Developing a successful app isn’t easy. To reach a broad audience, you’ll need to consider your iOS, Android, and web apps users; and to build for these platforms. Further, you’ll need a secure cloud storage with strong and secure database to store data and support these apps.
You aim to get more users, hopefully, lots of users (like millions) which means your cloud storage and database will have to scale. Assuming you have solved your scaling problems, you have to find more ways to get new users. Further, this will increase your website and mobile app traffic, which in turn needs more backend technology scaling.
Oh no, your app is crashing and causing a service meltdown, and you haven’t even made a dime yet.
Sounds like a nightmare, right?
Do you know what went wrong? It’s your database.
When you design apps for iOS, Android, or the web; the database is a huge deal, so if not designed or set up correctly, it could become a big problem.
The most common issues with databases are:
- Designing a database from scratch is very tricky, given that you need to make an easy path for scalability.
- It consumes a lot of bandwidth from trafficking between the database and application front-end.
- Database hostage is a very tough and costly task for new startups in the making.
- Managing your own authentication system becomes tricky and complicated if you lack database expertise.
The solution to all these issues is to choose the best technology after thorough research. In other words, choose the best database from the start. But you first need to learn about different databases.
Quick Lesson on Database Types
The only two database categories that you need to be concerned about are SQL and NoSQL.
SQL
MySQL is the leading SQL relational database which is compatible to create both small and large size application. In the SQL database, the data is stored in a linear fashion in tables like an excel spreadsheet. In short, you can consider SQL as MS Excel on Steroids.
Top SQL Database Alternatives:
- MySQL
- OracleDB
- SQLite
- PostgreSQL
- AWS RDS
- MS SQL Server
- AWS Aurora
- MariaDB
- Google Cloud SQL
- SAP SQL Anywhere
NoSQL
A NoSQL database is a non-relational database used to store and retrieve data. These databases work best with big data and real-time web applications. In the NoSQL database, the data is in a tree-like structure. For instance, every new information is added as a branch and then sub-branches as you keep on adding.
Top NoSQL Database Alternatives:
- MongoDB
- Firebase
- Cassandra
- Elasticsearch
- Couchbase
- Oracle NoSQL
- Neo4j
- HBase
- Memcached
- CouchDB
- Redis
Why Did The Companies Move From SQL To NoSQL?
There were many drawbacks that businesses faced due to setting up an SQL database. Evidently, the NoSQL database resolved these drawbacks.
SQL
- The fixed schema of SQL made it hard (almost impossible) for changing business requirements.
- If you still try a schema change, it would be very problematic and time-consuming.
- SQL had insufficient performance when compared to new databases and high latency.
- Scalability became very limited and costly.
NoSQL
- It works well for both unstructured and unrelated data.
- NoSQL gives up a few features of the traditional databases to improve speed and scalability.
- These databases are quite cheaper, faster and safer to extend a preexisting program.
Choose The Best NoSQL Database: Mongodb Vs. Firebase
Now that you may have found that NoSQL database is the best option for you to set up your servers, you must find the best NoSQL database. Likewise, there are two prominent candidates for you to choose from Firebase Vs. MongoDB.
Firebase and MongoDB can both be used as a service. Consequently, they both have their own website where you can configure the backend server for your data. Most importantly, you can set the users, permissions, data security, and many other factors. These configurations are possible on both Firebase and MongoDB.
Let us get a more detailed look at what exactly are Firebase & MongoDB, and what do they have to offer?
What is Firebase?
Firebase is a real-time engine with background connectivity. It’s an entire ecosystem for building web and mobile apps. Google presently acquires Firebase. Google Firebase is a much more complete solution than MongoDB as it has many services like hosting, storage, cloud function, machine learning, and much more.
For my non-technical readers, Firebase is a Backend-as-a-Service. It provides a real-time database and backend as a service. Realtime database is perfect when you want your data to remain synchronized across all of your app users.
It is perfect for applications that need real-time data fetching like chatting apps, multi-player gaming app, stock trading apps, or sports score update app.
Firebase Offers Following Suite Of Features
What is MongoDB?
MongoDB is a document database that offers the scalability and flexibility that you want with the querying and indexing of your need. It’s an open Source NoSQL database that is managed and developed by MongoDB Inc. The main emphasis while building MongoDB was on scalability and consistency.
Although MongoDB doesn’t provide a complete ecosystem like Firebase but rather primarily focuses only on the storage of data, it is still adopted widely just because of the sheer number of different app categories it can power. The developers have a lot more power in developing apps because they don’t have to make their application accommodate the needs of the database anymore. MongoDB accommodates them so the app can store data in a natural way.
