Soft.xyz is an independent, data-driven platform that compares 232+ developer tools across 69 categories by real metrics — GitHub activity, npm downloads, actual pricing, DX scores, and community sentiment. Unlike pay-to-play review sites, every ranking on Soft.xyz is based on publicly verifiable data pulled from GitHub, npm, and official pricing pages.

How does Soft.xyz collect data?

Soft.xyz pulls data from public APIs including GitHub (stars, forks, commits, open issues, last commit date), npm (weekly download counts), and official pricing pages. Community sentiment data comes from Reddit and Hacker News mention tracking. All metrics are refreshed weekly and timestamped so you can see exactly when data was last updated.

Is Soft.xyz free to use?

Yes, Soft.xyz is completely free to use. All tool pages, comparisons, benchmarks, DX scores, pricing analysis, and category rankings are available at no cost. For teams that need a deeper analysis, we offer a paid Stack Audit report ($199) that evaluates your entire tech stack with personalized recommendations. An API is also available for programmatic access to our dataset.

How many tools does Soft.xyz track?

Soft.xyz tracks 232 developer tools across 69 categories including databases, hosting, authentication, payments, analytics, CI/CD, monitoring, search, CMS, and more. Each tool page includes real-time GitHub metrics, npm download counts, pricing breakdowns, and side-by-side comparisons with alternatives in the same category.

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Bonsai (Elasticsearch Hosting)

Shut Down — September 2024

Reviewed byRoman K· 2024-09-30

What was it?

Managed Elasticsearch/OpenSearch hosting. Heroku add-on era staple for search.

What happened?

Bonsai shut down operations citing unsustainable infrastructure costs and Elastic licensing changes.

Migration Guide

Elastic Cloud (official), Meilisearch Cloud, or Typesense Cloud for simpler search needs.

Timeline & context

Bonsai (Elasticsearch Hosting) shut down in September 2024, 2 years ago. It sat in the database category, where Soft.xyz tracks 3 discontinued products in total. If you are still running it in production, the migration path above is the shortest route off it.

FAQ

Why did Bonsai (Elasticsearch Hosting) shut down?

Bonsai shut down operations citing unsustainable infrastructure costs and Elastic licensing changes.

What should I migrate Bonsai (Elasticsearch Hosting) to?

No drop-in replacement is tracked yet — check the database category for current options.

Is there a free alternative to Bonsai (Elasticsearch Hosting)?

Not among the tracked alternatives.

Also dead in database

Firebase Realtime Database — 2025 PlanetScale Free Tier — 2024