StackShareStackShare
Follow on
StackShare

Discover and share technology stacks from companies around the world.

Follow on

© 2025 StackShare. All rights reserved.

Product

  • Stacks
  • Tools
  • Feed

Company

  • About
  • Contact

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Platform as a Service
  4. Realtime Backend API
  5. Firebase vs Microsoft Azure vs Socket.IO

Firebase vs Microsoft Azure vs Socket.IO

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Firebase
Firebase
Stacks42.5K
Followers36.0K
Votes2.0K
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure
Stacks25.6K
Followers17.6K
Votes768
Socket.IO
Socket.IO
Stacks13.6K
Followers11.0K
Votes776

Firebase vs Microsoft Azure vs Socket.IO: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Firebase, Microsoft Azure, and Socket.IO are popular platforms for developing and hosting web applications. Each platform offers unique features and capabilities, making them suitable for different types of projects. In this comparison, we will highlight the key differences between Firebase, Microsoft Azure, and Socket.IO.

  1. Scalability: Firebase is known for its real-time database and scalable cloud infrastructure, making it a popular choice for applications with a large number of users. Microsoft Azure also offers scalability, but it is more tailored towards enterprise-level applications with complex requirements. Socket.IO, on the other hand, is a library that enables real-time, bidirectional event-based communication. While it can handle a large number of connections, it may not be as scalable as Firebase or Azure for handling heavy traffic.

  2. Cost: Firebase has a generous free tier that allows developers to start building and testing their applications without incurring costs. As the application scales, Firebase offers various pricing plans based on usage. Microsoft Azure follows a pay-as-you-go model, where users only pay for the resources they consume. Socket.IO is open-source and free to use, making it a cost-effective option for real-time communication needs.

  3. Integration: Firebase provides seamless integration with other Google services such as Google Analytics, Google Cloud Functions, and Google Cloud Storage. Microsoft Azure offers integration with a wide range of Microsoft products and services, making it a powerful platform for enterprises using Microsoft technologies. Socket.IO can be integrated with various web frameworks and libraries, offering flexibility in incorporating real-time communication features into web applications.

  4. Customization: Firebase offers a simple and easy-to-use interface, making it suitable for developers who prioritize speed and efficiency. Microsoft Azure provides extensive customization options, allowing users to tailor their applications to specific requirements. Socket.IO offers a lightweight and flexible solution for real-time communication, giving developers control over the implementation of WebSocket protocols.

  5. Security: Firebase and Microsoft Azure both prioritize security and compliance, offering features such as encryption, authentication, and access control to protect user data. Socket.IO relies on the security measures implemented by the underlying transport protocols, such as WebSocket and HTTP, making it essential for developers to handle security considerations at the application level.

  6. Community Support: Firebase has a large and active community of developers who contribute to documentation, tutorials, and support forums. Microsoft Azure also has a strong community and extensive documentation to help users navigate its services. Socket.IO benefits from a community of developers who actively contribute to the library's development, ensuring ongoing support and updates for real-time communication solutions.

In Summary, Firebase, Microsoft Azure, and Socket.IO each offer unique advantages in terms of scalability, cost, integration, customization, security, and community support, catering to a diverse range of web application development needs.

Share your Stack

Help developers discover the tools you use. Get visibility for your team's tech choices and contribute to the community's knowledge.

View Docs
CLI (Node.js)
or
Manual

Advice on Firebase, Microsoft Azure, Socket.IO

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
Anil
Anil

Mar 7, 2020

Needs advice

I want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real-time chatting, for that, I have to draw a UML and ufd diagram flow then I have to implement it in my code, my stack is node js, android, express, MongoDB, Redis. how can I do this? I want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real-time chatting, for that, I have to draw a UML and ufd diagram flow then I have to implement it in my code, my stack is node js, android, express, MongoDB, Redis. how can I do this?I want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real-time chatting, for that, I have to draw a UML and ufd diagram flow then I have to implement it in my code, my stack is node js, android, express, MongoDB, Redis. how can I do this?i want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real time chatting, for that i have to draw a uml and ufd diagram flow then i have to implement it in my code , my stack is node js , android , express , mongoDb, redis . how can i do a this?

