool that makes building robust, type-safe applications easy with it’s high-performance API framework. Whether you like TypeScript or Go, Encore supports both. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Rails for Everything
    I could really recommend Encore https://encore.dev/ that works best when you use their PaaS offering https://encore.cloud/ (think of NextJS & Vercel combo). One can argue it goes against some of the Go principles, but it's a really nice stack for solos or small teams without dedicated SREs. And as you grow you can BYOC & deploy it yourself or completely rewrite your API layer using Go stdlib. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Next.js vs Encore.ts — When should you NOT use Next.js for Backend?
    In this article I will compare Next.js with Encore. I will show you how they differ and how they compliment each other. If you have a Next.js app and want to expand the backend functionality of that app then this article is for you! - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Launch Week Day 3: Open Source Independence
    Refocused encore.dev solely on the open source project, making navigation easier. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
View more

Helm.sh mentions (170)

  • Install Red Hat Developer Hub with AI Software Templates on OpenShift
    Helm installed: brew install helm or from https://helm.sh. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • Even more OpenTelemetry - Kubernetes special
    Docker Compose is great for demos: docker compose up, and you're good to go, but I know no organization that uses it in production. Deploying workloads to Kubernetes is much more involved than that. I've used Kubernetes for demos in the past; typing kubectl apply -f is dull fast. In addition to GitOps, which isn't feasible for demos, the two main competitors are Helm and Kustomize. I chose the former for its... - Source: dev.to / 26 days ago
  • Kubernetes and Container Portability: Navigating Multi-Cloud Flexibility
    Helm Charts – An open-source solution for software deployment on top of Kubernetes. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
  • Chart an Extensible Course with Helm
    Clicks, copies, and pasting. That's an approach to deploying your applications in Kubernetes. Anyone who's worked with Kubernetes for more than 5 minutes knows that this is not a recipe for repeatability and confidence in your setup. Good news is, you've got options when tackling this problem. The option I'm going to present below is using Helm. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • IKO - Lessons Learned (Part 1 - Helm)
    Looks like we're good to go (assuming you already have helm installed, if not install it first)! Let's install the IKO. We are going to need to tell helm where the folder with all our goodies is (that's the iris-operator folder you see above). If we were to be sitting at the chart directory you can use the command. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Encore.dev and Helm.sh, you can also consider the following products

OpenShift - OpenShift gives you all the tools you need to develop, host and scale your apps in the public or private cloud. Get started today.

Kubernetes - Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers

CloudStack - Apache's CloudStack is a Project backed by Citrix and designed to be a direct competitor to...

Rancher - Open Source Platform for Running a Private Container Service

AlwaysData - Simple, fast and managed hosting.User-friendly and full-featured administration panel SSD disks.Praised by developers.Many languages and database systems: SSH, API, IPv6.

Docker Compose - Define and run multi-container applications with Docker