Pros, Cons & Comparisons of Firebase Vs. MongoDB
Here are some common comparisons between Firebase and MongoDB.
| Common Comparison | Firebase | MongoDB |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | Firebase has inferior performance than MongoDB | MongoDB provides high performance with high traffic apps |
| Developer | Developed by Google | Developed by MongoDB |
| Supported Languages | It supports Java, Objective-C,PHP, NodeJS, JavaScript, Swift, C++, etc. | MongoDB supports Java, JavaScript, PHP, NodeJS, C, C#, Perl, Python, etc. |
| Security | Firebase is not as Secure as MongoDB | It is more Secure than Firebase |
| Applications | This one is ideal for small-scale applications | This database is best suitable for large-scale applications |
Firebase and MongoDB are very proficient and great in their respective applications so just a few common comparisons can’t do justice to these technologies
So here are a detailed list of Pros and Cons of MongoDB Vs. Google Firebase for you to get a better idea.
Pros of Firebase Vs. MongoDB
| Firebase | MongoDB |
|---|---|
| Instant data updates without refreshing. | MongoDB has powerful sharding and scaling capabilities |
| Easy to synchronize multiple computers with the database. | Dynamic — No rigid schema. |
| No need to worry about your server going into meltdown if you suddenly get tonnes of traffic. | Flexible – field addition/deletion have less or no impact on the application |
| It has a Cloud-Based Event Queue. | Data Representation in JSON or BSON |
| Real-time Firebase Push Notifications | MongoDB has Geospatial support. |
| Google Firebase is ideal for Real-time Chat/messaging applications. | Easy Integration with BigData Hadoop |
| Firebase pricing offers a pay-as-you-go plan with flexible rates. | This one offers a free version when you configure it in your own server, with the paid version you will get a serverless set up (using MongoDB servers). |
| It offers synched Application State. | MongoDB’s documentation has a very vast collection of literature and MongoDB tutorials for new users. |
| This one offers a superfast CDN for static websites. | It is very flexible as it doesn't require a unified data structure across all objects. |
| With Google's Cloud Platform, Firebase allows straightforward hosting. | MongoDB is secure because no SQL injection can be made. |
Cons of MongoDB Vs. Firebase
| Firebase | MongoDB |
|---|---|
| Firebase has esoteric security protocols. | MongoDB is infamous for corrupting, leaking, or losing data over time. |
| Firebase only has paid version so you can’t set up Firebase on your own server, you will have to purchase Google’s server. | The indexing and searching in MongoDB are not very powerful. |
| There are no relational queries in Firebase. | MongoDB is not entirely ACID-compliant (Atomic, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) |
| You don't own the servers that host your data, so it's not possible to export your user data. | No function or stored procedure exists where you can bind the logic |
| Dealing with relations with Firebase is quite complex. | MongoDB has confusing 'middleman' hosting arrangements |
| With Firebase, data migration is a tricky subject. | Complex queries are very difficult to work with. |
Firebase Vs. MongoDB: Where to Use Each Database
| Where to use Firebase | Where to use MongoDB |
|---|---|
| For short on development time | Evolving data requirements |
| If your app needs data in real-time | Real-time analytics & high-speed logging |
| Planning to scale your application easily and frequently | Better Caching & high scalability |
| Perfect for Instant messaging, online gaming, & social networks apps | Complete Configuration Management |
| Real-time sync between devices and browsers | Maintaining location-based data — Geospatial data |
| Intuitive API for seamless 3rd party integration | Large Enterprise Data Management |
Firebase Vs. MongoDB: Where Not to Use Each Database
| Where not to use Firebase | Where not to use MongoDB |
|---|---|
| Google Firebase is not right for you if you wish to own your user data. | Highly transactional systems or where the data model is designed up front. |
| Firebase offers a limited number of languages so you can’t create your own custom back-end API. | There are better options than MongoDB if you are planning to build a Detailed design system. |
| If your monthly plan exceeds, then Firebase charges a significant amount. | If complete ACID compliance is your need, skip this database. |
Top Companies using Firebase for their Database needs:
Top Companies using MongoDB for their Database needs:
Firebase Vs. MongoDB: Who Has The Upper Hand In 2019?
Both the technologies have their own expertise and space of integration. Firebase is designed for real-time updates and data management, while MongoDB is the best bet for quick data handling for large enterprises.
I believe that after all the descriptions, comparisons, Pros & Cons, the final decision should be left to you, the reader. After all, it is you who is planning to choose from these two databases.
One thing is sure; whichever database you choose, you will need a very highly skilled and intellectual team of developers to set up your back-end database structure. So choose your Firebase developer or MongoDB developer only after proper analysis and research.
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