Firebase vs CleverTap

The various domains of customer lifecycle management are important metrics to track as they are often indicators of the company’s success. As developers, you will need a comprehensive set of tools to track these metrics and prevent your users and consumers from falling off.

Google’s Firebase has remained one of the most popular sets of tools for mobile app developers, but CleverTap is a new name that boasts of an impressive client base.

Continue reading as we take a deeper dive into what these products have to offer and how they differ in terms of features and advantages so that you can make an informed decision when selecting one for your business.

Key Takeaways

• Google Firebase is a comprehensive application development platform

• Clevertap is a customer lifecycle management platform

• Both platforms are free to start

What is Firebase?

Firebase is a cloud platform designed to power real-time and collaborative mobile and web applications. It provides various tools for developers to build, manage, and grow their apps faster and in a more secure way.

Since few programming is required on the Firebase side of things, it is easily deployable, making its features very easy to use. It is useful in several situations as it supports seamless integration with Google and third-party services for advanced functionality. 

Firebase core features

• Real-time database

Firebase Real-time database is a cloud NoSQL database that uses the JSON document protocol for storing and retrieving data. Developers can aggregate and sync the data between client devices in real-time, which can be accessed across all devices at the same time, all without communicating with the app server tier.

• Firebase Authentication

Firebase Authentication, developed by the same team that built Google Sign-in, is a secure and reliably fast authentication feature that provides easy to use UI libraries and SDKs for your users to log into your app.

You do not need to develop and maintain a manual user authentication service as Firebase even handles complex tasks like merging accounts, etc. Users can be securely authenticated using popular platforms like Google, Facebook, GitHub, etc.

• Secure hosting

Firebase also provides hosting for your mobile, web, and unity apps with a focus on speed and security. Developers can use it to host static and dynamic websites and microservices with a single command. You can also use Firebase to define custom audiences and roll out new features progressively after testing for impact.

Firebase advantages

Here are some advantages of Firebase.

• Cross-platform support

Firebase APIs used for cross-component communication are closely packed into single SDKs for different programming languages like JavaScript and C++. Your source code can be seamlessly deployed onto multiple mobile OSes like Android, iOS, and Unity, without changing the existing infrastructure.

• Crashlytics

Firebase also provides real-time crash reports, which can be used to improve the end-user experience and quality of the application. Detailed crash logs are automatically stored with a timestamp, meaning developers do not have to spend time sorting through the app logs for what caused the app to crash.

• User interaction features

Firebase also provides a host of services to help you interact with your users and develop your app based on their preferences. These include Google Analytics for insight on app usage and user behaviour, Firebase Predictions for creating dynamic user segments based on user interaction, Dynamic Links, and A/B testing for experimentation.

What is CleverTap? 

CleverTap is a Software as a Service solution with a comprehensive set of tools for customer lifecycle management and marketing for mobile app developers.

These tools are indispensable for businesses that need to track how users are moving across the web pages and where users are dropping off. CleverTap tools allow developers and marketers to re-engage the users on the verge of dropping off by providing them real-time offers and strategies as they see fit.

CleverTap has been working with some big names, providing mobile app analytics and user engagement products to the likes of Domino’s, Premier League, The Meet Group, Daimler, etc.

CleverTap core features

• Behavioral analytics

CleverTap provides several tools to track user trends and behavior on your website allowing developers and marketers to fully understand their audience. These include funnel analysis to track user flows, user retention cohorts, customizable insights, uninstall tracking, conversion flows, data visualization, etc.

• Lifecycle optimization

Define consumer lifecycles using guided frameworks and then understand how your consumers behave in the context of these stages, encouraging them to move from one stage to another. Build campaigns specific to each stage and experiment with different types of campaigns to convert your casual users into loyal customers.

• Product experience

You can also segregate your users and create memorable and engaging experiences for each audience segment using powerful tools for experimentation. You can easily test the UI and UX to make data-driven choices and visualize their impact using feature flags before mass release for your consumers.

CleverTap advantages

• User communication

CleverTap provides a single dashboard to engage customers with coordinated messaging campaigns across multiple platforms like SMS, web, email, mobile, social media, etc.

Send personalized messages directly to the customer in the form of push notifications, or relevant in-app messages depending on the consumer preferences and behavior. You can also create targeted Google Ads campaigns and reach your consumers on WhatsApp for a personalized touch.

• Tracking

You can also track the impact of your marketing efforts across various paid and organic marketing channels. Use these data pivots to adjust your marketing efforts and expenses to focus on channels that make an impact.

• Segmentation

Build actionable user segments and track and target each segment based on their specific in-app actions, inactions, and property. The CleverTap segmentation engine offers 6 types of segmentation, which include psychographic, behavioral, live, RFM, intent-based, and custom-list segmentation.

Firebase vs Clevertap

Conclusion

While both Firebase and CleverTap have some interesting and unique features, the final decision depends on your requirements.

Google Firebase is a compressive application development platform. Their features cover the complete development cycle, including building, releasing, and engaging. Featured customers are Alibaba, The New York Times, and The Economist.

Clevertap is a customer engagement and user retention platform. Their features cover push notifications, in-app messaging, SMSs, etc. Featured customers include Astro, MxPlayer, and Cleartrip.

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