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  5. AWS Mobile Hub vs Amazon EC2 vs Firebase

AWS Mobile Hub vs Amazon EC2 vs Firebase

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Amazon EC2
Amazon EC2
Stacks48.6K
Followers36.0K
Votes2.5K
Firebase
Firebase
Stacks42.5K
Followers36.0K
Votes2.0K
AWS Mobile Hub
AWS Mobile Hub
Stacks20
Followers124
Votes0

AWS Mobile Hub vs Amazon EC2 vs Firebase: What are the differences?

Introduction

In the world of cloud computing, services like AWS Mobile Hub, Amazon EC2, and Firebase play significant roles in enabling developers to build, deploy, and scale their applications. Each of these services has its unique features and capabilities that cater to different requirements. Understanding the key differences between them is crucial for choosing the right service for a particular application.

  1. Deployment and Scaling: AWS Mobile Hub simplifies the process of deploying mobile backends by providing a set of tools for app development, user authentication, data storage, and analytics. It offers automation and scaling capabilities, making it ideal for mobile applications with dynamic user bases. On the other hand, Amazon EC2 is a more general-purpose cloud computing service that allows users to deploy and manage virtual servers in the cloud. It provides more control over the underlying infrastructure, making it suitable for a wide range of applications that require flexibility in scaling and customization.

  2. Server Administration: Firebase is a mobile and web application development platform that offers features like real-time database, authentication, and hosting. It abstracts server administration tasks, making it easier for developers to focus on building their applications without worrying about managing servers. In contrast, Amazon EC2 requires users to handle server administration tasks such as software updates, security configurations, and monitoring. This gives users more control but also requires more expertise in server management.

  3. Pricing Model: AWS Mobile Hub offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where users pay only for the resources they use without any upfront costs or long-term commitments. This makes it cost-effective for developers who are starting with smaller projects and need flexibility in scaling. Amazon EC2 also follows a pay-as-you-go model but offers various pricing options, including on-demand instances, reserved instances, and spot instances. These options allow users to optimize costs based on their usage patterns and resource requirements.

  4. Integration with Other AWS Services: AWS Mobile Hub seamlessly integrates with other AWS services such as Amazon S3 for storage, AWS Lambda for serverless computing, and Amazon DynamoDB for databases. This integration enables developers to leverage a wide range of cloud services within their mobile applications. On the other hand, Firebase is tightly integrated with Google Cloud Platform services, offering features like Cloud Functions for backend logic, Cloud Firestore for NoSQL databases, and Cloud Storage for file storage. The choice between AWS Mobile Hub and Firebase may depend on the existing ecosystem of cloud services preferred by developers.

  5. Scalability and Reliability: AWS Mobile Hub and Amazon EC2 both provide scalability and reliability features for applications. AWS Mobile Hub offers scalable cloud resources tailored for mobile applications, ensuring optimal performance and availability. Amazon EC2 allows users to scale their virtual servers horizontally or vertically based on demand, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance. Firebase, being a managed platform, scales automatically based on the application's load without requiring manual intervention.

  6. Development Environment: AWS Mobile Hub provides a unified console for managing various aspects of mobile app development, such as user authentication, cloud storage, and push notifications. This simplifies the development process by offering a centralized platform for deploying backend services. In contrast, Amazon EC2 provides users with full control over the development environment, allowing them to customize server configurations, install software packages, and manage dependencies according to their requirements.

In Summary, understanding the key differences in deployment and scaling, server administration, pricing model, integration with other services, scalability and reliability, and development environments is crucial for choosing the right cloud service between AWS Mobile Hub, Amazon EC2, and Firebase based on specific application needs.

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Advice on Amazon EC2, Firebase, AWS Mobile Hub

Jared
Jared

Contractor at Insight Global

Aug 9, 2019

ReviewonFirebaseFirebase

I started using Firebase over 5 years ago because of the 'real-time' nature. I originally used to use Real Time Database, but now I use Cloud Firestore. I recommend using the Google Firebase PaaS to quickly develop or prototype small to enterprise level web/mobile applications. Since Google purchased Firebase, it has exploded and it growing rapidly. I also find some level of comfort that it is Backed by Google.

