5 ms·

This was my fear for Parse after FB acquired them. Are there any other interesting competitors to Parse out there?

by jeffgreco 13y ago

csmajorfive 13y ago
You could just use Parse. We're not going anywhere.
- teacup50 13y ago
  Or, you could learn from this, and not use Parse.
  - AznHisoka 13y ago
    I don't get why anyone in their right mind would invest in a Backend as a service. Ok, maybe things like image uploading, or what not, but not the entire back-end.
    - fokinsean 13y ago
      I am creating an app as a side project and this makes it a lot more manageable. It is my first time messing with web dev and would rather focus my time developing it instead of having to learn a lot of back-end as well. I understand where you are coming from though. I would like to learn back-end but I already have a lot to learn.
  - csmajorfive 13y ago
    Do you feel that way about all acquisitions? About Parse? About Facebook? We've invested a ton of resources into Parse post-acquisition and continue to do so.
    - wpietri 13y ago
      I can't speak for him, but having written stuff using the Facebook API, Facebook is not high on my list of companies to trust in a business context. [1] The kinds of vendors I like to work with are ones that depend on satisfying people like me. For example, locally owned restaurants in my neighborhood are high on my list, because the owner is present and knows that his livelihood requires serving his customers well. Personally, I'd never build anything critical with Parse, because Facebook's survival does not depend on satisfying Parse's customers. They could take a $90m write-down tomorrow and nobody would notice. If they did it during a time of adversity, analysts would praise them for "focus". Another way to look at it is what it would take to kill Parse. My guess is that if any one of a few people left Facebook, the person replacing them could either directly or indirectly kill it off. You see that sort of project-killing happening all the time at companies during reorgs triggered by people leaving. It doesn't have to be a bad business or anything; as long as something doesn't match current strategy or vision or ROI goals or an exec's mood, it's at risk. Independent companies, though, are much harder to kill: if a CEO took a profitable company and said, "Hey, we're shutting down in 4 months," the investors would find a new CEO. Shutting down a whole company requires the executives and the investors to all agree, so it happens very rarely unless the company is distressed. [1] That sounds a little unfair. I trust them to be Facebook, by which I mean to act in the best interests of their revenue model as they currently perceive it. I just don't expect that to align closely with my interests, and think any mismatch between the two will be entirely my problem.
      - jnbiche 13y ago
        Thank you. If you're using Parse as a service, please read this carefully and think about the implications. I loved Parse until they were acquired -- great API and great documentation. Now I would never use them for a project. Plus, there's the whole Facebook data privacy issue. I've never seen a Parse representative state categorically that Facebook has no plans to data mine Parse customer data (i.e., your customers' data). And I know Facebook too well to trust my customer data to them.
- jeffgreco 13y ago
  No worries, happy Parse customer, just interested in the space.
  - csmajorfive 13y ago
    Sweet :-)
- yapcguy 13y ago
  Famous last words :-)
  - csmajorfive 13y ago
