Firebase Realtime Database vs MySQL

Overview

MySQL

Stacks129.6K

Followers108.6K

Votes3.8K

GitHub Stars11.8K

Forks4.1K

Firebase Realtime Database

Stacks107

Followers229

Votes7

Firebase Realtime Database vs MySQL: What are the differences?

In web development, developers often have to choose between different databases like Firebase Realtime Database and MySQL. Firebase Realtime Database is a NoSQL cloud database that stores data in JSON format and synchronizes it in real-time to every connected client. On the other hand, MySQL is a traditional relational database management system that uses structured query language for data manipulation. Below are the key differences between Firebase Realtime Database and MySQL:

Data Structure: Firebase Realtime Database stores data in JSON format which allows for flexibility in the structure of data. In contrast, MySQL follows a rigid schema where tables must be defined with specific columns and data types.
Real-time Updates: Firebase Realtime Database automatically sends updates to connected clients in real-time, providing a seamless and instant experience for users. MySQL requires manual queries to retrieve updated data, making it less efficient for real-time applications.
Scalability: Firebase Realtime Database is a cloud-based service that scales automatically based on the usage, making it easier to handle large amounts of data. MySQL may require manual scaling and optimization as the database grows, making it more complex to manage for high traffic applications.
Offline Support: Firebase Realtime Database has built-in support for offline data persistence, allowing users to access and modify data even when offline. MySQL does not natively support offline capabilities, requiring developers to implement custom solutions for offline access.
Authentication and Authorization: Firebase Realtime Database provides easy integration with Firebase Authentication for user authentication and Firebase Authorization for role-based access control. MySQL requires developers to set up authentication and authorization mechanisms separately, adding complexity to the application.
Cost: Firebase Realtime Database has a pay-as-you-go pricing model based on data usage and storage, making it cost-effective for small to medium-sized applications. MySQL may require licensing fees and additional costs for scaling hardware and maintenance, making it more expensive for larger projects.

In Summary, Firebase Realtime Database and MySQL differ in data structure, real-time updates, scalability, offline support, authentication, authorization, and cost.

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Advice on MySQL, Firebase Realtime Database

Kyle

Web Application Developer at Redacted DevWorks

Dec 3, 2019

Decidedon

PostGIS

While there's been some very clever techniques that has allowed non-natively supported geo querying to be performed, it is incredibly slow in the long game and error prone at best.

MySQL finally introduced it's own GEO functions and special indexing operations for GIS type data. I prototyped with this, as MySQL is the most familiar database to me. But no matter what I did with it, how much tuning i'd give it, how much I played with it, the results would come back inconsistent.

It was very disappointing.

I figured, at this point, that SQL Server, being an enterprise solution authored by one of the biggest worldwide software developers in the world, Microsoft, might contain some decent GIS in it.

I was very disappointed.

Postgres is a Database solution i'm still getting familiar with, but I noticed it had no built in support for GIS. So I hilariously didn't pay it too much attention. That was until I stumbled upon PostGIS and my world changed forever.

449k views449k

Comments

Ido

Mar 6, 2020

Decided

My data was inherently hierarchical, but there was not enough content in each level of the hierarchy to justify a relational DB (SQL) with a one-to-many approach. It was also far easier to share data between the frontend (Angular), backend (Node.js) and DB (MongoDB) as they all pass around JSON natively. This allowed me to skip the translation layer from relational to hierarchical. You do need to think about correct indexes in MongoDB, and make sure the objects have finite size. For instance, an object in your DB shouldn't have a property which is an array that grows over time, without limit. In addition, I did use MySQL for other types of data, such as a catalog of products which (a) has a lot of data, (b) flat and not hierarchical, (c) needed very fast queries.

575k views575k

Comments

Navraj

CEO at SuPragma

Apr 16, 2020

Needs adviceon

MySQL

PostgreSQL

I asked my last question incorrectly. Rephrasing it here.

I am looking for the most secure open source database for my project I'm starting: https://github.com/SuPragma/SuPragma/wiki

Which database is more secure? MySQL or PostgreSQL? Are there others I should be considering? Is it possible to change the encryption keys dynamically?