272k views272k
Comments
Noam
Noam

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceonNode.jsNode.jsExpressJSExpressJSReactReact

We are starting to work on a web-based platform aiming to connect artists (clients) and professional freelancers (service providers). In-app, timeline-based, real-time communication between users (& storing it), file transfers, and push notifications are essential core features. We are considering using Node.js, ExpressJS, React, MongoDB stack with Socket.IO & Apollo, or maybe using Real-Time Database and functionalities of Firebase.

1.15M views1.15M
Comments
Michał
Michał

Feb 28, 2020

Needs advice

I'm looking for a storage service for a simple website (built with Vue) with browser games. The website will have a login system and will collect some basic information about users. It will also have a chat, so it needs to store messages. I would prefer a free solution for now, because the number of users and transferred data will be very small. I Was choosing between Amazon EC2 and Google Firebase even tho they aren't really in the same category. Any advice on that will be appreciated

10.9k views10.9k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Amazon EC2
Amazon EC2
Firebase
Firebase
AWS Mobile Hub
AWS Mobile Hub

It is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers.

Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications. Simply add the Firebase library to your application to gain access to a shared data structure; any changes you make to that data are automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients within milliseconds.

AWS Mobile Hub is the fastest way to build mobile apps powered by AWS. It lets you easily add and configure features for your apps, including user authentication, data storage, backend logic, push notifications, content delivery, and analytics. After you build your app, AWS Mobile Hub gives you easy access to testing on real devices, as well as analytics dashboards to track usage of your app – all from a single, integrated console.

Elastic – Amazon EC2 enables you to increase or decrease capacity within minutes, not hours or days. You can commission one, hundreds or even thousands of server instances simultaneously.;Completely Controlled – You have complete control of your instances. You have root access to each one, and you can interact with them as you would any machine.;Flexible – You have the choice of multiple instance types, operating systems, and software packages. Amazon EC2 allows you to select a configuration of memory, CPU, instance storage, and the boot partition size that is optimal for your choice of operating system and application.;Designed for use with other Amazon Web Services – Amazon EC2 works in conjunction with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), Amazon SimpleDB and Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS) to provide a complete solution for computing, query processing and storage across a wide range of applications.;Reliable – Amazon EC2 offers a highly reliable environment where replacement instances can be rapidly and predictably commissioned. The Amazon EC2 Service Level Agreement commitment is 99.95% availability for each Amazon EC2 Region.;Secure – Amazon EC2 works in conjunction with Amazon VPC to provide security and robust networking functionality for your compute resources.;Inexpensive – Amazon EC2 passes on to you the financial benefits of Amazon’s scale. You pay a very low rate for the compute capacity you actually consume.;Easy to Start – Quickly get started with Amazon EC2 by visiting AWS Marketplace to choose preconfigured software on Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). You can quickly deploy this software to EC2 via 1-Click launch or with the EC2 console.
Add the Firebase library to your app and get access to a shared data structure. Any changes made to that data are automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients within milliseconds.;Firebase apps can be written entirely with client-side code, update in real-time out-of-the-box, interoperate well with existing services, scale automatically, and provide strong data security.;Data Accessibility- Data is stored as JSON in Firebase. Every piece of data has its own URL which can be used in Firebase's client libraries and as a REST endpoint. These URLs can also be entered into a browser to view the data and watch it update in real-time.;Real-time Synchronization- Firebase takes a new approach to the way data is moved around an app. Rather than using a traditional request & response model, it works by synchronizing data between devices. Whenever your data changes, all clients are immediately notified within milliseconds. The synchronized data is also persisted, allowing new clients to be immediately updated.;First-class Data Security- Traditional applications intermix security code with application code, whereas Firebase treats security as a first-class feature. You define your security policies in one place using a flexible rules language, and Firebase ensures that they are consistently enforced across all parts of your application. Having all your security logic in one place allows for easy auditing and helps you avoid security mistakes. The safety and security of your data is our top priority.;Automatic Scaling- The Firebase API is built from the ground up for performance and scale. Whenever your data changes, Firebase calculates the minimum set of updates required to keep all your clients in sync. In addition, all Firebase API functions are designed to scale linearly with the size of the data being synchronized. More importantly, Firebase handles all of the scaling and operations for you. Your app will scale from its first user to its first million without any code changes.;Servers are Optional- Firebase can provide all of the data storage, control, and transmission needs of most apps. In many cases, Firebase can completely replace your server and server-side code. This means you no longer need to build complicated backend software and can instead focus on your application logic and your customers.
Quickly build apps without worrying about infrastructure.;Test your apps on real Android and iOS devices in the cloud;Track usage and monetization, and engage users with push notifications.
Statistics
Stacks
48.6K
Stacks
42.5K
Stacks
20
Followers
36.0K
Followers
36.0K
Followers
124
Votes
2.5K
Votes
2.0K
Votes
0
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 647
    Quick and reliable cloud servers
  • 515
    Scalability
  • 393
    Easy management
  • 277
    Low cost
  • 271
    Auto-scaling
Cons
  • 14
    Ui could use a lot of work
  • 6
    High learning curve when compared to PaaS
  • 3
    Extremely poor CPU performance
Pros
  • 371
    Realtime backend made easy
  • 270
    Fast and responsive
  • 242
    Easy setup
  • 215
    Real-time
  • 191
    JSON
Cons
  • 31
    Can become expensive
  • 16
    No open source, you depend on external company
  • 15
    Scalability is not infinite
  • 9
    Not Flexible Enough
  • 7
    Cant filter queries
No community feedback yet
Integrations
No integrations available
Trigger.io
Trigger.io
Famo.us
Famo.us
Backbone.js
Backbone.js
Ember.js
Ember.js
AngularJS
AngularJS
React
React
Amazon Cognito
Amazon Cognito
Amazon S3
Amazon S3
Amazon SNS
Amazon SNS
AWS Lambda
AWS Lambda
Amazon Redshift
Amazon Redshift
Amazon Mobile Analytics
Amazon Mobile Analytics
Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront

