Overview

Firebase

Stacks42.2K

Followers36.0K

Votes2.0K

Urban Airship

Stacks64

Followers153

Votes26

Firebase vs Urban Airship: What are the differences?

Comparison: Firebase vs. Urban Airship

Firebase and Urban Airship are both popular mobile development platforms that offer a range of services to enable efficient app development and user engagement. While they share some similarities, they also have several key differences that set them apart from each other. In this comparison, we will explore six main differences between Firebase and Urban Airship.

Ease of Integration: Firebase is known for its seamless integration with other Google services, such as Google Analytics and Google Cloud Messaging. This makes it easier for developers to incorporate Firebase into their existing Google ecosystem. On the other hand, Urban Airship provides more flexible integration options, allowing developers to integrate the platform with various third-party services, not limited to a specific ecosystem.
Services Offered: Firebase is a comprehensive platform that offers a wide array of services, including real-time database, authentication, cloud messaging, hosting, and more. It aims to provide an all-in-one solution for app development. In contrast, Urban Airship focuses primarily on user engagement, offering services like push notifications, in-app messaging, and SMS messaging. While it also provides some app development tools, its primary focus is on enhancing user experience and engagement.
Pricing Model: Firebase offers a user-based pricing model, where developers are charged based on the number of users or active devices using their app. This makes it easier for budgeting and scaling as developers only pay for the resources they consume. On the other hand, Urban Airship offers a more traditional feature-based pricing model, where developers are charged based on the specific features and services they require. This may be more suitable for developers with specific needs and requirements.
Analytics Capabilities: Firebase provides a robust analytics platform that offers detailed insights into app performance, user behavior, and engagement metrics. It allows developers to track user events, set up conversion tracking, and create custom audiences for targeted marketing campaigns. Urban Airship also offers analytics features but focuses more on user engagement metrics, such as push notification performance and in-app messaging effectiveness.
Platform Support: Firebase is a cross-platform development platform that supports both Android and iOS. It provides SDKs and comprehensive documentation for developers on both platforms. Urban Airship, on the other hand, is primarily focused on supporting iOS and Android platforms but also provides limited support for other platforms, such as web push notifications.
Customization and Branding: Firebase provides developers with the flexibility to customize and brand their apps to align with their specific design requirements. This includes customizing the look and feel of the app, implementing custom themes, and adding branding elements. While Urban Airship does offer some customization options, its primary focus is on delivering engaging and personalized user experiences rather than extensive app customization.

In summary, Firebase and Urban Airship differ in terms of ease of integration, services offered, pricing model, analytics capabilities, platform support, and customization options. Developers should consider their specific requirements and priorities to choose the platform that best aligns with their app development and user engagement needs.

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Advice on Firebase, Urban Airship

Jared

Contractor at Insight Global

Aug 9, 2019

Reviewon

Firebase

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.

271k views271k

Comments

Noam

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceon

Node.js

ExpressJS

React

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

Detailed Comparison

Firebase	Urban Airship
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.	We’ve built the smartest, most aware, precise, easy-to-use, scalable, secure and powerful push messaging platform on the planet. Our Push messaging platform leverages all that is unique about mobile as a channel, and that lights the spark to create meaningful and valuable mobile experiences. We help put your app in front of your users at the right time, and in the right place to drive usage and brand engagement.
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.	Industry’s best Push Messaging (with up to 1M messages per month, free).;Ready to go, proven and can be working in your app within hours.;Flexible APIs to drop in as-is or to completely customize.;Cross-platform ready (iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry and more).;Enterprise-class uptime, security and scalability.;Comprehensive documentation.;Email support access.;Love, respect and appreciation from your developer friends here at UA.
Statistics
Stacks 42.2K	Stacks 64
Followers 36.0K	Followers 153
Votes 2.0K	Votes 26
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 11 Ios integration 8 Easy to setup 5 Android integration 2 PhoneGap Plugin Cons 1 Android Integration 1 Easy to setup
Integrations
Trigger.io Famo.us Backbone.js Ember.js AngularJS React	Kinvey StackMob Heroku Appcelerator Trigger.io

What are some alternatives to Firebase, Urban Airship?

Socket.IO

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

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

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.

OneSignal

OneSignal is a high volume push notification service for websites and mobile applications. OneSignal supports all major native and mobile platforms by providing dedicated SDKs for each platform, a RESTful server API, and a dashboard.

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.

Syncano

Syncano is a backend platform to build powerful real-time apps more efficiently. Integrate with any API, minimize boilerplate code and control your data - all from one place.

NATS

Unlike traditional enterprise messaging systems, NATS has an always-on dial tone that does whatever it takes to remain available. This forms a great base for building modern, reliable, and scalable cloud and distributed systems.

SocketCluster

SocketCluster is a fast, highly scalable HTTP + realtime server engine which lets you build multi-process realtime servers that make use of all CPU cores on a machine/instance. It removes the limitations of having to run your Node.js server as a single thread and makes your backend resilient by automatically recovering from worker crashes and aggregating errors into a central log.

deepstream.io

Scalable Server for Realtime Web Apps with JSON structures that can be read, manipulated and listened to, messages that can be sent to one or more subscribers, and request response workflows, between two clients or servers.