Firebase Alternatives That Don't Suck (September 2025)

Firebase used to be the obvious choice. Now it's a trap that'll cost you months of dev time and thousands in surprise bills.

The Vendor Lock-In Problem Is Real

I've watched companies spend months rewriting core features just to escape Firebase. Had a client who got completely fucked by Firebase's push notifications. Took them forever to migrate - I stopped counting after month 6. Cost was insane.

Vendor lock-in is real and it hurts. Firestore's NoSQL bullshit doesn't translate to any other database. You can't just export and import - you have to redesign your entire data model. Every query becomes a custom migration script.

The Billing Nightmares

Firebase's pay-per-operation model creates unpredictable cost spikes that can bankrupt startups overnight

Firebase pricing is designed to fuck you. I saw a startup's bill explode after they hit the front page somewhere - went from like $150 to over 2 grand in a day or two. Their pagination was triggering reads on every page load, classic rookie mistake.

Here's the real kicker: empty queries count as billable reads. Your 404 pages cost money. Failed auth attempts? Billable. Just checking if a user exists? More money out of your pocket.

Firebase runaway costs are so common there are entire guides on preventing them. Even Google admits billing surprises are a problem.

Google Kills Everything

Google has killed a ton of products. Sure, Firebase makes money now, but so did Reader. So did Plus. Remember Stadia? Neither does Google.

The writing's on the wall when Google starts pushing Cloud Run and App Engine harder than Firebase. They want you on billable compute, not fixed pricing plans. The Google graveyard grows every year.

What's Driving People Away

Developers Want SQL Back

Most developers know SQL. Firebase's NoSQL bullshit forces you to learn Firestore's weird query syntax that only works in Firestore. Want to do a JOIN? Fuck you, denormalize everything and pay for duplicate data.

PostgreSQL just works. You can hire any dev who knows databases. Your complex reporting queries don't require 15 client-side transformations.

We're Tired of Black Boxes

Firebase is a black box. Something's slow? Good luck debugging it. Want to see the actual SQL Firebase generates? Not gonna happen.

Open source alternatives let you see what's actually happening. When Supabase real-time breaks, you can read the PostgREST code and fix it yourself.

Compliance Actually Matters Now

GDPR, HIPAA, SOX - enterprise clients want their data on their servers, not Google's. Firebase is US-only. Need EU data residency? Hope you like rewriting your entire stack.

Self-hosted Appwrite or Supabase gives you control. Your data stays where you want it.

When Firebase Still Makes Sense

Look, Firebase isn't all bad. It's actually decent for:

• Weekend hackathons: Need auth + database in 30 minutes? Firebase wins
• Chat apps: Real-time just works out of the box
• Prototypes: When you're throwing it away in 3 months anyway
• Google fanboys: If you're already paying Google for everything else

But for production apps that matter? There are better options that won't hold your data hostage or surprise you with $3K bills.

Based on a bunch of real production migrations - the only platforms worth your time

I've done about a dozen Firebase migrations over the past couple years. Here's what doesn't suck:

Alright, Let's Talk Actual Alternatives

Supabase - Great Until It Isn't

Supabase works well for 90% of use cases. PostgreSQL is solid, real-time features work, migration tools are decent. But their dashboard crashes with large schemas, and their support is slower than dialup.

Real cost: Around $30/month for our app with about 80K monthly users vs $350/month on Firebase.
Real problem: Real-time breaks above 1000 concurrent connections depending on your PostgreSQL config.

Our biggest Supabase migration took around 6-7 weeks, not their promised "2-4 days." Their auth system handles sessions differently and broke our logout flow. Spent days debugging why users couldn't sign out properly - turned out to be some JWT bullshit with one of their newer SDK versions.

What Actually Works

PostgreSQL: No more Firestore's weird queries. You can write actual JOINs and get predictable performance. Complex reporting queries that took 15 client-side transforms in Firebase? One SQL query.

Row Level Security: Actually decent security model. Better than Firebase's rules once you understand it. Learning curve is steep if you've never used PostgreSQL RLS.

Real-time: Works great until you hit their undocumented limits. WebSocket connections drop randomly and their reconnection logic is garbage. You need client-side retry logic.

