TL;DR
Xano is a hosted backend builder: Postgres, APIs built as visual function stacks or XanoScript, background tasks, realtime, and an MCP builder, with the frontend somewhere else. If your agent writes the whole app as ordinary code in your repository, floo is the alternative: it deploys that code, frontend and backend, with Postgres, storage, schedules, and invite-only sign-in from one floo.app.toml.
- Source of truth: Xano's Git Sync is one-way and Xano stays authoritative. On floo, every deploy comes from a commit.
- Frontend: Xano hosts static builds only. floo hosts server-rendered apps, APIs, and workers.
- Sign-in: Xano issues tokens from an auth table, and each endpoint has its own require-auth setting. floo's gateway signs invited people in before any request reaches your code.
- Where Xano leads: the visual builder, no-code frontend integrations, its MCP builder and built-in agents, and compliance and deployment options.
Facts about Xano come from its own documentation and website, read on November 3, 2026. Sources are listed at the end.
How do they compare?
| Xano | floo | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the logic lives | In Xano, as function stacks you edit visually or as XanoScript | In your repository, in any language, built from a Dockerfile |
| Git | One-way sync from Xano to GitHub or GitLab; CLI pull and push of XanoScript | GitHub is the source of every deploy |
| Frontend hosting | Static Hosting for static builds; no server rendering or backend servers | Any web service, including server-rendered frameworks |
| Database | Postgres, through Xano's database tools or a Direct Database Connector | Managed Postgres, DATABASE_URL injected |
| Sign-in | Tokens from an auth-enabled table, prebuilt login and signup endpoints, require-auth per endpoint | access_mode = "accounts": invite-only sign-in at the gateway, no auth code |
| Agent credential for the app | A user token, or a key you build and check yourself | Key per named consumer, scoped to declared routes, rate-limited, with request history |
| Scheduled work | Background tasks that repeat from a start time | [cron.<name>] with a cron expression, in your app's container |
| Previews | Branches copy logic, not the database; ephemeral tenants for pull request previews | Pull request previews with their own URL, managed resources, and Postgres branch |
Where does the code live?
Xano's homepage now leads with building apps, APIs, and MCP servers with AI, and names Claude, Cursor, and ChatGPT as builders. Its docs describe a CLI workflow where an agent such as Claude Code writes XanoScript locally: xano workspace pull downloads the workspace as .xs files, and xano workspace push uploads them, on paid plans to a personal sandbox you review and promote in the browser. Git Sync is one-way, from Xano to GitHub or GitLab, and Xano's docs say Xano stays the source of truth.
That is a real path for agents, and the code your agent writes is XanoScript that runs on Xano.
On floo, your agent writes the app in whatever it would normally use, and the repository is the app. floo.app.toml declares its shape, and every git push to the connected branch deploys to dev:
[app]
name = "orders"
access_mode = "accounts"
[services.web]
type = "web"
path = "."
port = 3000
ingress = "public"
[managed.default]
type = "postgres"
[cron.daily-report]
schedule = "0 6 * * *"
command = "node scripts/report.js"
service = "web"
The same repository runs anywhere a container runs. See how floo works.
Who serves the frontend?
Xano's Static Hosting serves HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, runs your build script once if there is a package.json, and deploys from a ZIP or a Git URL. Its docs list request-time server rendering and backend servers such as Express or Django as unsupported. Otherwise Xano works with any frontend that makes HTTP requests: its docs name AI builders such as Lovable, Bolt, and Replit, and no-code builders such as WeWeb and Bubble.
On floo, the frontend, the API, a worker, and the cron jobs are services of one app, from one repository. A Next.js app with server rendering is one service. See Dockerfiles.
How do people and agents get in?
Xano's auth turns a table, usually user, into the source of tokens, with prebuilt login, signup, and auth/me endpoints. You then mark each endpoint as requiring auth. OAuth providers come from the Xano Marketplace. Xano's docs do not describe an invite-only mode.
For a program calling your Xano API, the documented options are a user token or an API key you generate, store, and check in a precondition yourself. Paid plans apply no default rate limit, so you add Xano's Rate Limit function. Xano's Metadata API tokens do have scopes and expiry, but they manage the workspace, which is what the Xano MCP server uses.
