Parse – Why Parse Platform is still a better option?

Parse is a mobile and web application development platform acquired by Facebook in 2013. The project was open-sourced in 2016 and has enjoyed the support of a robust developer ecosystem since then.

Parse is an excellent choice because it is Open Source, is available under the Apache-2.0 license, has a strong developer community to support the technology, and it’s not a vendor lock-in platform.

The downsides are the lack of structured support through the developer community and the requirement of setting up server infrastructure.

Developers worldwide have been arguing about the most affordable platform for building and scaling mobile apps.

This article will explore several compelling arguments that justify why Parse is preferable to Firebase for mobile app development.

Don’t believe me? Keep on reading to understand the logic behind the arguments. The basis of my comparison includes qualities such as vendor lock-in, pricing, hosting options, data storage, and platform features.

1. Vendor Lock-in

Firebase is a Google-backed closed source platform with many excellent features that allow developers to create an MVP quickly.

However, vendor lock-in is one of its biggest concerns among developers and the main shortcoming of Firebase.

You won’t want to invest time and money developing an app and have no control over the source code. It’s not an intelligent decision.

An astute venture capitalist or angel investor would be reluctant to fund your startup if you cannot access your app’s source code. Using a closed source platform may undermine the chances of scaling your app.

On the contrary, the Parse Server platform was open-sourced by Facebook in 2016 and made available for free download. Developers can use the framework under the terms of the Apache–2.0 license, which offers extensive freedom and flexibility in using the software.

2. Pricing

If you are using Firebase, you should remember that server costs can increase significantly as your app begins to scale. Although Firebase offers a free plan, the free tier’s limitations make it suitable for small apps only.

Once your app starts scaling, you need to upgrade to the Blaze plan, which does not have a fixed pricing structure. Blaze is a pay-as-you-go service plan that bills you based on your app’s server resources.

In essence, you cannot fix the maximum monthly budget for your app. Consequently, you may get unpleasant surprises by the end of the billing cycle.

Until January 2020, Firebase offered the Flame Plan. It was a fixed price plan for $25/month, but this option is no longer available. Some users were heavily affected by this change, and you can learn more by reading the article Firebase Costs Increased 7,000%

On the other hand, Parse offers a more flexible pricing option. For instance, top players like Back4app provide plans as low as $25/month. You can upgrade your hosting plan as the need arises.

3. Hosting Options

Firebase offers only one type of hosting setup on the Google Cloud Platform. So, you have to use Firebase cloud infrastructure and share resources with other applications.

This approach is not the best option for complex applications that require customized server settings for optimal performance.

Since Firebase does not offer Dedicated Server or Enterprise contracts, you may face several limitations once your app begins to scale.

In direct contrast to Firebase, the hosting option of Parse is highly flexible. You can choose the self-hosting option and deploy your Parse project on your selected server, such as Digital Ocean, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc.

Alternatively, you can use fit-to-purpose hosting services like Back4app. Another benefit of Parse is the possibility of running your application on dedicated instances and avoiding noisy neighbors jeopardizing your app performance.

4. Data Storage

According to item 1.5 of Firebase’s Terms of Service, users may select the data location for certain paid services. For paid services that data location is not available, Firebase can store data in any Google facility. Please find below the paragraph:

1.5: Data Location. For certain Paid Services, Customer may select the region(s) Customer Data will be stored (“Data Location Selection”), and Google will store that Customer Data at rest in the selected region(s). The Data Location Selection does not limit the locations from which Customer or Customer End Users may access Customer Data or to which they may move Customer Data and may not apply to Customer Data used with other Google products or services. For purposes of this section, Customer Data does not include resource identifiers, attributes, or other data labels. If a Data Location Selection is not available for the Paid Services (or a Data Location Selection is not made by Customer with respect to any Customer Data), Google may process and store the Customer Data anywhere Google or its agents maintain facilities.

Firebase Privacy and Security documentation revealed that the platform satisfies GDPR requirements. The document also revealed that the data storage and processing locations might vary by service.

Google may use Firebase Service Data to improve non-Firebase Google services. Firebase offers users the option to disable this control and avoid data collection.

Parse is more flexible, and users can host the platform anywhere worldwide.

5. GraphQL APIs

One weakness of Firebase is the lack of support for GraphQL API. It works perfectly with REST and has extensive documentation for developers. However, Firebase does not support GraphQL at this time.

The open-source community of Parse released the production version of GraphQL API in 2020. Parse support for GraphQL takes it a step ahead of Firebase.

6. NoSQL Database & Limited Queries

Firebase works with a closed-source NoSQL database for Firestore and the Real-Time database. It imposes users the restrictions of a NoSQL database, including very limited querying and indexing.

