Choosing a Backend: Appwrite, Firebase, or PocketBase
Appwrite offers a predictable $25 monthly Pro plan including 200,000 monthly active users, contrasting with Firebase's usage-based billing and PocketBase's single-writer SQLite limitation. Developers must weigh Appwrite's microservices against PocketBase's lightweight single-binary architecture.
The cost of scaling
Firebase uses a pay-as-you-go model where costs scale with usage. Under the Blaze plan, users pay for every document read and write. A single page load can trigger dozens of Firestore reads, which creates unpredictable bills. PocketBase Cloud provides a different path with flat monthly fees. A $10 Starter plan or a $25 Pro plan covers all API calls and bandwidth within the compute limits. Appwrite Cloud follows a similar predictable structure. The Appwrite Pro plan costs $25 per month and includes 200,000 monthly active users and 150GB of storage.
| Feature | Firebase (Blaze) | Appwrite (Pro) | PocketBase Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auth (MAU) | ~$0.0055 after 50K | 200,000 included | Unlimited |
| Functions | Metered per invocation | 3.5M executions included | Included in compute |
| Storage | Metered per GB | 150GB included | Included in compute |
| Monthly Base | Variable | $25 | $10 or $25 |
Development workflows and limitations
Appwrite is an open-source platform that uses a microservices architecture with Docker to provide authentication, databases, file storage, and serverless functions through a single command execution, which makes it much easier to deploy on constrained hardware. This platform uses a document-oriented API over MariaDB. You define collections and attributes through the console or SDK instead of writing SQL. PocketBase is a single-binary backend written in Go. It includes an embedded SQLite database, auth, file storage, and real-time subscriptions. Because PocketBase uses SQLite, it allows only one writer at a time. This restriction means it won’t scale for high-write workloads with many concurrent editors. You already know that picking a database type dictates your entire development workflow. For mobile teams, Appwrite is a strong candidate because the Flutter SDK provides polished authentication flows and file uploads. PocketBase is a good choice for solo developers because a $4 per month VPS can handle 10,000 concurrent WebSocket connections.
PocketBase documentation is thinner than the documentation for Firebase or Supabase. Its current version is v0.39.0. The maintainers state it is not recommended for production-critical applications before it reaches version 1.0.0. This is a material consideration for any team planning long-term stability.
| Platform | Database | Scaling | Primary Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firebase | NoSQL (Firestore) | Global Google scale | Mobile-first apps |
| Appwrite | Document (MariaDB) | Vertical/Container | Mobile/Web with Flutter |
| PocketBase | SQLite (embedded) | Limited by single writer | MVPs and prototypes |
Deployment and the burden of ownership
Self-hosting Appwrite is easy because a single Docker Compose command deploys the entire stack. This is much simpler than the seven coordinated services required to run a self-hosted Supabase instance, which includes PostgreSQL, GoTrue, PostgREST, Realtime, Storage, Kong, and Studio. PocketBase is even simpler. You download a 20 MB binary and run it on a $5 per month VPS. However, PocketBase lacks a managed cloud offering, so you must handle your own backups and monitoring. Will the SQLite single-writer bottleneck become a dealbreaker for growing SaaS apps? Appwrite provides built-in messaging for SMS, email, and push through ten-plus providers. This makes it more "batteries-included" than Supabase. Appwrite also provides TablesDB, which gives AI-powered suggestions for database schema design.
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