Backend as a Service Open Source

Open-source Backend as a Service (BaaS) solutions have streamlined the development of mobile and web applications in the past few years.

This cloud computing model confers a complete set of server-side functionalities to build and deploy backends robustly. That is why the popularity of BaaS platforms is climbing.

According to a forecast report by Allied Market Research, the Backend as a Service (BaaS) market will hit 28.7 billion USD at the end of 2032. This value was 3.1 billion USD in 2022. It signifies the growth of the BaaS industry with a CAGR of 25.3% in ten years.

Similarly, MarketsandMarkets projects the BaaS market size to be around 9.2 billion USD by 2028. This report anticipates a CAGR of 17.5% from 2023 to 2028.

However, businesses and dev teams prefer using open-source BaaS platforms because of their benefits. Some prominent features are no vendor lock-in, cost efficiency, flexibility, easy customization, and community support.

So, you must consider this guide if you are a backend engineer or a company looking for a Backend as a Service (BaaS) open-source solution.

We will thoroughly discuss the leading options, traits, and perks of using open-source cloud computing platforms.

Let’s begin!

What is Backend as a Service (BaaS)?

Backend as a Service (BaaS) is a prominent cloud computing category that enables developers to emphasize core business logic and client-side development.

Yes, this cloud model outsources all server-side functionalities such as storage, authentication, remote configuration, push notifications, DB management, etc.

In this regard, you just need to attach the app backend to a BaaS vendor and perform server-side tasks using a wide range of predesigned APIs and SDKs.

Back4app, Supabase, Kuzzle, Appwrite, and Strapi are some credible BaaS providers.

Benefits of Open Source BaaS

Open-source BaaS platforms confer various advantages to their users. Let’s discuss a few of them:

Flexibility & Customization

Open-source platforms offer high flexibility and easy customization. They permit businesses and dev teams to view the script seamlessly and make necessary changes.

Similarly, developers can tailor each server-side component with great ease.  

Community Support and Contributions

Community support and contributions give open-source solutions a prominent edge over closed-source platforms.

When the code is public, it is simple for the programming community to improve it. Contributors and community members can also point out and fix glitches in the script. 

You can get more secure, functional, and improved codes. By the same token, the presence of thousands of libraries and supporting resources are also advantages of open-source services.

Cost-effectiveness and Scalability

Backend as a Service (BaaS) providers with open-source capability are considered more economical than proprietary ones.

You don’t have to pay high maintenance or licensing charges for them. Using open-source platforms is mainly inexpensive for scaling up the backend instances. 

Avoiding Vendor Lock-in

Vendor lock-in is the primary limitation due to which coders avoid using proprietary CSPs. However, open-source backend solutions free you from vendor lock-in.

Indeed, it is straightforward to migrate from one cloud platform to another without risking data. It signifies you don’t have to stick with a single BaaS vendor. 

Top Open Source BaaS Platforms

Let’s delve into the top open source backend as a service.

1. Back4App

Back4app is a highly flexible, low-code Backend as a Service (BaaS) open-source platform. It provides dev teams with multi-cloud setups and self-hosting services.

Therefore, enterprises can easily choose between cloud and on-premises storage solutions. 

Correspondingly, Back4app has a wide range of pre-built backend functionalities to build AI-driven modern applications in a breeze.

Yes, you don’t have to create an app from scratch using this BaaS platform. It offers an extensive range of APIs and SDKs alongside user authentication, DBMS, cloud code functions, push notifications, and more. 

Moreover, you don’t need to worry about infrastructure management. Thus, you can focus on core business competencies and frontend programming with this CSP.

Outstanding security traits and vertical and horizontal scaling distinguish Back4app from other BaaS vendors.

Features

• Realtime Database – Back4app can establish databases within moments. This open-source platform stores, syncs, and illustrates data in real-time utilizing different SDKs and APIs. Offline data support is also a benefit of using this CSP.

• User Management System – Another leading feature of Back4app is fully connected user authorization and authentication. With this functionality, you can seamlessly verify user IDs, manage passwords, and monitor log sessions. 

• Cloud Functions – Developers can streamline the insertion of business logic into apps with JS functions. These functions run in an administered, extensible, and safe Node.js environment and can be activated by distinct modifications in the app. 

