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It's interesting see people still working in this niche, I think it used to be called "backend as a service"? There were several contenders at one point, but Fi

It's interesting see people still working in this niche, I think it used to be called "backend as a service"? There were several contenders at one point, but Firebase seemed to "win" several years ago, and has been the last one standing for some time. Just curious what the market size is for these types of services? It doesn't seem like anyone really uses them; for tech people it's just as easy to spin up an instance in some cloud somewhere. For non technical people, well these types of services still seem to be too complex. I think the one thing Firebase has going for it, that is a differentiator is it's mobile push service that pushes to both iOS and Android. There aren't many options there.

Bilal_io 4y ago
Perhaps Forebase was the first one to do it right, the biggest features were Real-Time and as you've mentioned, Push notifications. Everyone else has been attempting to compete. The big win for us is that many of these solutions are open source. Shout-out to Supabase and shout-out to Postgresql which allows for this to be possible.
kubota 4y ago
AWS now has a firebase copy-cat, Amplify. I thought Parse was still being maintained by the community. Appwrite is another offering in the space.
- nunopato 4y ago
  The mobile push service is indeed a great feature from Firebase, which we will also implement when possible. We already provide a realtime API through GraphQL subscriptions.
elitan 4y ago
Yea Nhost is a Backend as a Service (BaaS) but I'm not sure Firebase has "won". Whant we hear form our users is that they like Nhost because of: - Open Source - SQL (Postgres) - GraphQL (Hasura) - GitHub Integratoin (like Vercel & Netlify) > for tech people it's just as easy to spin up an instance in some cloud somewhere. I think this is the biggest missconseption. Just look at Vercel and Netlify. They host html/css/js as a core business and they have million of users combined. Why? Because they make it extreamly easy for developers to be *productive* and they hook into developers' workflow with Git. Most of our users at Nhost can spin up servers and infrastructure on their own, but are they using their time optimally by doing so? Or should they instead spend time building what's important for their business and users?
- ramesh31 4y ago
  >Yea Nhost is a Backend as a Service (BaaS) but I'm not sure Firebase has "won". Firebase is a nightmare since they folded it into GCP. As a standalone product it was complete, easy to grok, and simple to secure. Now I feel like I literally need to hire a CISSP to make sure my whole company wont be hosed by a single security rule misconfiguration buried somewhere in GCP.
- melony 4y ago
  Last I checked you can't actually access the underlying Postgres database through standard DB connections, the marketing is misleading.
ehnto 4y ago
Firebase at it's core is just Google Cloud, same with AWS Amplify just being various AWS services neatly delivered. I imagine some people are using the exact same services just through Google Cloud and AWS. Cloud Messaging == SNS, Lambda == Cloud Functions, Firestore == DynamoDB etc. I think you might be underestimating their reach though, they're very popular in app development shops, since an app developer doesn't need to know how to build a serverside application in order to get an app that needs remote services working.
leros 4y ago
Firebase is a great solution but... It's closed source and locks you into Google Cloud. You can't self host. And since it's pay for use, you can end up with large unexpected bills for a variety of reasons. It doesn't have full text search. It doesn't have a relational database. I'm sure there are more things. Firebase is awesome but it's definitely not the ultimate solution.
teg4n_ 4y ago
I’m primarily a frontend developer. The task i hate most is dev-ops like stuff and dealing with Aws in any capacity. If i was to create a start up I would 100% use something like this or Supabase.
- nunopato 4y ago
  Let us know if you need any help getting started! nuno@nhost.io
cpursley 4y ago
We're using Hasura in production and I'm a backend developer. Saves a lot of time from building out CRUD GraphQL and enforces a consistent API.
- nunopato 4y ago
  Hasura is awesome!
robbie-c 4y ago
FWIW I speak to quite a few early-stage startup CTOs, and Firebase is extremely popular among app developers. Additionally looks like some very high profile apps are using it, or at least have done so in the past: https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/startups/bereal-creates-reality-based-social-media-using-google-cloud https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/startups/bereal-creates...

Bilal_io 4y ago

Perhaps Forebase was the first one to do it right, the biggest features were Real-Time and as you've mentioned, Push notifications. Everyone else has been attempting to compete. The big win for us is that many of these solutions are open source. Shout-out to Supabase and shout-out to Postgresql which allows for this to be possible.

kubota 4y ago

AWS now has a firebase copy-cat, Amplify. I thought Parse was still being maintained by the community. Appwrite is another offering in the space.

nunopato 4y ago
The mobile push service is indeed a great feature from Firebase, which we will also implement when possible. We already provide a realtime API through GraphQL subscriptions.

elitan 4y ago

Yea Nhost is a Backend as a Service (BaaS) but I'm not sure Firebase has "won". Whant we hear form our users is that they like Nhost because of: - Open Source - SQL (Postgres) - GraphQL (Hasura) - GitHub Integratoin (like Vercel & Netlify) > for tech people it's just as easy to spin up an instance in some cloud somewhere. I think this is the biggest missconseption. Just look at Vercel and Netlify. They host html/css/js as a core business and they have million of users combined. Why? Because they make it extreamly easy for developers to be *productive* and they hook into developers' workflow with Git. Most of our users at Nhost can spin up servers and infrastructure on their own, but are they using their time optimally by doing so? Or should they instead spend time building what's important for their business and users?

ramesh31 4y ago
>Yea Nhost is a Backend as a Service (BaaS) but I'm not sure Firebase has "won". Firebase is a nightmare since they folded it into GCP. As a standalone product it was complete, easy to grok, and simple to secure. Now I feel like I literally need to hire a CISSP to make sure my whole company wont be hosed by a single security rule misconfiguration buried somewhere in GCP.
melony 4y ago
Last I checked you can't actually access the underlying Postgres database through standard DB connections, the marketing is misleading.

ehnto 4y ago

Firebase at it's core is just Google Cloud, same with AWS Amplify just being various AWS services neatly delivered. I imagine some people are using the exact same services just through Google Cloud and AWS. Cloud Messaging == SNS, Lambda == Cloud Functions, Firestore == DynamoDB etc. I think you might be underestimating their reach though, they're very popular in app development shops, since an app developer doesn't need to know how to build a serverside application in order to get an app that needs remote services working.

leros 4y ago

Firebase is a great solution but... It's closed source and locks you into Google Cloud. You can't self host. And since it's pay for use, you can end up with large unexpected bills for a variety of reasons. It doesn't have full text search. It doesn't have a relational database. I'm sure there are more things. Firebase is awesome but it's definitely not the ultimate solution.

teg4n_ 4y ago

I’m primarily a frontend developer. The task i hate most is dev-ops like stuff and dealing with Aws in any capacity. If i was to create a start up I would 100% use something like this or Supabase.

nunopato 4y ago
Let us know if you need any help getting started! nuno@nhost.io

cpursley 4y ago

We're using Hasura in production and I'm a backend developer. Saves a lot of time from building out CRUD GraphQL and enforces a consistent API.

nunopato 4y ago
Hasura is awesome!

robbie-c 4y ago

FWIW I speak to quite a few early-stage startup CTOs, and Firebase is extremely popular among app developers. Additionally looks like some very high profile apps are using it, or at least have done so in the past: https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/startups/bereal-creates-reality-based-social-media-using-google-cloud https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/startups/bereal-creates...