On the other hand, with Parse, you can choose between NoSQL and SQL databases. For users looking for the SQL backend as a service, Parse provides the option to use Postgres.

The best Firebase alternatives

Let’s compare Firebase vs. several competitors. Below are the best alternatives to Firebase that include open source tools and proprietary technologies.

Back4App

Back4app is an open-source, relational, low-code backend platform. It provides a fully managed backend featuring automated provisioning and scaling of applications, backup and recovery, 24/7 monitoring and alerting, web-based management tools, technical support, and much more.

Some developers consider Back4App better than Firebase and the benefits include relational databases, free hassle scaling, dedicated servers, and GraphQL and REST APIs.

Back4app has many other features such as authentication, notifications, cloud functions, and storage, among many others. It support web apps and mobile applications.

According to G2, the platform has 4.8 out of 5 stars and is highly rated for its ease of use, setup, and quality support.

Key features are:

• Scalablerealtimedatabase(SQLorNoSQL)

• GraphQLandRestAPIs

• CloudCodeFunctions

• Authentication

• Notifications

• FileStorage

• SocialLogin

Pricing plans are flexible and detailed below:

• Freetier

• BasicPlanfor$25/mo

• StandardPlanfor$50/mo

• PayasyouGoPlanfor$100/mo

• DedicatedServersstartingat$250/mo

Keep reading to find more Firebase similar solutions.

Backendless

Backendless is a highly scalable mobile Backend-as-a-Service (MBaaS) platform providing multiple valuable features such as visual development, user authentication, live audio, and video streaming.

Other Backendless features include message filtering, push notifications, auto-scalability, data persistence, file storage, geo-location, cloud-code, analytics, and custom business logic.

According to G2, the platform is highly praised for its user-friendliness, simple setup process, and exceptional support.

Key features are:

• VisualProgramming

• UserManagement

• RealtimeDatabase

• APIs

• Push-Notifications

Pricing plans are detailed below:

• Freetier

• Cloud9Planfor$35/mo

• Cloud99Planfor$149/mo

• CloudEnterprisefor$999/mo

• LimitlessPlanunderquotation

• Fullymanagedplanunderquotation

Kuzzle

Kuzzle is a ready-to-use, on-premises backend platform designed to power and unify innovative applications for web, mobile, and IoT.

Its unique selling points include reducing digital product time-to-market (TTM) by 40% and increasing Return on investment (ROI) on innovation cycles.

The Kuzzle backend is an open-source solution that includes a scalable server, a multiprotocol API, and an administration console.

It also offers a set of plugin engines that provide advanced functionalities, including real-time pub/sub, blazing fast search, and geospatial queries.

The top reasons developers prefer Kuzzle over other mobile backends are its persistent storage, real-time filters, multiprotocol support, etc.

Key features are:

• MultiplesolutionsincludingaBackend,IoTPlatform,andaPaaS

• OpenSource

• It’sagreatoptionforinternetofthingsprojects

• Streamlinethedeploymentofmodernapplications

Pricing plans are detailed below:

• Freetier

• Startersupportat€500/month

• Businesssupportat€1,000/month

• Premiumsupportbyrequest

• ThecompanyalsoofferProfessionalServices

• Subscriptionsstartat€80/month

Pubnub is a real-time communication platform. It offers In-App chats, push notifications, location tracking, etc.

Apart from its core services, which are Publish/Subscribe, Pubnub Functions, and ChatEngine, Pubnub offers a collection of “building-block” services for any real-time application.

The benefits of Pubnub include its simple pricing model, a separate API for managing accounts, flexible integration with custom applications, and client API availability in many technologies and programming languages.

As of the date of this writing, according to G2, the platform has 4.4 out of 5 stars and is highly rated for its ease of use and quality support.

Core features are:

• Realtimecommunicationplatform

• Inappchat

• Alertsandnotifications

Pricing plans are detailed below:

• Freetier

• Starterplanfor$49/mo

• Proplanunderquotation

Supabase

Supabase is an open-source alternative to Firebase. The company offers a feature set encompassing a managed Postgres database, APIs, authentication, storage, and edge functions.

Their GitHub profile has more than 48k stars and 3.5k forks. The project is offered under an Apache-2.0 license, and it is a combination of open-source tools.

Pricing-wise, the company offers three pricing tiers. The free plan supports a 500MB database and 1GB file storage. The Pro Plan starts at $25/month and works under a pay-as-you-go model. The company also offers a Spend Cap feature that allows users to control costs. The final plan in the Enterprise and pricing is under quotation.

As of the date of this writing, according to Product Hunt, the platform has 4.8 out of 5 stars and is highly rated for its developer experience and excellent documentation.