What are some alternatives to Amazon EC2, Firebase, AWS Mobile Hub?

DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean

We take the complexities out of cloud hosting by offering blazing fast, on-demand SSD cloud servers, straightforward pricing, a simple API, and an easy-to-use control panel.

Socket.IO

Socket.IO

It enables real-time bidirectional event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.

Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure

Azure is an open and flexible cloud platform that enables you to quickly build, deploy and manage applications across a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. You can build applications using any language, tool or framework. And you can integrate your public cloud applications with your existing IT environment.

Parse

Parse

With Parse, you can add a scalable and powerful backend in minutes and launch a full-featured app in record time without ever worrying about server management. We offer push notifications, social integration, data storage, and the ability to add rich custom logic to your app’s backend with Cloud Code.

Google Compute Engine

Google Compute Engine

Google Compute Engine is a service that provides virtual machines that run on Google infrastructure. Google Compute Engine offers scale, performance, and value that allows you to easily launch large compute clusters on Google's infrastructure. There are no upfront investments and you can run up to thousands of virtual CPUs on a system that has been designed from the ground up to be fast, and to offer strong consistency of performance.

Linode

Linode

Get a server running in minutes with your choice of Linux distro, resources, and node location.

PubNub

PubNub

PubNub makes it easy for you to add real-time capabilities to your apps, without worrying about the infrastructure. Build apps that allow your users to engage in real-time across mobile, browser, desktop and server.

Pusher

Pusher

Pusher is the category leader in delightful APIs for app developers building communication and collaboration features.

Scaleway

Scaleway

European cloud computing company proposing a complete & simple public cloud ecosystem, bare-metal servers & private datacenter infrastructures.

SignalR

SignalR

SignalR allows bi-directional communication between server and client. Servers can now push content to connected clients instantly as it becomes available. SignalR supports Web Sockets, and falls back to other compatible techniques for older browsers. SignalR includes APIs for connection management (for instance, connect and disconnect events), grouping connections, and authorization.

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