Catalyst by Zoho

Catalyst by Zoho is a full-stack cloud platform that unifies backend as a service (BaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) so developers and AI assistants can build, deploy, and scale apps, microservices, integrations, front-ends, dashboards, and AI features. The vendor describes the platform as agent-ready.

• Compute: Basic I/O Functions, Advanced I/O Functions, Event Functions, Cron Functions, Integration Functions, Circuits (workflow orchestration)
• Storage: Object Storage (Stratus), Relational Data Store, File Store, Cache
• Hosting: Web Client Hosting (Slate), AppSail (managed runtimes)
• Intelligence: QuickML / AutoML, OCR (optical character recognition), Object Detection, Face Analytics, Image Moderation, Barcode Scanning, Text Analytics
• Automation: SmartBrowz (headless Chrome, PDF conversion, browser logic), Pipelines (continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD))
• Platform: API Gateway, User Authentication, Mail, Push Notifications, Search, application performance monitoring (APM), Logging & Metrics, Mobile Analytics, Domain Mapping, Security Rules, Automation Testing

Agent-ready controls enable scoped logins, disable destructive commands in non-interactive mode, and provide full audit trails including application logs, platform logs, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) tool-call logs. Teams get decoupled environments, collaborator access controls, and logging for development speed with governance.

According to the vendor, pricing starts at $0 with a free tier that includes auto-renewing monthly credits. New users get $250 in credits for their first 6 months, and the service is free for students.

Subscription plans and pay-as-you-go options are also available, so users pay only for usage beyond their free limits.

Intended for enterprise IT, system integrators, startups, independent developers, and student builders.