46.7k views46.7k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Firebase
Firebase
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure
Socket.IO
Socket.IO

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.

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.

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

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.
Use your OS, language, database, tool;Global datacenter footprint;Enterprise Grade with up to a 99.95% monthly SLA;Web Sites- Get started for free and scale up as your traffic grows. Build with ASP.NET, PHP or Node.js and deploy in seconds with FTP, Git or TFS.;Infrastructure Services- Access scalable, on-demand infrastructure using Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks. Take advantage of what you already know to achieve new capabilities in the cloud.;Mobile Services- App development with a scalable and secure backend hosted in Windows Azure. Incorporate structured storage, user authentication and push notifications in minutes.;Cloud Services- Create highly-available, infinitely scalable applications and services using a rich Platform as a Service (PaaS) environment. Support multi-tier scenarios, automated deployments and elastic scale.;Big Data- Process, analyze, and gain new insights from big data using the power of Apache Hadoop.;Media- Create, manage and distribute media in the cloud. This PaaS offering provides everything from encoding to content protection to streaming and analytics support.
Real-time analytics - Push data to clients that gets represented as real-time counters, charts or logs.;Binary streaming - Starting in 1.0, it's possible to send any blob back and forth: image, audio, video.;Instant messaging and chat - Socket.IO's "Hello world" is a chat app in just a few lines of code.;Document collaboration - Allow users to concurrently edit a document and see each other's changes.
Statistics
Stacks
42.5K
Stacks
25.6K
Stacks
13.6K
Followers
36.0K
Followers
17.6K
Followers
11.0K
Votes
2.0K
Votes
768
Votes
776
Pros & Cons
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
Pros
  • 114
    Scales well and quite easy
  • 96
    Can use .Net or open source tools
  • 81
    Startup friendly
  • 73
    Startup plans via BizSpark
  • 62
    High performance
Cons
  • 7
    Confusing UI
  • 2
    Expensive plesk on Azure
Pros
  • 219
    Real-time
  • 143
    Node.js
  • 141
    Event-based communication
  • 102
    Open source
  • 102
    WebSockets
Cons
  • 12
    Bad documentation
  • 4
    Githubs that complement it are mostly deprecated
  • 3
    Doesn't work on React Native
  • 2
    Small community
  • 2
    Websocket Errors
Integrations
Trigger.io
Trigger.io
Famo.us
Famo.us
Backbone.js
Backbone.js
Ember.js
Ember.js
AngularJS
AngularJS
React
React
New Relic
New Relic
Twilio SendGrid
Twilio SendGrid
Cloudinary
Cloudinary
Redis Cloud
Redis Cloud
Bitnami
Bitnami
AWS Cloud9
AWS Cloud9
MongoLab
MongoLab
AppDynamics
AppDynamics
Cloudant
Cloudant
CopperEgg
CopperEgg
Auth0
Auth0
Gatsby
Gatsby
Flutter
Flutter
React
React
Backbone.js
Backbone.js
Cloud Firestore
Cloud Firestore
Outbrain
Outbrain

What are some alternatives to Firebase, Microsoft Azure, Socket.IO?

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.

Amazon EC2

Amazon EC2

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

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.

Rackspace Cloud Servers

Rackspace Cloud Servers

Cloud Servers is based on OpenStack, the open and scalable operating system for building public and private clouds. With the open cloud, you get reliable cloud hosting, without locking your data into one proprietary platform.

Ably

Ably

Ably offers WebSockets, stream resume, history, presence, and managed third-party integrations to make it simple to build, extend, and deliver digital realtime experiences at scale.

Related Comparisons

Bootstrap
Materialize

Bootstrap vs Materialize

Laravel
Django

Django vs Laravel vs Node.js

Bootstrap
Foundation

Bootstrap vs Foundation vs Material UI

Node.js
Spring Boot

Node.js vs Spring-Boot

Liquibase
Flyway

Flyway vs Liquibase