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Firebase vs Hasura: What are the differences?
What is Firebase? The Realtime App Platform. 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.
What is Hasura? An open source GraphQL engine that deploys instant, realtime GraphQL APIs on any Postgres database. An open source GraphQL engine that deploys instant, realtime GraphQL APIs on any Postgres database.
Firebase can be classified as a tool in the "Realtime Backend / API" category, while Hasura is grouped under "Platform as a Service".
Some of the features offered by Firebase are:
- 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.
On the other hand, Hasura provides the following key features:
- Stack-agnostic
- Cloud-agnostic
- Git push to deploy
Instacart, 9GAG, and Twitch are some of the popular companies that use Firebase, whereas Hasura is used by Atrium, NevaLabs, and NumHub. Firebase has a broader approval, being mentioned in 859 company stacks & 997 developers stacks; compared to Hasura, which is listed in 5 company stacks and 8 developer stacks.
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.

I would recommend looking hard into Firebase
for this project, especially if you do not have dedicated full-stack or backend members on your team.
The real time database, as you mentioned, is a great option, but I would also look into Firestore
. Similar to RTDB, it adds more functions and some cool methods as well. Also, another great thing about Firebase is you have easy access to storage and dead simple auth as well.
Node.js
Express
MongoDB
Socket.IO
and Apollo
are great technologies as well, and may be the better option if you do not wish to cede as much control to third parties in your application.
Overall, I say if you wish to focus more time developing your React
application instead of other parts of your stack, Firebase
is a great way to do that.

Hello Noam 👋,
I suggest taking a look at Ably, it has all the realtime features you need and the platform is designed to guarantee critical functionality at scale.
Here is an in depth comparison between Ably and Firebase
Pros of Firebase
- Realtime backend made easy369
- Fast and responsive268
- Easy setup240
- Real-time213
- JSON188
- Free133
- Backed by google126
- Angular adaptor82
- Reliable67
- Great customer support35
- Great documentation31
- Real-time synchronization25
- Mobile friendly21
- Rapid prototyping18
- Great security14
- Automatic scaling12
- Freakingly awesome11
- Angularfire is an amazing addition!8
- Super fast development8
- Chat8
- Firebase hosting6
- Built in user auth/oauth6
- Awesome next-gen backend6
- Ios adaptor6
- Very easy to use4
- Speed of light4
- Brilliant for startups3
- Great3
- It's made development super fast3
- Free authentication solution2
- JS Offline and Sync suport2
- Low battery consumption2
- Push notification2
- I can quickly create static web apps with no backend2
- Free hosting2
- The concurrent updates create a great experience2
- Cloud functions2
- Great all-round functionality2
- CDN & cache out of the box1
- Google's support1
- .net1
- Faster workflow1
- Free SSL1
- Easy Reactjs integration1
- Easy to use1
- Large1
- Serverless1
- Good Free Limits1
- Simple and easy1
Pros of Hasura
- Fast23
- Easy GraphQL subscriptions18
- Easy setup of relationships and permissions16
- Automatically generates your GraphQL schema15
- Minimal learning curve15
- No back-end code required13
- Works with new and existing databases13
- Instant production ready GraphQL12
- Great UX11
- Simple4
- Low usage of resources3
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Cons of Firebase
- Can become expensive31
- No open source, you depend on external company16
- Scalability is not infinite15
- Not Flexible Enough9
- Cant filter queries7
- Very unstable server3
- No Relational Data3
- Too many errors2
- No offline sync2
Cons of Hasura
- Cumbersome validations2