Firebase Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Firebase alternatives: Supabase, Appwrite, PocketBase, Nhost and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Databases & Database Tools
Verdict:Firebase is a managed backend with authentication, a document database and hosting, and its strongest point is mobile SDKs and scaling without ops work. People leave it over lock-in, pricing that grows with usage or a need for a relational schema. Supabase is the most common move: it is built on Postgres, offers auth, storage and realtime, and has a free plan, but you give up Firestore's document model and offline sync. Appwrite is open source and self-hostable, so you own the data and the server; the cost is running upgrades and backups yourself. PocketBase is a single open-source binary with auth and a database, ideal for a small app or prototype, though it is one server rather than a globally scaled service. Nhost pairs Postgres with GraphQL and a free tier for teams that want a managed backend in that style, with fewer mobile libraries than Firebase. Parse Server suits teams that already own a database and want full control, at the cost of more setup. Before switching, list which Firebase features your app depends on, because the mobile SDKs and offline caching are the hardest to replace.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Free (Free plan: 50,000 monthly active users for Auth, 500 MB database, 2 active projects); paid from $25 per month (Pro, 100,000 MAU) | Web, Self-hosted | SQL with auth and storage | Docs only |
| Appwrite | Free (Free plan: 2 projects per organization, 75K monthly active users, 5 GB bandwidth, 2 GB storage); paid from $25 per month, Pro plan | Web, Self-hosted, Cloud | Self-hosted backend with an open licence | Docs only |
| PocketBase | Free (Free open source; single-file backend you host yourself) | Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted | A small backend in one binary | Docs only |
| Nhost | Free (Starter: 1 project, 1 GB database, 1 GB storage, 5 GB egress; paused after 1 week of inactivity); paid from $25 per month, Pro billed monthly | Web, Self-hosted, Cloud | GraphQL and Postgres backends | Docs only |
| Parse Server | Free (Open source backend you deploy yourself on any infrastructure that runs Node.js) | Self-hosted | Owning the backend database | Docs only |
| Back4app | Free (25K requests per month, 250 MB data storage, 1 GB data transfer, 1 GB file storage, 1 app); paid from $15 per app/month, billed annually (MVP; Pay as you go $80, Dedicated $400) | Web browser | Backend | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want a relational database (Supabase is the pick)
- You want to self-host the whole backend (Appwrite is the pick)
- You want one small server process (PocketBase is the pick)
- You want GraphQL on Postgres (Nhost is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Firebase features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Firebase today: Free (Spark no-cost plan: Firestore 1 GiB stored, Auth 50K monthly active users, Hosting 10 GB) (Firebase pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Firebase alternatives
Firebase's no-cost Spark plan needs no payment method but excludes Cloud Functions, Cloud Storage and Phone Auth SMS, so a typical backend moves to the pay-as-you-go Blaze plan. Firestore includes 1 GiB stored, 10 GiB egress a month, 50K reads and 20K writes a day, with overage at Google Cloud rates. Quotas apply per project and are calculated daily. Firestore is a document database, not Postgres, which matters if you need relational queries.
Supabase
Compared with Firebase: Hosted Postgres backend with auth, storage and real-time features, and a free plan. It is SQL-based, so you gain a relational database and lose Firestore's document model and offline sync.
Price: Free (Free plan: 50,000 monthly active users for Auth, 500 MB database, 2 active projects); paid from $25 per month (Pro, 100,000 MAU) (Supabase pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. Proprietary.
Best for: SQL with auth and storage.
Worth knowing: Free projects pause after 1 week of inactivity.
Appwrite
Compared with Firebase: Open-source backend-as-a-service with auth, databases and storage that you can self-host. It removes the vendor lock-in Firebase carries, but you run the server and its upgrades yourself.
Price: Free (Free plan: 2 projects per organization, 75K monthly active users, 5 GB bandwidth, 2 GB storage); paid from $25 per month, Pro plan (Appwrite pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted, Cloud. BSD-3-Clause (open source).
Project activity: 57.8k GitHub stars · latest release 2.6.2 (Oct 24, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Self-hosted backend with an open licence.
PocketBase
Compared with Firebase: Single-file open-source backend with auth, a database and file storage. It is very simple to run, but it is one server rather than Firebase's managed global scaling.
Price: Free (Free open source; single-file backend you host yourself) (PocketBase pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 61.6k GitHub stars · latest release v0.40.6 (Oct 23, 2026) · Archived on GitHub
Best for: A small backend in one binary.
Worth knowing: Bundles a realtime database, auth, file storage and admin dashboard in one file; extend with Go or JavaScript hooks.
Nhost
Compared with Firebase: Open-source backend built on Postgres with auth, storage and GraphQL, and a free tier. It fits teams that want Firebase-style services on a relational database, with fewer mobile SDKs.
Price: Free (Starter: 1 project, 1 GB database, 1 GB storage, 5 GB egress; paused after 1 week of inactivity); paid from $25 per month, Pro billed monthly (Nhost pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted, Cloud. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 9.4k GitHub stars · latest release cli@1.52.2 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: GraphQL and Postgres backends.
Worth knowing: Pro includes $15 of compute credits, 10 GB database and 50 GB storage; compute billed by the minute beyond that.
Parse Server
Compared with Firebase: Open-source backend server that works with your own MongoDB or Postgres. It gives full data ownership, with more setup than Firebase and no managed hosting unless you add it.
Price: Free (Open source backend you deploy yourself on any infrastructure that runs Node.js) (Parse Server pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 21.4k GitHub stars · latest release 9.10.7 (Oct 24, 2026) · last commit Oct 24, 2026
Best for: Owning the backend database.
Other popular options (paid)
Back4app
Compared with Firebase: Free tier covers 25K requests a month, 250 MB data and one app; MVP is $15 per app per month billed annually. Prices are per app and requests are capped, unlike Firebase Spark's published storage and user limits.
Price: Free (25K requests per month, 250 MB data storage, 1 GB data transfer, 1 GB file storage, 1 app); paid from $15 per app/month, billed annually (MVP; Pay as you go $80, Dedicated $400) (Back4app pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You want a relational database: Supabase
- You want to self-host the whole backend: Appwrite
- You want one small server process: PocketBase
- You want GraphQL on Postgres: Nhost
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Supabase, Appwrite, PocketBase, Nhost, Parse Server: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Firebase. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Firebase, Supabase, Appwrite, PocketBase, Nhost, Parse Server, Back4app. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.