On floo, access_mode = "accounts" puts invite-only sign-in in front of the whole app, and floo apps invite teammate@acme.com --role member sends the invitation. For an agent that uses the app:
floo apps consumers create order-agent
floo apps keys create order-agent --consumer order-agent --scope orders.write --rate-limit-rpm 60
The key works only on routes declared with that scope, is rate-limited, and is revocable on its own. floo strips it before your code sees the request and lists every request by key ID. See app sign-in and app API keys.
What about environments?
Xano branches copy logic, such as APIs, functions, and tasks, but its docs say branches do not apply to the database. Data sources give a workspace separate live and test copies of the same schema, chosen per request with a header. For pull request previews and CI, Xano's CLI docs describe ephemeral tenants with an isolated database that expire after one to 24 hours.
floo previews are off until you set preview_environments = true under [github]. Then each pull request gets its own URL and its own managed resources, including a Postgres branch, and closing the pull request tears it down. See preview environments.
Where is Xano stronger?
- Visual building. The function stack and Canvas views, with XanoScript underneath, suit people who want to see and edit logic without a code editor.
- No-code frontends. An official WeWeb plugin, a Bubble connector, and REST connections for FlutterFlow, Softr, and others.
- MCP builder and built-in agents. Expose endpoints as MCP tools with a shared token or per-user OAuth, and run agents on several model providers.
- Realtime. Channels with presence over WebSockets. floo proxies WebSocket requests to your app, but has no realtime product.
- Compliance and deployment. SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and HIPAA, plus bring-your-own-cloud and on-premise deployment. floo is a hosted service only.
Which should you choose?
Choose Xano when the backend will be owned by people who prefer a visual builder, the frontend is a no-code tool, or you need its compliance and deployment options. Choose floo when your agent writes the whole app as a codebase you keep, frontend and backend, and you want hosting, Postgres, sign-in, schedules, storage, and agent keys from one file in the repository.
See the backend for apps your agent builds, start from a template, or read a Retool alternative for internal tools your agent builds.
Sources
- Xano: homepage, docs home, key concepts, PostgreSQL, Direct Database Connector, function stack, XanoScript, Git Sync, CLI, CLI push and pull, sandbox, ephemeral tenants, authentication, OAuth and SSO, securing APIs, pre-launch security checklist, API rate limit, Metadata API, background tasks, Static Hosting, connecting a frontend, no-code builders, branching, data sources, realtime, agents, MCP builder, Xano MCP server, deployment options, SOC 2
- floo: how floo works, app sign-in, app API keys, Postgres, storage, cron jobs, preview environments, Dockerfiles, networking
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep a Xano backend in Git?
Partly. Xano's Git Sync is one-way, from Xano to GitHub or GitLab, and Xano stays the source of truth. The Xano CLI can pull a workspace as XanoScript files and push them back. On floo the repository is the source of truth: floo deploys from its commits.
Does Xano host the frontend?
For static output only. Xano's Static Hosting serves HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and its docs list server rendering at request time and backend servers such as Express or Django as unsupported. Otherwise Xano expects a frontend elsewhere, such as WeWeb, Bubble, or your own React app. floo hosts any service with a Dockerfile, including server-rendered apps.
How does an agent authenticate to a Xano API?
Xano's documented options are a user's auth token or an API key you build yourself and check in a precondition. On paid plans Xano applies no default rate limit; you add its Rate Limit function. Its Metadata API tokens have scopes, but they manage the workspace, not your app's endpoints. floo gives each agent a key scoped to declared routes, with a rate limit and request log.
Is Xano Postgres?
Yes. Xano's docs say every project uses PostgreSQL, and a Direct Database Connector gives outside tools credentials. That connection covers the whole instance and bypasses Xano's validity checks.
When is Xano the better choice?
When people who prefer a visual builder will own the backend, when the frontend is a no-code tool such as WeWeb or Bubble, or when you need to expose APIs as MCP tools with per-user OAuth, run agents built in Xano, meet SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA requirements, or deploy in your own cloud.