Some popular BaaS providers that support React applications are AWS Amplify, Firebase, and SupaBase.
AWS Amplify
AWS Services can be tricky to use without cloud experience. Launched in 2017, AWS Amplify is an open-source library that simplifies how you interact with and integrate AWS services into your app.
It provides services like storage, authentication, GraphQL, REST APIs, and push notifications, among others. It also provides a simple way of adding AWS resources like Cognito, DynamoDB, and ElasticSearch to an app without using the AWS console. You can use the CLI or the Admin UI to access Amplify.
Key Features of AWS Amplify
AWS Amplify only targets AWS Cloud. For Google Cloud, you should consider Firebase.
Firebase
Firebase is a BaaS platform built on Google Cloud that provides a managed backend platform for web and mobile applications. Firebase offers products that help developers build the backend infrastructure, release and monitor the application, and engage with users.
Key Features of Firebase
Firebase supports integration with iOS, web, and Android. Firebase has a Cloud Firestore database that’s a NoSQL database you can use to store data for your apps. Firebase also provides a real-time database that lets you store and sync data between users in real time. Firebase allows you to add extensions to your app. Extensions are pre-packaged bundles of code that add more functionality to an app. An example of an extension is Search with Algolia, a package that enables full-text search on the cloud Firestore database using Algolia. You can see other extensions on the extension marketplace. You can add functionality to your app by integrating Firebase with other tools like Google Ads, Google Play, Jira, and Slack. Firebase is built in Google Cloud, allowing you to scale your app easily. The Spark plan is free which helps developers get started with Firebase easily. The Firebase authentication service supports user authentication using email and passwords, phone numbers, and social authentication providers like Twitter and GitHub. Firebase products like crashlytics, performance monitoring, Google Analytics, and test lab help you keep track of your app’s performance.
As you can see, Firebase has great features, however, it’s not open source and can only be used on Google Cloud. If you want an open-source alternative, try Supabase.
Supabase
Supabase is a platform that enables developers to set up a backend for their applications quickly. Each project created on the Supabase is a Postgres database that’s 100% portable which simplifies migration to and from Supabase. The database is real-time enabled, and you can subscribe and react to database updates. Other services provided by Supabase are edge functions, authentication, and auto-generated APIs.
Key Features of Supabase
Supabase provides a fully-fledged Postgres database. The database is portable and has built-in auth you can use to control user access. It offers multiple authentication methods like social logins with Google, Facebook, and Twitter, email/password authentication, and a built-in user management system you can access via an API. Supabase supports edge functions which are serverless functions that run close to users around the globe. By using edge functions, you reduce latency and increase code execution speeds. It also supports real-time updates that let you listen to events in the Postgres database. Supabase and Firebase offer similar services and the main difference between them is Supabase is built on a PostgreSQL database, a relational database while Firebase is based on a NoSQL database. Supabase pricing is based on the amount of data stored which makes bills predictable. The free package already gives you Up to 500MB database and 1GB file storage and is perfect for side projects. If you need more storage, the next pricing tier is $25 per month. You can query an existing PostgreSQL database using GraphQL.
Which BaaS Platform Should You Use?
The platform you choose depends on the needs of the project you are working on. Firebase is great for non-relational data since it uses a NoSQL database while Supabase is a good choice if you want to use a relational database. Amplify, allows you to create a NoSQL database backed by DynamoDB or S3, but you can also use a lambda function to connect to a relational database.
Additionally, if you want to use GraphQL APIs, opt for Amplify or Supabase as Firebase does not support it.
You should also consider your existing cloud provider as you may find it easier to use a platform built on the provider you already use. For example, if you use AWS, you may prefer Amplify or Firebase if you use Google Cloud. Supabase is a good option if you’d rather not be tied to a specific cloud vendor.
How BaaS Providers Help You Ship Faster
So far, you’ve learned about the features of Amplify, Firebase, and Supabase and some of the factors to consider when choosing a BaaS provider. Regardless of the platform you choose, BaaS will help you save development time. Instead of configuring the database, building an authentication system, setting up analytics, and other backend services, you can focus on the design and the front end.
