Firebase

Name: Firebase
Rating: 4.95 (221 reviews)

An app development platform backed by Google

5.0•221 reviews•

3K followers

An app development platform backed by Google

5.0•221 reviews•

3K followers

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Engineering & Development

•

Authentication & identity tools

•

Databases and backend frameworks

An app development platform that helps you build and grow apps and games users love. Backed by Google and trusted by millions of businesses around the world.

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Firebase Launches

Cloud Firestore, by FirebaseStore, sync and query app data at global scale

Launched on October 3rd, 2017

Cloud Functions for FirebaseRun your mobile backend code without managing servers

Launched on March 9th, 2017

FirebaseApp success made simple by google

Launched on May 18th, 2016

Firebase HostingProduction-grade Hosting for Developers

Launched on May 14th, 2014

Company Info

firebase.google.com GitHub

Firebase Info

Launched in 2014

View 4 launches

Forum

p/firebase

Awards

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Based on 221 reviews

Review Firebase?

Reviewers largely see Firebase as a fast, practical way to ship apps, especially MVPs: Auth, Firestore, real-time sync, hosting, analytics, and push notifications work well together and reduce server work. Users repeatedly praise speed, cross-platform support, and low early costs. Makers of Kipps AI, HasData, and Goals specifically cite FCM, auth, realtime sync, and quick backend setup. The main complaints are pricing surprises, growing complexity around Google Cloud, uneven documentation, lock-in, and some analytics or data-model limits.

+219

Summarized with AI

Pros

authentication (25)

scalable backend (24)

real-time database (19)

analytics (11)

easy setup (11)

fast performance (11)

cloud storage (6)

Firestore (5)

Crashlytics (3)

Google Cloud integration (3)

Cons

complex documentation (2)

complex setup (2)

Pros

Cons

Reviews

All Reviews

Most Informative

•9 reviews

What's great

easy setup (11)cloud storage (6)authentication (25)

Firebase gives us reliable push notifications (FCM) across iOS, Android, and web from a single API - no per-message pricing, massive scale out of the box, and deep OS integration for delivery guarantees. For a sports

scheduling app where timely match reminders are critical, it just works.

What needs improvement

complex documentation (2)

Token management is our weak spot - stale tokens accumulate in user_push_tokens and we only clean up on send failure. No built-in delivery analytics (did the user actually see it?). FCM quotas and error codes are poorly

documented. And the Firebase Admin SDK is a heavy dependency for what's essentially just HTTP calls to FCM v1 API.

vs Alternatives

OneSignal and raw VAPID/web-push. OneSignal was tempting (great dashboard) but adds a third-party dependency sitting between us and users. Raw VAPID worked for web only - no iOS support without FCM. Firebase won on cross-platform coverage and we already use Google infrastructure.

Ratings

Ease of use

Reliability

Value for money

Customization

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9 views5d ago

•25 reviews

What's great

fast performance (11)easy setup (11)cloud storage (6)analytics (11)scalable backend (24)authentication (25)real-time database (19)

Firebase lets you go from idea to working backend in minutes. Auth, real-time database, cloud storage, hosting, analytics, it's all preconfigured and works together out of the box. For MVPs and prototypes, nothing else gets you to market faster. The real-time sync is genuinely magical for collaborative features, and the free tier is generous enough to validate ideas before spending a penny.

What needs improvement

price predictability (1)

Pricing predictability is the biggest issue, it's easy to get surprise bills if a real-time listener goes haywire or a function gets hammered. The documentation is sprawling and sometimes inconsistent between older and newer SDK versions. Vendor lock-in is real, migrating off Firebase is painful once you're deep in Firestore. And the emulator suite, while helpful, doesn't perfectly replicate production behaviour, which leads to "works locally, breaks in prod" moments.

vs Alternatives

Supabase

Supabase was the main alternative, open-source, Postgres-based, and more transparent on pricing. AWS Amplify for the full AWS ecosystem. For auth specifically, Auth0 and Clerk. I ended up moving to Supabase for production work because I wanted SQL, row-level security, and predictable pricing, but Firebase is still my go-to for rapid prototyping and hackathons.

Ratings

Ease of use

Reliability

Value for money

Customization

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2 views13d ago

used Firebase to build QuitSugar

•6 reviews

Firebase simplifies the heavy lifting of backend tasks like authentication, notifications, and real-time database management. Its ready-to-use authentication service with Google and email login saved hours of development time compared to rolling out custom solutions. Firebase's real-time database capabilities enable instant syncing of user progress and collaborative challenges, making it perfect for the social features in Quit Sugar. Its tight integration with Flutter made it a natural choice over alternatives like AWS Amplify.

What's great

authentication (25)real-time database (19)

Report

28 views1yr ago

•9 reviews

What's great

easy setup (11)cloud storage (6)authentication (25)

scheduling app where timely match reminders are critical, it just works.

What needs improvement

complex documentation (2)

documented. And the Firebase Admin SDK is a heavy dependency for what's essentially just HTTP calls to FCM v1 API.

vs Alternatives

Ratings

Ease of use

Reliability

Value for money

Customization

Report

9 views5d ago

•25 reviews

What's great

fast performance (11)easy setup (11)cloud storage (6)analytics (11)scalable backend (24)authentication (25)real-time database (19)

What needs improvement

price predictability (1)

vs Alternatives

Supabase

Ratings

Ease of use

Reliability

Value for money

Customization

Report

2 views13d ago

used Firebase to build QuitSugar

•6 reviews

What's great

authentication (25)real-time database (19)

Report

28 views1yr ago