Guides

💡 This document compares bkend with major BaaS platforms such as Firebase, Supabase, and Appwrite.

Overview

bkend is a backend service with native MCP integration. This document compares it with other major BaaS (Backend as a Service) platforms across key categories.

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Core Comparison

Category	bkend	Firebase	Supabase	Appwrite
Database	MongoDB	Firestore (Document DB)	PostgreSQL 15/17	MariaDB (Document API)
Data Model	Dynamic BSON Schema	Schemaless Document	Static SQL Schema	Document (relational internally)
Auth Providers	Email, Google, GitHub	Email, Google, GitHub, etc. 9+ (SAML/OIDC)	Email, Google, GitHub, etc. 20+	Email, Google, GitHub, etc. 40+
File Storage	Object Storage	Cloud Storage	Object Storage	Built-in storage
Realtime	—	Firestore onSnapshot	Realtime Channels	Realtime Events (WebSocket)
MCP Integration	Built into the service (register URL)	Separate server (Firebase CLI)	Separate server (npm package)	Separate server (npm package)
Multi-tenancy	Project-based isolation	Project-based isolation	RLS-based custom implementation	Project-based isolation
Environment Separation	Dev / Staging / Prod	Project-based separation	Branching (Pro and above)	Project-based separation
Access Control	RLS (admin/user/self/guest)	Security Rules	RLS (PostgreSQL native)	Collection-level permissions
Offline Support	—	Firestore/RTDB native	—	—
Open Source	—	SDK only	Apache 2.0	BSD 3-Clause
Self-hosting	—	Not available	Docker Compose	Docker

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Free Plan Comparison

Scope of each service's free plan.

Category	bkend	Firebase (Spark)	Supabase (Free)	Appwrite (Starter)
Projects	—	Unlimited	2 (paused after 7 days inactive)	2
Auth MAU	—	Unlimited (Email/OAuth)	50,000	75,000
DB Storage	—	1 GiB (Firestore)	500 MB	—
DB Reads	—	50,000/day	—	500,000/month
DB Writes	—	20,000/day	—	250,000/month
File Storage	—	Blaze required (Feb 2026~)	1 GB	2 GB
Bandwidth	—	10 GB/month (Hosting)	2 GB/month	5 GB/month
Edge/Cloud Functions	—	Blaze required	500,000 invocations/month	750,000 executions/month
Realtime Connections	—	100 (RTDB)	200	250

⚠️ Starting February 2026, Firebase no longer supports Cloud Storage on the Spark (free) plan. You must upgrade to Blaze (pay-as-you-go).

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Paid Plan Comparison

Category	Firebase (Blaze)	Supabase (Pro)	Appwrite (Pro)
Monthly Base	$0 (pay-as-you-go)	$25	$25
DB Storage	$0.26/GB	8 GB included, then $0.125/GB	—
DB Read Overage	$0.18/100K	—	$0.06/100K
DB Write Overage	$0.18/100K	—	$0.10/100K
Auth MAU Overage	Free (Email/OAuth)	$0.00325/user	$3/1,000 users
Phone SMS	$0.01–$0.06/message	—	—
SAML/OIDC	$0.015/MAU	Team ($599/month)	—
File Storage	$0.026/GB	100 GB included	150 GB included
Bandwidth	$0.15/GB (Hosting)	250 GB included, then $0.09/GB	2 TB included, then $15/100GB
Cloud Functions	$0.40/M invocations	2M invocations included	3.5M executions included

💡 For bkend pricing details, visit the bkend official website.

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Database Comparison

bkend (MongoDB)

• Dynamic schema — Add and modify tables and columns freely from the console or MCP tools

• BSON Schema validation — Apply type validation on flexible schemas

• 7 column types — String, Number, Boolean, Date, Array, Object, Mixed

Firebase (Firestore)

• Document-based NoSQL — Collection/document structure with subcollection support

• Native offline — Offline cache enabled by default on Android and iOS

• Realtime sync — Detect data changes in real time with onSnapshot

• No joins — Relationships expressed via subcollections/references (no server-side joins)

Supabase (PostgreSQL)

• Relational database — Static SQL schema with foreign keys

• Native RLS — Fine-grained access control with PostgreSQL Row Level Security

• Powerful joins — Handle complex relational queries with SQL JOIN

• pgvector — Vector search extension for AI/embedding workloads

Appwrite (MariaDB)

