Dromo alternative — offline-licensed, air-gapped, verifiable import

Mildport is a Dromo alternative for the strict end of self-hosting. Dromo deserves credit: it publishes prices and offers a self-hosted Kubernetes deployment — the two things most cloud importers hide. If you’re comparing the two, you already care about running the importer yourself. The differences that matter live inside that requirement.

Dromo vs Mildport at a glance

	Dromo	Mildport
Self-hosted deployment	Kubernetes (enterprise offering)	Docker Compose, Helm, or a single all-in-one image for air-gapped networks
Licensing model	Vendor account	Signed offline license file — verifies without calling home, expiry + revocation built in
Air-gap operation	Not the design center	First-class: AIO image, offline license, metering off, runbook
AI column mapping	GPT-based	Deterministic-first; optional judge on your own model endpoint (BYO-LLM), off by default
Zero-backend mode	—	Offline widget mode: parse, match and apply entirely in the browser — no server at all
Import evidence	Vendor logs	Decision log per import + signed receipts a third party can verify offline
Ambiguity handling	Guess or fail	Typed, answerable questions (human or AI agent) with evidence — nothing silently guessed
Agent access	—	MCP server ships in your deployment: agents drive imports inside your boundary, entitlement-gated
Compliance badges	SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA — today	Compliance pack + audit trail; certification is on the roadmap, not yet a badge
Published pricing	Yes — Pro $599/mo	Yes — Pro $499/mo hosted; flat annual self-host prices published per plan
Formats	CSV/Excel focus	CSV, TSV, XLSX, XLS, ODS, JSON, XML, Markdown/HTML tables, PDF tables, OCR’d scans, images
Tool or protocol?	A tool: the import runs, the trail stays with the vendor	A protocol: receipt, ambiguity ledger, changeset and a portable import contract

The self-host difference in detail

• No phone-home, provably. A Mildport license is a signed file. The engine verifies it offline — there is no license server to reach, so procurement’s “what happens if the vendor disappears / the link is cut” question has a one-line answer. See licensing.
• Air-gap is a supported path, not an exception. One all-in-one image, an offline license, metering off, and a runbook — the deployment your security team actually asked for. See self-hosting overview.
• AI without data egress. The optional AI assist calls your model endpoint (OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-style, including in-tenant deployments). No Mildport-side model, no token markup, and the deterministic engine does the work when AI is off.
• Evidence, not trust. Every import can produce a decision log — which column mapped where and why, what was transformed, who (human, rule, or AI agent) decided — and a signed receipt that an auditor can verify without access to your live system.
• Flat self-host pricing, published. Self-hosting is a deployment choice, not an enterprise quote: flat annual per plan, on the pricing page.

When Dromo is the better choice

Honestly: if you need a SOC 2 Type II report or HIPAA posture today, Dromo has those badges now and Mildport doesn’t yet — for some security reviews that’s decisive. If your use case is a managed cloud importer with mainstream needs and GPT mapping is fine, Dromo is a well-built product with transparent pricing. Mildport earns its keep at the strict end: offline licensing, air-gapped networks, BYO-LLM, browser-only mode, and verifiable per-import evidence.

What switching looks like

The integration surface is one custom element — no SDK runtime around your app:

npm install @capitality-io/mildport-widget

<mildport-import
  api-base-url="https://imports.your-infra.example"
  license-key="SIGNED_TENANT_KEY"
></mildport-import>

Define your target fields (in code, in the no-code catalog editor, or drafted from your API spec) and listen for import-applied — full walkthrough in the Quickstart.

FAQ

Is Mildport an alternative to Dromo? Yes — both embed an importer and both can run in your infrastructure. Mildport is built for the stricter version: offline signed licenses, air-gap image, BYO-LLM, verifiable receipts.

Doesn’t Dromo also offer self-hosting? It does (Kubernetes, enterprise). The difference is inside self-hosting: no phone-home licensing, a single air-gapped image, your own AI endpoint, and published flat self-host pricing.

How does pricing compare? Both publish prices — rare in this market. Dromo Pro is $599/mo; Mildport Pro is $499/mo hosted, with flat annual self-host prices published per plan.

When is Dromo the better choice? When you need SOC 2 Type II / HIPAA badges today, or a mainstream managed importer where GPT-based mapping is acceptable.

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Want to see it on your own files? Try the playground or read What is Mildport?