Firebase and Appwrite both are Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) app development platforms that provide a range of services and tools for building web and mobile applications. Before moving into their differences, let’s get to know about what firebase and appwrite are.
Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS)
Before moving on to see what Firebase and Appwrite are, let us get to know about what exactly is Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS). It is a cloud service model in which developers outsource all the behind-the-scenes aspects of a web or mobile application so that they only have to write and maintain the frontend. Baas provides pre-written software that takes place on servers. It includes database management, authentication, cloud storage and more. Moreover, it enables us to concentrate more on the frontend part of the application without worrying about the backend of the application.
Developers make use of BaaS to focus on writing the front-end application code via APIs (which are a way for a program to make a request of another program) and SDKs (which are kits for building software) offered by the BaaS vendor, they are able to integrate all the backend functionality they need, without building the backend themselves. Developers don’t have to worry about managing the servers for their application as baas takes care of it. As a result, they can build and launch mobile applications and web applications more quickly.
Firebase
It is Google’s mobile application development platform that helps you build, improve, and grow your app. Firebase basically offers toolsets to build, improve, and grow your app which covers a sizable amount of the services that developers usually don’t want to build, so that they can work on the app experience. The service is hosted in the cloud and scales with little or no developer effort.
Key features of using firebase
Some of the main features of using firebase are,
- Authentication – Authentication using a password, phone number, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. is supported. You can manually integrate one or more sign-in methods into your application using Firebase Authentication.
- Realtime Database – Data is synced across all clients in real time and remains available even when an app goes offline.
- Hosting – Firebase Hosting provides fast hosting for a web app; content is cached into content delivery networks worldwide.
- Test lab – The application is tested on virtual and physical devices located in Google’s data centers.
- Notifications – Notifications can be sent with firebase with no additional coding.
Appwrite
Basically, it is a new open-source, end-to-end, backend server for front-end and mobile developers that allows them to build apps much faster. Its primary goal is to help developers build complex applications faster by abstracting and simplifying common development tasks for APIs and REST tools. As we have seen, Appwrite is a standalone server as a service. This makes it easy to create applications without writing any backend code. But that’s not the only way to use it.
Advantages of using Appwrite
Some advantages of using Appwrite,
- Fast and Secure
- Manage Access control
- Image Manipulations
- Open-Source
- Cross-Platform
Firebase vs Appwrite
Appwrite operates in the same space as Google’s firebase. So, what is the main difference between firebase and appwrite then? Features appear to be similar between both firebase and Appwrite. Like firebase, Appwrite provides database, storage, authentications and functions among other features. The main difference is that Appwrite is self-hosted, whereas Firebase is exclusively available on Google’s cloud. While Appwrite requires more in terms of setup and hosting, it balances that by giving you more control of your instance.
If we compare the database services, Google Firebase only provides a NoSQL database in the form of JSON API which may cause several drawbacks when migrating a large amount of structured data. Using Appwrite, you can also use a MySQL database, as well as the NoSQL database. But comparatively integrating firebase is easier than the appwrite.
You need CLI and docker’s knowledge to install Appwrite to your system or project while firebase provides a simple CDN.
So, when to go for Firebase or Appwrite? If you need more storage then go for Appwrite, but if you need performance and better customer engagement tools then go for Firebase.
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