    Fair enough but what do you think about folks like Heroku that have stuck around for years post acquisition?
    - aclimatt 13y ago
      It's not that a service can't stick around post-acquisition, it's that in any company, you can have sweeping changes on the turn of a dime. One large senior management change and entire departments can get shut down or reorganized within a week. I've seen a $1B public company start winding down a massive revenue-making division within the course of a conference call. Parse is a great service; I certainly hope Facebook doesn't do that and don't imagine they will any time soon, but nothing is impossible. EDIT: And though you certainly know Facebook's internals better than we do, as an outsider, the risk of an acquired department shutting down is a lot higher if there's a potential to not part of the core business strategy.
- eddieroger 13y ago
  Yeah, it's win-win - either Facebook has your data, or decides they're done running Parse and shuts it down. Win-win indeed.
- lmm 13y ago
  Does anyone have a scorecard on what's happened to facebook acquisitions and how long they've historically kept operating?
Ethan_Mick 13y ago
CloudMine[0] is also a BaaS company (Disclaimer: I work for CloudMine). We're focusing a lot on enterprise and making a robust system that companies can really deploy on. If you have any thoughts or comments feel free to ask! [0] https://cloudmine.me/ https://cloudmine.me/
- jasonlotito 13y ago
  I don't work for CloudMine, and can vouch for their awesomeness. They really know what they are doing.
troymc 13y ago
There's a list of Backend as a Service (BaaS) providers at: http://www.mobilechameleon.com/web-services-for-use-by-mobile-apps.html http://www.mobilechameleon.com/web-services-for-use-by-mobil...
Myztiq 13y ago
Disclaimer: I work for Kinvey on their development team. Kinvey[1] is another BaaS platform with a pricing model based on users instead of API calls. We also have quite a few integrations, including the ability to run code on a pre-save/post-save on a different server if you so desired. At the end of the day, there are a bunch of decent choices out there, it all depends on what features and pricing fit your needs. 1: http://kinvey.com http://kinvey.com
- chrisseaton 13y ago
  I don't understand your cost estimator. http://www.kinvey.com/app-cost-estimator http://www.kinvey.com/app-cost-estimator When I fill in stuff it tells me it would cost the same and take the same time to DIY as to use Kinvey... so why would I use Kinvey?
  - Myztiq 13y ago
    Often times I find people forget to answer the first question and pick a platform. That or they select options that won't require a backend. Perhaps that's what has happened here? What options did you pick?
    - chrisseaton 13y ago
      Yeah, I guessed I picked too simple a system. If it happens often, perhaps have some kind of hint that the user is missing the point.
      - Myztiq 13y ago
        Well, if you are building a very simple system it's quite possible you don't need a backend at all. Our goal when designing the tool was to help people get an estimate of how much it does cost to build an app, hence we have some options that don't strictly point to backend features.
mfenniak 13y ago
I've heard good things about Apigee. My understanding is that their backend-as-a-service is built upon the acquired and open-sourced usergrid technology, which leaves you the option of hosting it yourself in the event they ever go ahead and terminate their own service. That's not a bad out to have.

