Firebase Self-Hosted Alternatives

Firebase is a leading cloud platform that allows you to build and run mobile and web applications without having substantial coding expertise.

However, Firebase is neither an open-source nor a self-hosted cloud solution. Yes, Firebase doesn’t offer on-premises hosting or private servers to its users.

This drawback gives developers minimal control over infrastructure and code. Conversely, Back4app, Parse Server, Backendless, and Kuzzle are reliable self-hosted Firebase alternatives that grant you more control and personalization. So, let’s discuss these substitutes in detail.   

Advantages of Self-Hosting

Self-hosting is a method of running applications or websites by deploying your private servers or on-premises infrastructure.

In this way, businesses install, upgrade, and administer the software and hardware resources independently without interference from third-party service providers. 

This hosting practice has several benefits. Let’s delve into some of the significant self-hosting advantages:

• Control – On-premises or self-hosting gives you more or complete control over data and infrastructure. It lets you define the process of approaching, backlogging, and fetching data. It also frees you from complying with the rules and regulations of third-party CSPs.

• Enhanced Security – Most businesses that work on data-sensitive projects prefer choosing on-premises hosting solutions. Self-hosting confers an additional layer of protection compared to cloud hosting, so you can seamlessly secure your data from extrinsic attacks.

• Cost-Efficient – Although a self-hosted solution has a high upfront cost, it is still an economical choice. Indeed, compared to cloud hosting, you can avoid the monthly subscriptions and scaling charges. 

• Customization – Customization is another appealing advantage of self-hosting. It allows you to tailor your program’s client-side and backend functionalities completely. Your dev teams also don’t have to act by the policies of CSPs. Furthermore, you can hook up the software with external or internal tools anytime.

• No Vendor Lock-In – Vendor lock-in is a prominent drawback of using Firebase. However, if you are looking for an alternative, you must consider self-hosted service providers. They let you modify your setup and source code or switch to any other platform without any restriction. 

• Improved Performance – When you use private servers instead of shared cloud offerings, you get improved server functioning and network speed. These resources are only dedicated to your project, so they perform better. Therefore, self-hosting is also considered a great choice for managing complicated datasets and extensive files. 

Top 5 Firebase Self-Hosted Alternatives

Here are the top-notch self-hosted Firebase alternatives:

1. Back4app

Back4app is a promising Firebase alternative that offers self-hosting along with open-source technologies.

With a community of 300k developers, this platform authorizes you to deploy your applications using multi-cloud or on-premises setups. 

This low-code vendor has a simple interface that makes it easy to build, manage, and run IoT, web, and mobile applications.

Yes, it confers similar features to spreadsheet databases and offers ready-made SDKs and APIs to assist in programming. 

You can use its BaaS product to create and host your backends. Similarly, attaching your GitHub account with Back4app CaaS and deploying the Git-based code within seconds is straightforward. This CSP doesn’t ask for any configuration in this regard.

No vendor lock-in, built-in caching, and fast CDN are further advantages of using Back4app.

Features

• APIs – Back4app provides GraphQL and REST APIs to conduct various DB operations. Likewise, it utilizes APIs to interpret datasets and craft backends on the fly. These APIs are also helpful for querying functions and performing automated workflows.  

• Scalable Hosting – This on-premises hosting provider is known for its highly scalable nature. Indeed, extending your CPU, storage, bandwidth, and RAM instances is easy using this platform. Also, it backs both vertical and horizontal scaling for its projects with predictable pricing. 

• Live Queries – Are you building messaging, gaming, or online taxi applications that need real-time response? If yes, you must consider Back4app as an open-source and self-hosted alternative to Firebase. Hereof, you have to enable the ‘Live Query’ option for your database. This feature is available under ‘App Settings’ and ‘Server Settings’.

• Authentication – User management, such as authenticating a user and session control, is effortless with Back4app. You get an entirely integrated, ready-to-use user management system for your applications. Moreover, it permits you to verify users through different email, phone, or social accounts.

• Storage – Back4app utilizes a robust content delivery network to gather and serve all types of data. Its file storage feature is not only fast but also economical and extensible for businesses of all sizes.

Pricing

The pricing structure of Back4app is very straightforward. It doesn’t surprise you with additional costs.

Firstly, if we discuss its Free BaaS offering, you get 1GB file storage, 25k monthly requests, 20MB file upload, and 1 app subscription for nothing. 

Correspondingly, the Free CaaS program offers 0.25 shared CPU, tailored Docker containers, 100GB transfer, and 256MB RAM. Also, this freemium package comes with community support and deployment with GitHub. 

On the other hand, if you bill annually, the monthly cost of paid BaaS and CaaS plans begins at $15 and $5/container. Unlike Firebase, Back4app has Dedicated plans for its BaaS and Back4app Containers services. 

Under its Dedicated package, it costs $400/month for 2TB data transfer, 8 CPUs, 1TB file storage, and 5 app subscriptions.

Besides, it costs $50/month/container for 2 CPUs, 250GB transfer, premium support, and 2GB RAM if you employ Dedicated CaaS programs. 

2. Parse Server

Parse Server is a full-stack application development platform that allows self-hosting if you operate it on your infrastructure.

This open-source platform has a large number of libraries and SDKs that help dev teams build and deploy mobile and web applications on the fly. 

Founded in 2011, Parse Server is famous for its Backend as a Service (BaaS) offerings. You can use this platform to approach user authentication, file & object storage, notifications, and more.

In addition, it has ample community support, so it is easy to get helpful resources to support your projects. 

Businesses and dev teams consider Parse Server a credible hosting option because Meta has already used it.

