The best Backend as a service
Every option ranked — open-source, self-hostable, and commercial — by our transparent Sovereignty Score, with honest trade-offs so you choose what fits you, not us.
Database, auth, storage and serverless functions in one hosted bundle, so a front-end team can ship without running a backend. The convenience is real; so is the bill when the app succeeds.
L3Infrastructure — layer 3 of the AI stack- 1
Supabase
Top pickOpen sourcePostgres with Firebase's ergonomics — and you can take the database with you.
Free tier for small projects; hosted Pro from about $25/month. Fully self-hostable at no licence cost. · in our Firebase comparison →
What is Supabase? →91sovereignty - 2
PocketBase
Open sourceThe entire backend is one file you can copy to a server.
Free and open source. You pay for a server, and a very small one will do. · in our Firebase comparison →
What is PocketBase? →95sovereignty - 3
Appwrite
Open sourceThe self-hosted backend that ships as one Docker command.
Free and open source to self-host. Appwrite Cloud has a free tier and paid plans from about $15/month. · in our Firebase comparison →
What is Appwrite? →92sovereignty - 4
Parse Platform
Open sourceThe original backend-as-a-service, now community-run and still going.
Free and open source. You supply the Node host and the database. · in our Firebase comparison →
What is Parse Platform? →90sovereignty - 5
Nhost
Open sourcePostgres plus instant GraphQL, for teams that think in queries.
Free tier available; hosted plans from about $25/month. Self-hostable at no licence cost. · in our Firebase comparison →
What is Nhost? →88sovereignty
Replacing a specific tool?
Head-to-head comparisons for each popular backend as a service product.
Straight head-to-heads
Two backend as a service tools, side by side — verified facts and a plain verdict.