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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Platform as a Service
  4. Realtime Backend API
  5. Firebase vs Visual Studio App Center

Firebase vs Visual Studio App Center

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Firebase
Firebase
Stacks42.5K
Followers36.0K
Votes2.0K
Visual Studio App Center
Visual Studio App Center
Stacks113
Followers232
Votes4

Firebase vs Visual Studio App Center: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will explore the key differences between Firebase and Visual Studio App Center, two popular platforms for building and deploying mobile applications. Firebase is a mobile platform developed by Google, offering a wide range of features such as real-time database, user authentication, cloud messaging, and more. On the other hand, Visual Studio App Center is a mobile app development toolset by Microsoft, providing services like building, testing, distributing, and monitoring mobile apps. Let's dive into the key differences between these two platforms.

  1. Integration with Development Tools: Firebase is closely integrated with various Google development tools and services, including Android Studio, which allows seamless integration and easy setup for developers. Visual Studio App Center, on the other hand, is focused on providing integration with Microsoft's development tools, such as Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code, offering a similar streamlined experience for developers using these tools.

  2. Backend as a Service (BaaS) Capabilities: Firebase is primarily known for its strong BaaS capabilities, providing features like real-time database, cloud functions, and user authentication out of the box. These services make it easier for developers to build, scale, and manage the backend of their mobile apps. On the contrary, Visual Studio App Center predominantly focuses on mobile DevOps, offering services like building, testing, and distribution, while relying on external services for backend functionality.

  3. Testing and Distribution Services: Visual Studio App Center has a strong emphasis on testing and distribution services. It provides features like automatic builds, continuous integration, and automated UI testing, enabling developers to streamline their testing and distribution processes. Firebase, although it offers some testing capabilities, does not provide the extensive testing and distribution services like Visual Studio App Center.

  4. Analytics and Crash Reporting: Firebase offers robust analytics and crash reporting capabilities, providing developers with insights into user behavior, app performance, and crash diagnostics. It allows developers to track user engagement, retention, and conversion, and also provides detailed crash reports with stack traces. Visual Studio App Center, while having some basic analytics and crash reporting features, does not provide the same level of depth and granularity as Firebase.

  5. Supported Platforms: Firebase supports a wide range of platforms, including Android, iOS, web, and backend services. It provides SDKs and libraries for various platforms, making it easy for developers to integrate Firebase into their apps. Visual Studio App Center primarily focuses on mobile platforms, supporting Android and iOS for building, testing, and distribution.

  6. Pricing Model: Firebase offers a range of pricing options, including a free tier with limited features and paid plans based on usage and additional features. Visual Studio App Center also offers a free tier, and its pricing is based on the number of monthly active users (MAUs) for distribution and analytics services. However, specific pricing details may vary, so it's recommended to check the respective websites for the most up-to-date information.

In summary, Firebase is known for its strong BaaS capabilities and integration with Google's development tools, while Visual Studio App Center focuses on mobile DevOps, providing extensive testing, distribution, and analytics services. Each platform has its own strengths and target audience, so the choice between Firebase and Visual Studio App Center depends on the specific requirements and preferences of the development team.

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Advice on Firebase, Visual Studio App Center

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

Detailed Comparison

Firebase
Firebase
Visual Studio App Center
Visual Studio App Center

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.

Automate the lifecycle of your iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS apps. Connect your repo and within minutes build in the cloud, test on thousands of real devices, distribute to beta testers and app stores, and monitor real-world usage with crash and analytics data. All in one place.

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.
Build; Test; Distribute; Crashes; Diagnostics; Analytics; Push; CD/CI;
Statistics
Stacks
42.5K
Stacks
113
Followers
36.0K
Followers
232
Votes
2.0K
Votes
4
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
  • 1
    For Mobile apps diagnostics and tracking
  • 1
    Bug tracking integration
  • 1
    Show error issues for mobile devices
  • 1
    Slack integration
Integrations
Trigger.io
Trigger.io
Famo.us
Famo.us
Backbone.js
Backbone.js
Ember.js
Ember.js
AngularJS
AngularJS
React
React
GitHub
GitHub
Bitbucket
Bitbucket
Azure DevOps
Azure DevOps
Slack
Slack

What are some alternatives to Firebase, Visual Studio App Center?

Jenkins

Jenkins

In a nutshell Jenkins CI is the leading open-source continuous integration server. Built with Java, it provides over 300 plugins to support building and testing virtually any project.

Ionic

Ionic

Free and open source, Ionic offers a library of mobile and desktop-optimized HTML, CSS and JS components for building highly interactive apps. Use with Angular, React, Vue, or plain JavaScript.

Travis CI

Travis CI

Free for open source projects, our CI environment provides multiple runtimes (e.g. Node.js or PHP versions), data stores and so on. Because of this, hosting your project on travis-ci.com means you can effortlessly test your library or applications against multiple runtimes and data stores without even having all of them installed locally.

Codeship

Codeship

Codeship runs your automated tests and configured deployment when you push to your repository. It takes care of managing and scaling the infrastructure so that you are able to test and release more frequently and get faster feedback for building the product your users need.

Flutter

Flutter

Flutter is a mobile app SDK to help developers and designers build modern mobile apps for iOS and Android.

React Native

React Native

React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.

CircleCI

CircleCI

Continuous integration and delivery platform helps software teams rapidly release code with confidence by automating the build, test, and deploy process. Offers a modern software development platform that lets teams ramp.

Xamarin

Xamarin

Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language, to create mobile applications for the industry’s most widely-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

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.

NativeScript

NativeScript

NativeScript enables developers to build native apps for iOS, Android and Windows Universal while sharing the application code across the platforms. When building the application UI, developers use our libraries, which abstract the differences between the native platforms.

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