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Capawesome vs Capgo

Capawesome just launched in 2024. Capgo has shipped native OTA since 2021 with transparent telemetry, Kick.com-scale traffic, and a full-time team dedicated to production reliability.

We genuinely appreciate Capawesome — Robin is like our little brother exploring live updates — but Capgo focuses on high-end teams that need enterprise-grade guarantees.

Maturity

Shipping OTA since 2021

Four years of production experience serving mission-critical apps worldwide.

Community Trust

~700 GitHub stars

Capacitor Updater is one of the most loved update plugins in the ecosystem.

Customer Base

+3500 organizations

Trusted by 3,500+ organisations including Kick.com, serving 20M+ users through Capgo's network.

Global Latency

Global performance leadership

Latency and uptime tracked continuously at status.capgo.app/history.

Adoption

10× npm downloads

Our weekly npm installs (≈50k) dwarf Capawesome's ≈4k — npm trends.

Dedicated Team

5 full-time experts

Full-time engineering, success, and sales team focused on your releases — meet the team.

Capability Capgo Capawesome
Years operating Founded 2021 — mature update network Launched July 2024 — new platform
Active customers +3500 organizations across industries ~50 customers reported
Customer geography Customers across the US, Australia, China, Saudi Arabia, and beyond — truly worldwide. Primarily EU-based teams prioritising GDPR hosting.
Weekly npm downloads ≈50k downloads / week (npm trends) ≈4k downloads / week (npm trends)
Devices updated each month Hundreds of thousands of devices — 10× more reach Tens of thousands estimated
Proven scale Kick.com delivers updates to 20M+ users via Capgo—built for burst traffic and compliance-heavy rollouts. No public references of deployments beyond small pilots.
Median bundle latency 122 ms worldwide, measured across 18 locations. ( status.capgo.app/history ) 271 ms (self-reported, no public metrics)
Update endpoint downtime 0 incidents in last 90 days No transparency shared
Pricing & bursting Transparent usage pricing with proactive alerts and burst credits so you never stop shipping. Starts at $9/mo with fewer features; free tier covers 100 MAU with unlimited updates at that scale.
Maintenance cadence 17 open issues, last release 3 days ago — we ship fixes continuously. 63 open issues, last release 17 days ago; JavaScript glue means you maintain fixes yourself.
Marketing claim vs reality Capawesome blog cites 99.99% uptime and faster latency; Capgo publishes real metrics showing 0 incidents and 122 ms delivery across 18 regions. Their migration article advertises 99.99% uptime and 267 ms latency without public data to back it.
Update approach Native OTA with encrypted delta bundles, automated rollbacks, and granular configuration — even if JavaScript crashes. Relies on JavaScript hooks with signature-only protection; crashes or errors block updates.
Open-source coverage 100% open source — backend included Partial open source; backend closed
Feature depth Per-device targeting, CLI bundle checks, native delta OTA, automatic native splash screens. Features rebuilt in JavaScript and inspired by Capgo's roadmap; outages occur when JS fails.
Plugin stewardship We fork, modernise, and maintain beloved community plugins to avoid breaking changes. Builds new plugins from scratch; upgrades often require heavy app refactors.
Business model Live updates are our core business: 1.493B updates shipped, 2,500+ apps served, plugins stay free to strengthen the community. Sponsorware-first catalogue — many plugins require paid sponsorship, reported 78M updates shipped, live updates operate as a side business with no usage figures published.
Analytics dashboard Built-in analytics for bundle adoption No analytics dashboard
Update audit log Device-level update history with anonymous IDs kept for 3 months Only web app log entries – no device trace, weak for compliance
Bundle retention policy Auto-delete after 1 month (configurable up to 24 months) No automatic cleanup
Environmental impact 1% of revenue donated via Stripe Climate No public eco commitment
Legal presence Pay as You Go plan ships with SLA, SOC 2 Type II, and annual third-party security audits (capgo.app/trust). Lists SLA and SOC 2 access for enterprise plans; no public mention of recurring security audits.
White-label API White-label API delivers full data access—build your own dashboards or resell Capgo (API docs) No white-label API; must use their dashboard
CLI safeguards CLI validates bundles natively, blocking incompatibilities before publish. Manual JavaScript guards you must maintain; no automated validation.
Transparency Transparent uptime plus daily latency graphs and SOC 2 reporting you can verify yourself. Status page shows a green icon only — no latency history, metrics, or compliance disclosures.
Community adoption Most-starred Capacitor OTA plugin family focused on real production pain. Large plugin list, yet many do not solve customer pain points.
Team depth Full-time team of 5 — meet the team. Only Robin is full-time; other contributors are part-time/community.
Who it's for High-growth, compliance-focused teams needing encrypted native OTA and expert support. Best for hobby or early-stage apps experimenting with basic live updates.

JavaScript-first vs native-first: TL;DR

TL;DR: Capawesome rebuilds your update flow in JavaScript, while Capgo keeps it native-first so updates stay safe even when JS misbehaves.

  • Runtime focus. Capawesome pushes rollout rules, download logic, and telemetry into your app's JavaScript runtime.
  • Native guardrails. Capgo's updater handles downloads, delta bundles, and fail-safes natively, so updates survive crashes.
  • Operational overhead. Capawesome expects you to rebuild CLI scripts and monitoring; Capgo ships guardrails, analytics, and trust reporting out of the box.
  • Product focus. Live updates are Capgo's main business; Capawesome treats its updater as a side play alongside sponsorware plugins.

Need step-by-step instructions? Read the Capawesome → Capgo migration guide

Why product teams stay with Capgo

Beyond the numbers, Capgo continues to invest in the long-term success of your app.

  • Only provider with encrypted native delta updates, automated rollbacks, and proven scale.
  • Capgo continues to innovate in native OTA; Capawesome consistently follows our roadmap.
  • Smart CLI guides releases, validates bundles, and automates chores.
  • White-label API lets you build custom dashboards or customer portals without touching Capgo UI (docs.capgo.app/docs/api).
  • Analytics dashboard surfaces adoption, cohorts, and device health with per-device audit trails.
  • We allocate 1% of revenue to ecological projects through Stripe.
Built by Ionic ecosystem leaders

Capgo's plugins performed so well that Ionic blocked us from their community channels, GitHub, and listings for years because we outshone their commercial offers.

In 2024, after AppFlow announced live updates would sunset in 2025 and unplug entirely in 2027, the ban lifted—we're friends again and even collaborate on migrations, with AppFlow sending customers our way.

Switch offer

Show us proof you switched to Capgo and we'll add 3 free months to your subscription.

Offer applies to teams migrating from Capawesome or any other OTA provider — share your migration evidence after signup.

Unlock 3 months free

All metrics reference the last 90 days of Capgo production data and public Capawesome claims.

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