• APIs & SDKs – APIs and SDKs have an essential impact on automating dev tasks and simplifying the programming process. Back4app offers GraphQL and REST APIs, and you can also approach numerous native SDKs.

• Storage – Back4app has a file storage facility for backing up various data types, including images, folders, videos, etc. You can also extend the storage resources anytime with a few clicks.

• Integrations and Notifications – It is convenient to integrate this open-source cloud service provider with third-party technologies. Similarly, Back4app is highly significant to user engagement. In this regard, it lets you generate deeply engrossing push notifications to attract and retain more app users. 

Pricing

These are four pricing models that Back4app provides to its users:

• Free Plan – The no-cost plan is a beginner-level program that gives you a free start. It costs you nothing for 1GB file storage, 1GB data transfer, 25k requests, and 250MB data storage. 

• MVP – With a price tag of $15/month/app (with annual billing), MVP grants 2GB data storage, 250GB data transfer, 50GB file storage, and 500k requests.  

• Pay as you go – This program is best for growing applications. You should pay $80/month/app to obtain 5 million requests, 1TB data transfer, 250GB file storage, and 4GB data storage. 

• Dedicated – This model offers a dedicated infrastructure with a $400/month price tag. With this offering, you can approach unmetered requests, 8 CPUs, 1TB file storage, 2TB data transfer, and 80GB data storage. 

On the other hand, if your project’s requirements are more than that, you should choose ‘Enterprise Edition.’ However, you must contact the sales team to explore this plan further. 

2. Supabase

If you are a Firebase user looking for an open-source alternative, Supabase should be your destination.

Supabase is a robust open-source Backend as a Service (BaaS) vendor that allows you to fetch, find, and gather data from PostgreSQL databases. 

Its serverless infrastructure and sleek dashboard enable you to craft and deploy advanced and scalable applications quickly.

Indeed, it can launch an app in a week with built-in authentication, instant APIs, cloud storage, real-time synchronization, and edge functions.

Furthermore, Supabase is HIPAA compliant and owns C2 Type 2 certification. These traits address safety concerns.

Conversely, support for numerous frontend frameworks and the sense of predesigned templates also differentiate Supabase from other providers. 

Features

• Portable Database – Supabase’s main headline is dedicated and portable PostgreSQL. It comes with real-time capabilities, which means you can query and store content spontaneously. In addition, you can import and migrate the DB anytime.  

• Edge Functions – With Supabase, you can effortlessly create, deploy, and supervise JS functions. This feature will assist you if you want high-speed performance, maximum uptime, and 1+ million NPM modules.  

• Authentication – Supabase facilitates user authentication with both social and enterprise logins. Likewise, you can authenticate users with social media platforms like X, LinkedIn, GitHub, Meta, Azure, and Discord. Correspondingly, if you need enterprise logins, you can set up SAML.

• Storage – Another attribute of Supabase is its highly extensible and ultrafast storage. It provides multiprotocol storage, including standard uploads, S3, and resumable files. 

• AI Toolkit – Supabase is an ideal BaaS solution for building and deploying AI and machine learning applications. In this regard, this vendor offers Vector Database, OpenAI, and Hugging Face. You can also integrate with Amazon SageMaker to train your ML models. 

Pricing

Supabase confers these four subscription options to developers and businesses:

• Free – This program is suitable for learners and simple websites. It costs nothing for 50k MAUs, unmetered API requests, and 5GB bandwidth. 

• Pro – A Pro plan is available for scalable and production-grade applications. This model charges $25/month for 100k MAUs, 250GB bandwidth, and 100GB file storage. 

• Team – This advanced pricing plan costs $599/month and equips you with all Pro plan offerings, HIPAA, SOC2, and several other advanced features.

• Enterprise – Large-grade applications can choose the Enterprise plan for more dedicated functionalities. You will have to talk with the sales team to get the quotes. 

3. Appwrite

Appwrite is another powerful open-source BaaS platform that promises 99.99% uptime. Using Appwrite, you can craft high-performing backends within moments.

This cloud service facilitates businesses with serverless functions, auth, real-time databases, and full-functioning messaging. 

With data migration, it is also seamless to self-host your projects with Appwrite. Yes, this BaaS provider offers self-hosting options with cloud hosting setups.