This was my fear for Parse after FB acquired them. Are there any other interesting competitors to Parse out there?

csmajorfive 13y ago

You could just use Parse. We're not going anywhere.

teacup50 13y ago
Or, you could learn from this, and not use Parse.
- AznHisoka 13y ago
  I don't get why anyone in their right mind would invest in a Backend as a service. Ok, maybe things like image uploading, or what not, but not the entire back-end.
  - fokinsean 13y ago
    I am creating an app as a side project and this makes it a lot more manageable. It is my first time messing with web dev and would rather focus my time developing it instead of having to learn a lot of back-end as well. I understand where you are coming from though. I would like to learn back-end but I already have a lot to learn.
- csmajorfive 13y ago
  Do you feel that way about all acquisitions? About Parse? About Facebook? We've invested a ton of resources into Parse post-acquisition and continue to do so.
  - wpietri 13y ago
    I can't speak for him, but having written stuff using the Facebook API, Facebook is not high on my list of companies to trust in a business context. [1] The kinds of vendors I like to work with are ones that depend on satisfying people like me. For example, locally owned restaurants in my neighborhood are high on my list, because the owner is present and knows that his livelihood requires serving his customers well. Personally, I'd never build anything critical with Parse, because Facebook's survival does not depend on satisfying Parse's customers. They could take a $90m write-down tomorrow and nobody would notice. If they did it during a time of adversity, analysts would praise them for "focus". Another way to look at it is what it would take to kill Parse. My guess is that if any one of a few people left Facebook, the person replacing them could either directly or indirectly kill it off. You see that sort of project-killing happening all the time at companies during reorgs triggered by people leaving. It doesn't have to be a bad business or anything; as long as something doesn't match current strategy or vision or ROI goals or an exec's mood, it's at risk. Independent companies, though, are much harder to kill: if a CEO took a profitable company and said, "Hey, we're shutting down in 4 months," the investors would find a new CEO. Shutting down a whole company requires the executives and the investors to all agree, so it happens very rarely unless the company is distressed. [1] That sounds a little unfair. I trust them to be Facebook, by which I mean to act in the best interests of their revenue model as they currently perceive it. I just don't expect that to align closely with my interests, and think any mismatch between the two will be entirely my problem.
    - jnbiche 13y ago
      Thank you. If you're using Parse as a service, please read this carefully and think about the implications. I loved Parse until they were acquired -- great API and great documentation. Now I would never use them for a project. Plus, there's the whole Facebook data privacy issue. I've never seen a Parse representative state categorically that Facebook has no plans to data mine Parse customer data (i.e., your customers' data). And I know Facebook too well to trust my customer data to them.
jeffgreco 13y ago
No worries, happy Parse customer, just interested in the space.
- csmajorfive 13y ago
  Sweet :-)
yapcguy 13y ago
Famous last words :-)
- csmajorfive 13y ago
  Fair enough but what do you think about folks like Heroku that have stuck around for years post acquisition?
  - aclimatt 13y ago
    It's not that a service can't stick around post-acquisition, it's that in any company, you can have sweeping changes on the turn of a dime. One large senior management change and entire departments can get shut down or reorganized within a week. I've seen a $1B public company start winding down a massive revenue-making division within the course of a conference call. Parse is a great service; I certainly hope Facebook doesn't do that and don't imagine they will any time soon, but nothing is impossible. EDIT: And though you certainly know Facebook's internals better than we do, as an outsider, the risk of an acquired department shutting down is a lot higher if there's a potential to not part of the core business strategy.
eddieroger 13y ago
Yeah, it's win-win - either Facebook has your data, or decides they're done running Parse and shuts it down. Win-win indeed.
lmm 13y ago
Does anyone have a scorecard on what's happened to facebook acquisitions and how long they've historically kept operating?

Ethan_Mick 13y ago

CloudMine[0] is also a BaaS company (Disclaimer: I work for CloudMine). We're focusing a lot on enterprise and making a robust system that companies can really deploy on. If you have any thoughts or comments feel free to ask! [0] https://cloudmine.me/ https://cloudmine.me/

jasonlotito 13y ago
I don't work for CloudMine, and can vouch for their awesomeness. They really know what they are doing.

troymc 13y ago

There's a list of Backend as a Service (BaaS) providers at: http://www.mobilechameleon.com/web-services-for-use-by-mobile-apps.html http://www.mobilechameleon.com/web-services-for-use-by-mobil...

Myztiq 13y ago

Disclaimer: I work for Kinvey on their development team. Kinvey[1] is another BaaS platform with a pricing model based on users instead of API calls. We also have quite a few integrations, including the ability to run code on a pre-save/post-save on a different server if you so desired. At the end of the day, there are a bunch of decent choices out there, it all depends on what features and pricing fit your needs. 1: http://kinvey.com http://kinvey.com

chrisseaton 13y ago
I don't understand your cost estimator. http://www.kinvey.com/app-cost-estimator http://www.kinvey.com/app-cost-estimator When I fill in stuff it tells me it would cost the same and take the same time to DIY as to use Kinvey... so why would I use Kinvey?
- Myztiq 13y ago
  Often times I find people forget to answer the first question and pick a platform. That or they select options that won't require a backend. Perhaps that's what has happened here? What options did you pick?
  - chrisseaton 13y ago
    Yeah, I guessed I picked too simple a system. If it happens often, perhaps have some kind of hint that the user is missing the point.
    - Myztiq 13y ago
      Well, if you are building a very simple system it's quite possible you don't need a backend at all. Our goal when designing the tool was to help people get an estimate of how much it does cost to build an app, hence we have some options that don't strictly point to backend features.

mfenniak 13y ago

I've heard good things about Apigee. My understanding is that their backend-as-a-service is built upon the acquired and open-sourced usergrid technology, which leaves you the option of hosting it yourself in the event they ever go ahead and terminate their own service. That's not a bad out to have.