Firebase vs Hasura

Developers have derived immense value from Firebase and Hasura because of features that make app development faster and more straightforward.  Both platforms have key similarities and differences.

For instance, Firebase and Hasura provide APIs for communicating with a database.  In contrast, Firebase only supports its owned database while developers can use several types of databases with Hasura. 

This article on Firebase vs Hasura makes a quick review and comparison to help developers have an in-depth understanding of both platforms.

Overview of Firebase

Firebase is a Google product that offers developers a suite of tools for developing and ongoing management of mobile applications.

The platform goes beyond merely providing tools for developing apps, it allows the integration of several other functions for expanding the capabilities of any existing app.  Firebase is designed to proffer solutions to three main challenges that developers encounter. 

• How to build an app fast

• How to release an app and track it’s performance

• How to engage with the app users

Firebase help resolve these challenges through purpose-built tools within the platform.  With Firebase, developers can focus on app development assignments without meddling with server management and other backend hassles.  

One of the outstanding features of Firebase is its ability to scale backend resources automatically, ensuring maximum uptime and optimal performance for all hosted apps.  That is why developers worldwide consider Firebase a reliable backend for application development. 

Main Features of Firebase

Below is an overview of the main features of Firebase.

• Real-Time Database: This proprietary database uses JSON technology to store data and sync it in realtime among connected devices. This feature allows developers to build real-time communication apps without hassles.  Firebase uses an on-disk information persistence technique to ensure the app remains functional while offline, and syncs the information to the server once the connection is restored.

• Cloud Firestore: This is the most recent NoSQL database type on the Firebase platform that handles data storage, retrieval, and syncing. The developers use the native SDK provided by Firebase to create app functions that communicate with Firestore.  This task can be done through a wide range of programming languages. Firestore is popular for its high performance, reliability, and scalability. 

• Machine Learning: Firebase developers can leverage Google’s integrated Machine Learning functions in their app development projects.  This feature can be used on iOS and Android apps to enhance user experience and build advanced functions like character recognition.  The best part is that you don’t need bits of knowledge of model optimization or neural networks to implement machine learning features in your app. 

• Authentication: This feature allows the addition of authentication features in apps without bothering with codes. Firebase provides the SDKs and libraries for handling authentication through various channels, including Facebook and Google. 

• Messaging: App owners on Firebase can send in-app and email messages to users as they desire, and without additional costs. 

Cost of Firebase

The Spark plan is free to use with limited server resources while the Blaze plan charges app owners based on server resource usage. 

Overview of Hasura

Hasura is one of the leading platforms that offers developers a robust GraphQL engine and API, enabling them to leverage the power of GraphQL for app development.

With the ultra-fast GraphQL engine, developers can access perform Postgres database transactions and manage database-related events in real-time. Developers even manage remote schemas and create database event-related web triggers without hassles. 

Developers now have a stress-free tool for building apps using GraphQL and Postgres databases. You do not need to have an in-depth knowledge of GraphQL server to use Hasura and can start building apps in minutes without the need to learn API creation techniques.  

The speed and simplicity of using Hasura are vital factors that attract developers to this platform. Hasura is also useful for migrating an existing app to GraphQL as long as it uses a supported database backend. 

Developers can decide to run Hasura on a local server or cloud-based server and can use a brand-new database or an existing one with the Hasura GraphQL API. Hasura servers offer excellent performance and provide features for seamless scaling when the need arises. 

Main Features of Hasura

Here are some of the outstanding features of Hasura.

• Live Query: Hasura provides the subscription feature that allows you to create live queries from GraphQL.

• Serverless Feature: Hasura serverless features takes the form of webhooks for managing event triggers on Postgres. This feature has been used to manage DevOps efficiently and reduce infrastructure expenditure. 

• High-Level Control: Enhances the authentication system, such as auth0, to provide granular access control.

• Powerful Admin Interface: Provides a powerful admin interface and supports migration.

• Query System: Supports bulk action, advanced search, filtering, pagination, and deletion of mutations.

• Remote Scheme Merging: Besides the building of APIs, Hasura has a powerful function for merging GraphQL schemas. You can code your API in any language and simply feed the endpoints to Hasura. However, for rendering a business logic, you will need to create a GraphQL server and use it’s the engine to merge schemas. 

• High-Performance Platform. Despite its low footprint ( about 15MB app using 50MB Memory), this multi-core aware application performs excellently. 

The Costs of Hasura

Hasura offers a free plan which is excellent for a personal site.  The premium plan costs $99/month and an additional $2 per gigabyte after exceeding the allocated resources. The enterprise plan, which can be deployed on private clouds is available on quote.

Firebase vs Hasura: A Comparison

Conclusion

This discourse on Firebase vs Hasura has outlined the key features and costs of both platforms, giving you a better understanding of these two popular development platforms. 

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