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September 23, 2019
What do you think is the most challenging part when starting with the development of your application? From our experience, that’s got to be having the right technology stack at your disposal, more specifically, choosing a proper database that you can work with.
There are many issues that can happen if you don’t get the database right. You might not have too many scaling opportunities, the bandwidth can get easily consumed, and things can get messy without experience and expertise.
If you want to scale the app to unlimited heights, you need to get a grasp of all the features that your database can provide you with. That is why understanding which database is perfect for your app development is key.
For that purpose, in this article, we’re going to compare two of the most popular databases out there – Firebase vs. MongoDB, and together, decide which one is the best to start the app development on.
What Is Firebase?
Google’s Firebase is not an ordinary database. It’s a fully-packed back-end service product for mobile and web app development. It is excellent for real-time app development projects that require data handling throughout several devices.
Cloud Firestore represents the service provided along Firebase. Google’s Firebase owns the best cloud data-structure, enabling you to store your data on the cloud to sync it across devices or share it with other users. All in all, it’s a suite of tools for creating mobile and web apps.
Firebase provides you with the following set of features:
- Real-time database
- Cloud Firestore
- Test lab
- Hosting
- Dynamic links
- Firebase Authentication
- App indexing
- Crash reporting
- Storage
- In-app messaging
- Performance analysis
- Cloud messaging
- Predictions
- AdMob
- Cloud functionalities
Firebase also supports the following app development platforms that you can work with:
- Android support
- iOS support
- Web support
- C++ support
- Unity support
What Is MongoDB?
MongoDB is an open-source database that contrary to Firebase, which is a complete suite of tools, it represents nothing more than a database, although a highly-potent one.
When you want to develop your app on top of MongoDB, you need to take into consideration the database’s extremely powerful indexing and querying functions.
The programming languages that MongoDB supports for app development are:
- C#
- C++
- Dart
- Delphi
- Erlang
- Go
- Groovy
- Haskell
- Java
- JavaScript
- Lisp
- Lua
- MatLab
- Perl
- PHP
- PowerShell
- Prolog
- Python
- R
- Ruby Scala
- Smalltalk
Firebase vs MongoDB Comparison
Both databases have their own admins where you can set up a backend server, as well as allowing you to configure numerous other aspects.
Let’s compare the features of the two databases in a table to see their ins and outs, and get a better picture of what each of them provides you with as an app developer.
The main advantages of using Firebase for app development are:
- Real-time updates
- Effortless device synchronization
- Withstanding high traffic spikes
- Cloud-Based Event Queue.
- Real-time Push Notifications
- Real-time chatting
- Pay-as-you-go plans and affordable rates
- Synchronized Application State.
- High-end CDN for static websites.
- Google’s Cloud Platform as an excellent hosting service.
The disadvantages of Firebase are:
- Complex security procedures
- Doesn’t provide a free version
- No relational queries
- Data migration can get tricky
The benefits that you’re getting with MongoDB are:
- Potent scalability
- No rigid schema.
- Flexible data addition/deletion
- Data visualization in JSON/BSON
- Geographic support.
- BigData Hadoop integration
- It allows a free version
- Documentation and tutorials for new users
- SQL injection proof
MongoDB’s cons involve the following:
- It can get easily corrupted, with data leakages as a common consequence.
- Indexing and searching are not that effortless.
- Not completely compliant with ACID (Atomic, Consistency, Isolation, Durability)
- Dubious hosting settlements
- Complicated queries
Where to Use Them
All things considered, we reckon that these are the situations in which you need to use one of the databases:
Firebase:
- Fast development
- Real-time data management
- Frequent and effortless app scalability
- Instant messaging, gaming, and social media
- Real-time device synchronization
- APIs for efficient 3rd party integrations
MongoDB:
- Progressive data requirements
- Real-time data analytics
- Higher scalability requirements
- Location-based data management
- Enterprise Data Management
Some of the top companies that benefit from using Firebase for app development are Lyft, Venmo, Duolingo, Alibaba, Shazam, NYT.
There are major companies that utilize from MongoDB as their development database, such as Verizon, EA Games, Adobe, and SEGA.
The Verdict
Obviously, both of the databases have their own unique sets of functionalities, benefits, and situations where it’s best to use them. It all comes down to the conditions that your app development process is in, and its requirements. In essence, your choice depends on what you want to achieve in the first place!
However, there’s no doubt about the flexibility and real-time power that Firebase provides you with, not to mention how straightforward it is to implement it into your app development process.
As a matter of fact, we’re here to make that even more comfortable for you. Allow us to present our headless CMS that allows you to streamline your Firebase-based app development process.
Entering AppAdm, our online admin creator, where you can manage your data, connect to any Firebase or Firestore source, and save up to 40% of your workload. AppAdm provides you with the following features.
- Fast Development: Create an app admin panel as swift as possible!
- Content Flexibility: Gorgeous data representation, no matter the data structure.
- Front and Back-end: An admin panel that is suitable for both admin and regular users.
- Dynamic Navigation: Our magic menu builder allows you to create a high-end and dynamic admin panel
- Push Notifications: You can effortlessly send push notifications through OneSignal, Firebase Push, and Expo.io.
- Media Management: Our media manager allows you to upload and organize your media in the FireStorage smoothly.