Moreover, Appwrite protects your APIs from abuse. Pre-installed data encryption, HIPAA, SOC-2, and GDPR are further existing security features of this platform. 

On top of that, this BaaS vendor accelerates the development process by providing ready-to-use SDK libraries.

Yes, you can get SDKs for multiple server-side and client-side technologies, including Apple, Android, Python, Ruby, Node React Native, and Flutter.

Features

• Auth – Appwrite takes only five minutes to add authentication functionality to your application. However, this authentication is not only about user registration and logins but also enables flexible permissions and in-depth settings. Moreover, this BaaS vendor lets you authenticate users through 30+ sign-in methods.

• Databases – With ultrafast in-memory caching, it is easy to backlog, query, and manage data. Appwrite allows you to employ any DBMS for scalable storage and improved app performance. 

• Serverless Functions – You can seamlessly deploy and extend user-customized functions with Appwrite. In this regard, you can execute these functions in over 30 isolated environments. This feature also lets you automate the deployments with GitHub.

• Storage – Powerful APIs facilitate developers to add, remove, modify, and download various data types with Appwrite. You can also activate contemporary compression for storage.

• Messaging – It streamlines the configuration of full-fledged messaging. So, you can send emails, messages, and push notifications in the meantime.

Pricing

Have a look at the following pricing models:

• Free – This plan is appropriate for learners and prototypes. With this package, you can get 750k executions, 75k MAUs, 2GB storage, and 10GB bandwidth for nothing.  

• Pro – For a monthly fee of $15/member, this program grants 300GB bandwidth, 200k MAUs, 3.5 million executions, and 150GB storage. 

• Scale – This is an ideal package for organizations. Under this plan, companies should pay $599/month/organization to obtain advanced BaaS features.

• Enterprise – You can consider this plan if you want a custom offer for your enterprise-grade project.

4. Strapi

Are you looking for a highly advanced and flexible headless CMS to build interactive websites, apps, and APIs? If yes, you must consider Strapi.

This open-source and GDPR-compliant platform authorizes you to craft fully tailored backends without technical expertise.

Its sleek interface simplifies API development and lets you proceed with content delivery and modeling easily.

In this regard, it doesn’t only offer GraphQL and REST APIs to perform different tasks. Still, its no-code features permit you to manage various operations through drag-and-drop capability. 

This highly scalable platform also has excellent compatibility with a wide range of frontend technologies and third-party plugins.

Features

• Content-Type Builder – Strapi depends on a content-type builder to quickly develop and deploy backends. This feature comes with no-code functionality. Thus, you only have to deal with fields, components, relations, and dynamic zones here.

• SQL Database – SQL is a widely used RDBMS. Fortunately, Strapi allows its users to choose any SQL technology, such as Postgres, to store, query, and fetch data spontaneously.

• Hosting – Cloud-based dedicated hosting is another attribute of this open-source CMS. With automated backups, you can easily host your projects on Strapi. 

• APIs – This no-code platform allows the developers to sync with client-side technologies using REST and GraphQL APIs.

Pricing

Strapi classifies its programs into two categories:

• Cloud – Unlike other open-source solutions, Strapi doesn’t offer a free plan under its Cloud plan. Its Developer model costs you $29/month/project for 1k CMS entries, 1 environment, and 1 seat.

• Self-Hosted – If you want to host your project on your own servers, you can begin with a Community program. This plan costs nothing for unmetered API calls and entries. However, the monthly cost of its Enterprise plan begins at $99/seat. 

5. Kuzzle

Kuzzle is one of the finest options for building the backend of IoT, web, and mobile applications quickly.

This open-source Backend as a Service (BaaS) provider accelerates the programming process by offering both cloud and on-premises deployments.

Contrarily, if we talk about its support for IoT projects, Kuzzle utilizes REST APIs, WebSocket, MQTT, and HTTP protocol.

Similarly, Kuzzle’s easy integration with frontend frameworks via SDKs and seamless insertion of business logic are also prominent attributes.

Features

• Secure Authentication – Every app requires a Safe user authentication system. Fortunately, with over 500 auth techniques, Kuzzle also safeguards your app users with the Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) system. 

• Database – Unlike other popular open-source BaaS providers, Kuzzle is known for its excellent support for NoSQL databases. Indeed, if you use a non-relational DBMS, you can choose Kuzzle. 