• Document API — NoSQL-style interface, MariaDB under the hood

• Relationship support — one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many, cascade delete

• Multiple runtimes — Functions support Node.js, Python, Dart, PHP, and more

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Authentication Comparison

Feature	bkend	Firebase	Supabase	Appwrite
Email/Password	✅	✅	✅	✅
Magic Link	✅	✅ (Email Link)	✅	✅ (Magic URL)
Google OAuth	✅	✅	✅	✅
GitHub OAuth	✅	✅	✅	✅
Phone (SMS)	—	✅ (paid)	✅	✅ (OTP)
Anonymous Auth	—	✅	✅	✅
MFA	✅ (TOTP)	✅ (SMS + TOTP)	✅ (TOTP + Phone)	✅ (Email + Phone + TOTP)
SSO (SAML)	—	✅ (Identity Platform)	✅ (Team and above)	—
Account Linking	✅	✅	✅ (linkIdentity)	✅
Session Management	✅ (per device)	✅	✅	✅
Teams/Groups	RLS-based RBAC	Custom Claims	RLS-based implementation	Native Teams
OAuth Provider Count	2 (Google, GitHub)	9+ native	20+	40+

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AI Tool Integration

Category	bkend	Firebase	Supabase	Appwrite
MCP Server	Built into the service	Firebase CLI built-in (Oct 2025 GA)	Community package	Official package (Mar 2025)
Installation	Register URL only	npx firebase-tools@latest	npx supabase-mcp-server	npx @appwrite/mcp-server
Authentication	OAuth 2.1 (browser login)	Google Cloud auth	Access Token / API Key	API Key
Supported Tools	Claude Code, Cursor, etc.	Firebase Studio, Gemini CLI, Cursor	Cursor, Claude, VS Code Copilot	Cursor, Claude, Gemini CLI
Project Management	✅	✅	✅	✅
Table/Schema	✅ (dynamic schema)	⚠️ (Firestore collections)	✅ (SQL DDL)	✅
Data CRUD	✅	✅	✅ (SQL queries)	✅
AI Native	pgvector, etc. —	Vertex AI, Gemini API integration	pgvector vector search	—

💡 bkend MCP is built into the service, so you can start using it simply by registering the URL. Other services require installing and running the MCP server locally.

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Access Control Comparison

bkend

{
  "permissions": {
    "user": { "create": true, "read": true },
    "self": { "update": true, "delete": true },
    "guest": { "read": true }
  }
}

• Declarative JSON-based settings per table

• 4 groups: admin / user / guest / self

Firebase

rules_version = '2';
service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    match /posts/{postId} {
      allow read: if true;
      allow write: if request.auth != null;
    }
  }
}

• Custom logic based on Security Rules

Supabase

CREATE POLICY "Users can view own data"
ON posts FOR SELECT
USING (auth.uid() = user_id);

• SQL-based RLS policies, PostgreSQL native

Appwrite

• Collection-level permissions set in the console

• Access control by Any, Users, Guests, Teams

• Document-level permissions ($permissions field)

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Open Source & Self-hosting

Category	bkend	Firebase	Supabase	Appwrite
Open Source	—	SDK only	✅	✅
License	—	Proprietary	Apache 2.0	BSD 3-Clause
GitHub Stars	—	—	~75,000+	~46,000+
Self-hosting	—	Not available	Docker Compose	Docker
Commercial Use	—	N/A	✅	✅

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Selection Guide

Requirement	Recommended Service
Start immediately with AI tools — no MCP installation	bkend
Flexible schema + dynamic data model	bkend
Dev/Staging/Prod environment separation is essential	bkend
SQL joins and pgvector needed	Supabase
Mobile offline sync is critical	Firebase
Leverage Google Cloud ecosystem (Vertex AI, etc.)	Firebase
Prefer self-hosting + open source	Supabase, Appwrite
Need maximum OAuth provider support	Appwrite (40+)
Pay-as-you-go pricing	Firebase (Blaze)

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Next Steps

• Introduction to bkend — bkend overview

• Migrating from Firebase — Firebase migration

• Migrating from Supabase — Supabase migration

References

• Supabase Pricing

• Firebase Pricing

• Appwrite Pricing

• Supabase MCP Docs

• Firebase MCP Server

• Appwrite MCP Docs