Thanks,

Raj

401k views401k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

MySQL	Firebase Realtime Database
The MySQL software delivers a very fast, multi-threaded, multi-user, and robust SQL (Structured Query Language) database server. MySQL Server is intended for mission-critical, heavy-load production systems as well as for embedding into mass-deployed software.	It is a cloud-hosted NoSQL database that lets you store and sync data between your users in realtime. Data is synced across all clients in realtime, and remains available when your app goes offline.
-	Real time syncing for JSON data;Collaborate across devices with ease;Build serverless apps;Optimized for offline use;Strong user-based security
Statistics
GitHub Stars 11.8K	GitHub Stars -
GitHub Forks 4.1K	GitHub Forks -
Stacks 129.6K	Stacks 107
Followers 108.6K	Followers 229
Votes 3.8K	Votes 7
Pros & Cons
Pros 800 Sql 679 Free 562 Easy 528 Widely used 490 Open source Cons 16 Owned by a company with their own agenda 3 Can't roll back schema changes	Pros 7 Very fast 0 Casandra Cons 2 Poor query
Integrations
No integrations available	C++ iOS Unity Firebase Authentication Android OS Cloud Functions for Firebase

What are some alternatives to MySQL, Firebase Realtime Database?

MongoDB

MongoDB stores data in JSON-like documents that can vary in structure, offering a dynamic, flexible schema. MongoDB was also designed for high availability and scalability, with built-in replication and auto-sharding.

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system that supports an extended subset of the SQL standard, including transactions, foreign keys, subqueries, triggers, user-defined types and functions.

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft® SQL Server is a database management and analysis system for e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions.

SQLite

SQLite is an embedded SQL database engine. Unlike most other SQL databases, SQLite does not have a separate server process. SQLite reads and writes directly to ordinary disk files. A complete SQL database with multiple tables, indices, triggers, and views, is contained in a single disk file.

Cassandra

Partitioning means that Cassandra can distribute your data across multiple machines in an application-transparent matter. Cassandra will automatically repartition as machines are added and removed from the cluster. Row store means that like relational databases, Cassandra organizes data by rows and columns. The Cassandra Query Language (CQL) is a close relative of SQL.

Memcached

Memcached is an in-memory key-value store for small chunks of arbitrary data (strings, objects) from results of database calls, API calls, or page rendering.

MariaDB

Started by core members of the original MySQL team, MariaDB actively works with outside developers to deliver the most featureful, stable, and sanely licensed open SQL server in the industry. MariaDB is designed as a drop-in replacement of MySQL(R) with more features, new storage engines, fewer bugs, and better performance.

RethinkDB

RethinkDB is built to store JSON documents, and scale to multiple machines with very little effort. It has a pleasant query language that supports really useful queries like table joins and group by, and is easy to setup and learn.

Amazon DynamoDB

With it , you can offload the administrative burden of operating and scaling a highly available distributed database cluster, while paying a low price for only what you use.

ArangoDB

A distributed free and open-source database with a flexible data model for documents, graphs, and key-values. Build high performance applications using a convenient SQL-like query language or JavaScript extensions.

Related Comparisons

Firebase Realtime Database vs MySQL: What are the differences?

Data Structure: Firebase Realtime Database stores data in JSON format which allows for flexibility in the structure of data. In contrast, MySQL follows a rigid schema where tables must be defined with specific columns and data types.
Real-time Updates: Firebase Realtime Database automatically sends updates to connected clients in real-time, providing a seamless and instant experience for users. MySQL requires manual queries to retrieve updated data, making it less efficient for real-time applications.
Scalability: Firebase Realtime Database is a cloud-based service that scales automatically based on the usage, making it easier to handle large amounts of data. MySQL may require manual scaling and optimization as the database grows, making it more complex to manage for high traffic applications.
Offline Support: Firebase Realtime Database has built-in support for offline data persistence, allowing users to access and modify data even when offline. MySQL does not natively support offline capabilities, requiring developers to implement custom solutions for offline access.
Authentication and Authorization: Firebase Realtime Database provides easy integration with Firebase Authentication for user authentication and Firebase Authorization for role-based access control. MySQL requires developers to set up authentication and authorization mechanisms separately, adding complexity to the application.
Cost: Firebase Realtime Database has a pay-as-you-go pricing model based on data usage and storage, making it cost-effective for small to medium-sized applications. MySQL may require licensing fees and additional costs for scaling hardware and maintenance, making it more expensive for larger projects.

In Summary, Firebase Realtime Database and MySQL differ in data structure, real-time updates, scalability, offline support, authentication, authorization, and cost.

Firebase Realtime Database vs MySQL

Overview