• Realtime Engine – This feature promises an immediate user experience by delivering push notifications spontaneously. 

• Data Storage – Kuzzle’s real-time data storage is another appealing feature. This platform makes it easy to query, define, and save JSON data. 

Pricing

Kuzzle is a free open-source Backend as a Service (BaaS) that doesn’t have a pricing page. If you need to inquire further about customized and dedicated instances, you can probably contact the sales team.

Key Features of Open Source BaaS

Let’s summarize the key features that you must consider while choosing the right open-source BaaS platform:

Real-time Database & Offline Sync

Real-time database support for NoSQL and SQL data is the primary feature of open-source BaaS vendors.

With these DBMSs, you can’t only sync, gather, and fetch data instantaneously but also integrate content when you are offline.

User Authentication & Authorization 

These open-source CSPs offer built-in user management and authentication support, allowing businesses and developers to verify emails and encrypt passwords on the fly.

File Storage & Cloud Functions

Uncomplicated file storage is another property of BaaS providers. You can’t only backlog data efficiently but can also conduct queries without scripting a code.

Similarly, cloud functions help add business logic to your mobile and web apps.

APIs

GraphQL and REST APIs play a significant role in integrating server-side functionalities with applications. Database automation, customization, and cost efficiency are further benefits of APIs.

Notifications & Third-Party Integrations

BaaS platforms supply real-time notifications to engage app users. Hereof, you will find tailored templates to design in-app messages and push notifications.

In addition, open-source backend services allow the dev teams to integrate the app with third-party tools like Slack, GitHub, Jira, etc. 

Advantages of Using Open Source for Businesses

Here are the leading pros of open-source services for businesses:

Reduced Development Time and Costs

Open-source solutions are considered more agile than closed-source offerings because they use multiple ways to solve an issue.

Community members are also available to fix different problems in this regard. Thus, you can say open-source products significantly reduce development time. 

By the same token, businesses choose open-source vendors because of their inexpensive rates. The lower hardware and maintenance fee makes them a cost-efficient option for companies. 

Enhanced Security and Control Over Data

Open-source platforms typically have active community support, which is why members are always ready to fix glitches and recognize vulnerabilities.

Therefore, businesses prefer open-source platforms because of their enhanced security. 

Moreover, the absence of vendor lock-in gives firms more control over the development environment, infrastructure, and technologies. 

Improved Collaboration through Community Involvement

Open-source permits businesses to learn from seasoned developers and like-minded contributors. This innovative environment lets companies learn a lot from each other’s experiences.

Smooth networking with experts is also an advantage of open-source. 

Greater Flexibility to Scale and Adapt to Business Needs

Open-source services are growth-friendly. So, you can extend the instances according to the needs of your venture.

These platforms also empower businesses to choose among various on-premises, hybrid, and cloud infrastructures. Furthermore, open-source is more customizable compared to proprietary vendors. 

How to Choose the Right Open-Source BaaS for Your Project

You must consider these factors when it comes to employing a BaaS open-source service for your project:

• Suitable for Project Needs: It is vital to see whether an open-source BaaS platform meets your project’s needs. Likewise, if you are working on an IoT or AI app, it is essential that CSP can provide all server-side features necessary to build and deploy such applications.

• Community Support & Documentation: Your selected backend service must have enough community support. Hence, you can easily access relevant resources and documentation. 

• Scalability & Customization: If you choose a free-tier BaaS plan, you must analyze the pros, cons, and expected charges when scaling up the application. Equally, it is better to employ more customizable platforms.

• Ease of Integration: Your selected open-source CSP should be easily integrated with third-party tools. For example, you should be able to integrate it with a Git repository, work management, planning, and team collaboration platforms. 

• Price: Price is another factor you must consider before picking an option. You must compare the prices of different BaaS providers and the instances they provide under distinct rates. 

Conclusion 

Open-source Backend as a Service (BaaS) solutions are becoming widely recognizable in the cloud infrastructure industry because of their standout features.

However, many companies and dev teams still need to clarify how to shortlist a single option for their projects.

Therefore, this article presents one of the leading open-source solutions, along with its core competencies and pricing structure.

If you need an open-source backend development service, this guide will help you make the right decision.