Migration Reality Check

Their migration guide is optimistic bullshit. Here's what actually happens:

1. Schema hell: Converting Firestore collections to PostgreSQL tables requires redesigning everything. Every subcollection becomes a foreign key relationship.
2. Data export pain: Firebase Admin SDK works but you'll write custom scripts for complex data structures.
3. Auth migration: User passwords transfer but sessions don't. Everyone gets logged out.
4. Client rewrite: Not just SDK replacement - auth flows, error handling, and offline logic all change.

Budget 4-7 weeks minimum. Double that if you have complex real-time features. Even experienced teams get fucked by the migration complexity - learned this the hard way.

AWS Amplify - Enterprise Pain with Enterprise Scale

Amplify handles massive traffic but costs enterprise money and requires enterprise patience. If your boss loves AWS and compliance matters more than developer happiness, this is your poison.

What Actually Works

Scale: It'll handle Netflix-level traffic without breaking. AWS infrastructure is solid even if their APIs are designed by sadists.

Compliance: SOC, HIPAA, GDPR boxes all checked. Enterprise security teams love the paper trail.

Integration: Works with every AWS service, which is great if you enjoy reading 500-page documentation PDFs.

What Sucks

IAM hell: Spent 2 weeks figuring out permissions for a simple CRUD app. Their permission system is more complex than nuclear launch codes.

Cold starts: Lambda functions take a few seconds to wake up. Your users will notice.

Documentation: Written by people who have never built anything real. Good luck finding practical examples.

Migration from Firebase

This is not a weekend project. Plan for 3-6 months of pain:

• DynamoDB migration: NoSQL but different NoSQL. Your Firestore queries need complete rewrites.
• Cognito auth: More features but 10x more complex than Firebase Auth. User pools, identity pools, federated identities - it's a nightmare.
• Lambda functions: Cloud Functions → Lambda requires learning AWS-specific APIs and event structures.

Real cost for our app with around 100K monthly users: around $270/month vs $400+ on Firebase. Savings are minimal but at least it probably won't get cancelled.

Appwrite - Your Data, Your Problems

Appwrite gives you complete control, which means you own both the successes and the 3am server crashes. Good for paranoid teams who don't trust anyone else with their data.

What You Actually Get

Data ownership: Your data stays on your servers. Great for GDPR, HIPAA, and paranoia. Bad for sleep quality when Docker networking breaks during your kid's birthday party.

Open source transparency: You can see exactly how everything works and fix bugs yourself. You can also break everything yourself, so choose wisely.

Platform coverage: Best mobile SDKs in the game. Flutter, React Native, native iOS/Android all work without fighting the framework. Their offline sync actually works.

The Self-Hosting Reality

Setup pain: Docker compose setup breaks if you have spaces in your folder path. Docker networking will fail at least twice. Budget a full day for initial setup.

Maintenance hell: You're the DBA, sysadmin, and on-call engineer. Updates sometimes break things. Backups are your responsibility. SSL certificates expire when you forget about them.

Performance scaling: Works great until it doesn't. Need more capacity? Hope you know how to scale MariaDB and configure load balancers.

Migration from Firebase

Appwrite migration took us 6 weeks:

• Auth system differences: User sessions work differently. Your logout flow will break.
• Database model: MariaDB instead of Firestore. Better for complex queries, worse for schemaless data.

• Function rewrites: Cloud Functions become Appwrite Functions with different APIs and deployment.
• Real-time changes: WebSocket implementation differs from Firebase. Client reconnection logic needs rewriting.

Real monthly cost: around $50/month self-hosted (plus about 15 hours/month ops work) vs $135/month managed cloud.

Choose self-hosted if you have DevOps expertise and trust issues. Choose cloud if you want someone else to handle the 3am emergencies.

Just Pick One Already

Choose Supabase if you want the least painful migration and can live with PostgreSQL. It's the closest thing to "Firebase but better" you'll find.

Choose AWS Amplify if your boss mandates AWS, compliance is critical, and you have time to learn their labyrinthine documentation.

Choose Appwrite if you're paranoid about vendor lock-in and have someone who enjoys emergency Docker debugging sessions when everything's on fire.

Don't choose any if your Firebase app works fine and isn't bleeding money. Migration always sucks more than you think.

Look, all these alternatives are probably better than Firebase in most ways - more predictable costs, standard tech, less vendor lock-in. But every migration sucks and takes longer than you think.

Pick whichever one will piss you off the least and just do it already.