Alternatives to Firebase
Firebase is a hosted platform built around Firestore, a document database, with authentication, storage, functions and client SDKs whose offline support is still the best in the business. Most teams leaving are not leaving the platform — they are leaving the document model.
Published by Rebase, which is one of the tools on this page. Every other entry is described by what it is good at, several of the recommendations below are not us, and there are no prices anywhere — competitor pricing changes quarterly and a stale number is worse than none.
Start from why you are leaving
Almost nobody wants "the best alternative". They want the one that fixes the specific thing that broke. Find your row.
“We need SQL — joins, transactions, ad-hoc queries”
Supabase or RebaseBoth are Postgres. Supabase is the more mature platform with the larger ecosystem; Rebase adds an admin panel generated from the same schema, which matters if people outside engineering need to work with the data.
“The bill scales in a way we cannot predict”
Anything self-hostablePer-read pricing is what makes a Firestore bill move without the product changing. A self-hosted Postgres and an application next to it costs what the machine costs.
“We want to keep a document model, but self-hosted”
AppwriteThe closest thing to Firebase's shape and developer experience that you can run on your own infrastructure.
“We want reactive queries without giving up a real backend”
ConvexQueries are TypeScript functions and the client re-renders when their results change — the part of Firestore people miss most, done deliberately.
“Our ops team needs to see and edit the data”
RebaseThe Firebase console is a developer tool. A generated admin panel with roles, forms and media is a different thing, and it is what usually gets built by hand after a Firebase project grows up.
“It is a small app and we want one thing to run”
PocketBaseOne binary with auth, storage, realtime and an admin UI. It is the smallest complete answer here.
9 alternatives to Firebase
Ordered roughly by how often each one turns out to be the answer, not by any score. Where a head-to-head exists, it is linked.
- 1
Supabase
Open source· BothBest for: The largest ecosystem, and getting started fastest
Postgres with auth, storage, realtime and edge functions, and by a distance the most documented product in this category. The dashboard is a table editor rather than an admin panel, and RLS is written as SQL in that dashboard, which is the two things people most often go looking to replace.
- 2
Appwrite
Open source· BothBest for: A Firebase-shaped API you can self-host
A batteries-included backend with auth, databases, storage, functions and messaging, and client SDKs for most platforms. Closer to Firebase's shape than to a SQL backend — the database is document-oriented, which is the right call if that is what you wanted and the wrong one if you came for joins.
- 3
Rebase
That's usOpen source· BothBest for: Moving to Postgres and needing a back office on day one
A Postgres backend — REST API, typed SDK, auth, realtime, storage, functions, cron — plus an admin panel generated from the same TypeScript collection definitions. Row-level security is written in code and compiled to real Postgres policies, so authorization is enforced by the database rather than by the layer in front of it. Connects to a Postgres database that already exists.
- 4
PocketBase
Open source· Self-hostBest for: One binary, one file, no infrastructure
A single Go executable with an embedded SQLite database, auth, file storage, realtime and an admin UI. Genuinely delightful for a small app or a prototype. The constraint is the same as the appeal: SQLite and one process, so horizontal scale and Postgres-specific features are not on the table.
- 5
Convex
Source-available (FSL)· BothBest for: Reactive apps where queries are code, not SQL
A backend where queries and mutations are TypeScript functions and the client re-renders when their results change. A genuinely different model, and a pleasant one. It is not Postgres, so the reasons to want Postgres do not apply. The code is under the Functional Source License, which converts to Apache-2.0 two years after each release.
- 6
Nhost
Open source· BothBest for: Postgres and GraphQL with auth already wired up
Bundles Postgres, Hasura, auth, storage and functions into one platform, so you get the GraphQL model without assembling it. A good fit if Hasura is what you wanted plus the parts around it.
- 7
Neon
Open source (core)· HostedBest for: Serverless Postgres with branching, and nothing else
Managed Postgres with database branching and scale-to-zero, part of Databricks since May 2025. Deliberately not a backend — no auth, no API, no admin panel — which makes it a good foundation to put one of the other tools here on top of, including Rebase.
- 8
Hasura
Open source (Apache-2.0)· BothBest for: GraphQL, especially federated across several sources
Generates a GraphQL API over Postgres and other sources with a permission system defined in metadata. The strongest option here if GraphQL is a product decision rather than a preference. It gives you an API and a console, not a back office for non-developers.
- 9
Directus
Source-available (MSCL)· BothBest for: A mature editorial interface over an existing database
Wraps a SQL database in a REST and GraphQL API and a well-built admin app, and it will work with a schema you already have. Permissions are enforced in the Directus layer rather than in the database, and the app owns a set of its own tables.
Rebase and Firebase, answered
What is the best open-source alternative to Firebase?
Supabase and Appwrite are the two usual answers, and they answer different questions. Supabase if you want to move to Postgres and SQL; Appwrite if you liked Firebase's shape and want to self-host something similar. If part of why you are leaving is that the Firebase console is not usable by your non-engineering colleagues, Rebase adds a generated admin panel to the Postgres side of that choice.
How hard is it to migrate from Firestore to Postgres?
The modelling is the work, not the copying. Collections of nested documents have to become tables and foreign keys, and decisions Firestore let you defer — what is a relation, what is required, what is unique — all have to be made. Expect it to take as long as the data model is complicated, and expect to get back joins, transactions and constraints for the trouble.
Is there a Firebase alternative with offline support?
Not an equal one, and it is worth being blunt about that. Firebase's offline persistence is exceptional and nothing in this list matches it. If your app has to work on a bad connection, that is a genuine reason to stay, or to keep Firebase for the client and move only the parts that need SQL.
Which is cheaper than Firebase?
Almost anything self-hosted, once you are past a small scale — not because the software is cheaper but because the pricing model is different. Firestore charges per read, so cost tracks usage in a way that is hard to forecast; a Postgres instance charges for the instance. Below a certain size Firebase's free tier is very hard to beat.
Can I move gradually instead of all at once?
Usually, and it is usually the better plan. Firebase Auth can stay while the data moves, or one feature's data can move first while the rest stays. A full cutover on a live product is a much larger risk than the migration itself warrants.
Don't take our word for it.
The comparison that matters is the one you run. Point Rebase at a Postgres database you already have and see how it holds up next to Firebase.