Yes, Meta utilized this platform from 2013 to 2017 for its ventures. Since then, it has been working as a self-hosted and free solution. 

Features

• Data Modeling – Parse has an exclusive dashboard where you can modify and manage the data and generate classes easily. This dashboard also lets you monitor the analytical data and craft tailored push notifications to grab users’ attention.

• REST API Tool – A robust REST API tool is another excellent feature of Parse Server. This API plays a vital role in verifying and administering the app users with minimal coding. Similarly, REST API allows developers to debug without writing a programming script.

• ACLs & CLPs – Parse is considered a highly secure platform because of its data permission settings. Likewise, you can utilize ACLs to define who is permitted to access the operations and data. By the same token, CLP refers to class-level authorizations.

• Multiple SDKs – This self-hosted platform has a wide range of open-source SDKs. You can easily access these SDKs and use them for any type of mobile or web application. Indeed, you can get SDKs for Android, JavaScript, Dart, PHP, Unity, Flutter, and Objective-C.

Pricing

Parse Server is an open-source hosting platform that costs you nothing. 

3. Backendless

Backendless is a credible low-code/no-code (LCNC) app development platform that offers on-premises hosting.

This platform permits you to deploy applications in a Dockerized environment using self-hosted internal servers. 

In this regard, you can employ Backendless Pro and host your applications without restrictions. In addition, you can leverage Docker Compose and Backendless Pro Manager to deploy your self-hosted applications anywhere. Yes, you can install this solution on any VM or server compatible with Ubuntu. 

This vendor offers further advantages, such as a real-time visual database, graphical UI builder, in-memory cache, and ready-made templates.

Features

• Docker Architecture – This platform enables you to deploy Docker images with zero downtime. Indeed, Backendless Pro utilizes Kubernetes clusters, so it has multiple servers to host the code. It is also easy to scale the resources if your app traffic surges.

• Docker Compose – You can adopt this tool to function and interpret multi-container apps. It streamlines the workflows and gives you a complete overview of running services. So you can deploy and build apps more efficiently.

• Backendless Pro Manager – If you are employing Backendless for on-premises installations, you must leverage the Pro Manager. This is a valuable tool for making the installation process easier and for managing self-hosted versions of this platform.

• Open-Source SDKs – Another trait of Backendless is the presence of well-documented SDKs. You can approach Android, iOS, .NET, Java, JS, and REST SDKs here. 

Pricing

Backendless Pro has two programs: Clustered and Single Server. Single Server costs $10k/year and offers virtual or self-hosting support. Conversely, Clustered costs $50k/year and offers high availability and more advanced functionalities.

4. Appwrite

Appwrite is another self-hosted alternative to Firebase that has entertained over 1 billion requests and 20,000 companies.

With 99.99% guaranteed uptime, Appwrite provides authentication, real-time data, and scalable storage to create backends within moments.

On the other hand, using Appwrite makes it effortless to migrate your data or application from one platform to another. Its prominent features include abuse protection for APIs and HIPAA compliance.

Features

• Suitable for All Sizes of Businesses – Appwrite has been designed to meet the demands of companies of all sizes. So, it could be a great choice for startups, SMEs, and large enterprises. With a Docker-supported OS, it only requires 2GB memory, 2 CPU cores, and 4GB RAM. 

• Docker Compose – This feature supports manual installation. Yes, many dev teams prefer manual setups. You ought to install .env files and docker-compose.yml under ‘app write’ directly. 

• Storage – Appwrite lets you backlog your data on the cloud or choose an on-premises storage option. In this regard, you can take advantage of third-party adapters like AWS S3, Linode Object Storage, and DigitalOcean Spaces. 

• Database – Appwrite also offers highly extensible and advanced DB support. In the meantime, you can use this function to backlog, fetch, and query the data.

Pricing

Appwrite self-hosting costs nothing and comes with unmetered instances. To proceed, you can download Appwrite from GitHub and follow the instructions on the ‘Self Hosting Docs’ page. 

However, its Free plan offers 2GB storage, 10GB bandwidth, 750,000 MAUs, and a 50MB file limit. The monthly price for Scale and Pro programs begins at $599/organization and $15/member.

5. Kuzzle

Kuzzle is another reliable Firebase self-hosted alternative with Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Backend as a Service (BaaS) products.

Although it supports mobile and web applications, but its use could be ideal for hosting IoT projects.

Yes, it grants extraordinary support for Internet of Things (IoT) applications with real-time data, geofencing, and SDKs.

Also, Kuzzle accelerates the speed of the dev cycle and allows you to deploy on-premises solutions anywhere in the world.

Features

• Authentication – Kuzzle has an all-in-one user authentication system that permits you to authorize users seamlessly. You can authenticate app users with over 500 verification approaches, including OAuth, OAuth 2.0, and OpenID.

• Data Storage – This Firebase alternative organizes your backlogged NoSQL data into documents, fields, indexes, and collections. Kuzzle also has private and public storage categories.

• Real-Time Tracking – Kuzzle is an incredible choice for innovative logistics and smart city projects. Therefore, it also enables you to track assets in real-time. 

• Multi-Protocol API – This API acts in accordance with JSON format to interact with different operations. HTTP, MQTT, and WebSocket are three significant protocols here.

Pricing

Kuzzle Backend is a costless product; you can download it from the official website for free. Withal, Kuzzle PaaS, and IoT are paid products. You should contact the sales team to get a quote for your project.

Conclusion

A significant drawback of using Firebase is the absence of on-premises hosting. Therefore, this article presents one of the leading self-hosted and open-source Firebase alternatives with their pricing models and features.