The Best Backend-as-a-Service Platforms in 2026

A backend-as-a-service gives a frontend or mobile app a database, auth, file storage and an API without running servers, and for a new app that is usually the right trade. The part that gets less attention is the exit. Most apps that succeed outgrow the BaaS in some way, and the database model picked on day one decides whether that step is a dump and restore or a rewrite of the data layer.

This guide ranks six platforms with that in mind: what they give you now, and what leaving them would take.

What a team needs from a BaaS:

• A database model that fits the app and can move to another host.
• Auth, storage and realtime without extra services.
• A local development setup that matches production.
• A licence and self-hosting option that leave a way out.

BaaS platforms at a glance

Compare what leaving each platform involves

Question	Supabase	Firebase	Convex	Appwrite	Nhost	PocketBase
Data export	Standard Postgres dump	Firestore export, document model	Convex data model	Appwrite's database API	Standard Postgres dump	One SQLite file
Access rules move with the data	Row-level security in Postgres	Firebase security rules	In Convex functions	Appwrite permissions	Hasura permissions	PocketBase rules
Run it yourself first	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Local development	supabase start	Emulators	npx convex dev	Docker	Self-hosted stack	./pocketbase serve

1. Supabase: Postgres underneath, which keeps every exit open

Supabase is an open source BaaS built on Postgres, with auth, storage, edge functions and realtime, under the Apache 2.0 licence. Access control uses Postgres row-level security, with the rules stored in the database. The CLI runs the whole stack locally: supabase init and supabase start bring up Postgres, Auth, Realtime, Storage, Edge Functions and the APIs, and migrations live in the repository.

Because the data and the rules are both Postgres, the exit is the easiest in this list. The free plan includes a 500 MB database, 50,000 monthly active users, 1 GB of file storage and 5 GB of egress for up to two active projects, and free projects pause after a week of inactivity.

Good to know: security depends on writing correct row-level security policies, and self-hosting means running several services.

2. Firebase: the best mobile SDKs, the hardest move later

Firebase is Google's proprietary BaaS, with Firestore, Authentication, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions and mature mobile SDKs with offline sync. Clients talk to Firestore directly, and security rules per collection decide what each user can read and write. The Spark plan is no-cost with usage limits, and the Blaze plan is pay as you go.

For a mobile app that lives on Google's stack, it is the strongest option here. The cost shows up later: it cannot be self-hosted, Firestore's document model makes relational queries harder, and moving off means rewriting data access and rules together.

3. Convex: reactive TypeScript, on a data model of its own

Convex is a TypeScript-first backend where queries are functions and the client subscribes to them reactively. Its backend is self-hostable under the Functional Source License FSL-1.1-Apache-2.0, which converts to Apache 2.0 after two years. npx convex dev syncs the functions in a convex/ folder to a development deployment as you save, and the schema is TypeScript too. The free plan includes 1 million function calls a month.

For collaborative tools and live dashboards, reactive queries remove a lot of client code. The self-hosted backend includes most features of the cloud product, which is a real exit from the hosted service, but not from Convex's data model and query API.

4. Appwrite: broad SDKs and Docker self-hosting

Appwrite is an open source BaaS under the BSD 3-Clause licence, with databases, auth, storage, functions, messaging and realtime, and SDKs for many platforms. Self-hosting starts with a single docker run command that installs the stack. A free cloud project that reaches a plan limit is frozen, and its console becomes read-only until usage drops or the project upgrades.

Good to know: its database API is Appwrite's own, with no direct SQL access for app code.

5. Nhost: GraphQL generated from Postgres

Nhost combines Postgres, Hasura GraphQL, auth and storage under the MIT licence. Tables you create in Postgres show up in the GraphQL API, and permissions are set per role in Hasura. The data leaves as a Postgres dump, while the permissions live in Hasura. The free Starter plan allows one active project with a 1 GB database, 1 GB of storage and 5 GB of egress, and pauses after a week of inactivity. A REST-first team gets less from it.

6. PocketBase: a whole backend in one binary, for small apps

PocketBase is a single Go binary with an embedded SQLite database, auth, file storage, realtime and an admin UI, under the MIT licence. ./pocketbase serve starts it, and it can also be used as a Go framework inside your own program, with JavaScript and Dart SDKs for clients. It costs only the server you run it on.

Good to know: it is still before version 1.0, and its maintainers do not recommend it for production-critical applications yet, nor guarantee backward compatibility before 1.0. A single SQLite file scales up on one machine, not out.

Signs you are outgrowing a BaaS

Most teams leave a BaaS for one of a few reasons. Business logic moves out of the client and into functions until the functions are the real backend. Background work, such as queues, retries and scheduled jobs, ends up in a second system. Compliance or data residency asks for the database to sit in an account the company controls. Or the bill grows with usage in a way that a plain database and a few services would not.

None of these mean the BaaS was the wrong start. They mean the next step is a backend you own, and the database model you picked on day one decides how hard that step is.

How to choose

Choose the database first, since it is the hardest part to change later. Postgres platforms keep SQL and a standard dump format, document stores trade joins for simpler client access, and SQLite keeps everything in one file. Then check the licence and self-hosting story, and read the free tier rules on pausing and freezing before you launch.

• Supabase for Postgres with auth and realtime, and the easiest move later.
• Firebase for mobile apps with offline sync on Google's stack.
• Convex for reactive TypeScript apps built around live data.
• Appwrite for SDKs on many platforms and Docker self-hosting.
• Nhost for a GraphQL API generated from Postgres.
• PocketBase for small apps and internal tools in one binary.

When you outgrow it: a backend in your own AWS or GCP account

Teams that reach that point usually want the database, the background jobs and the API in a cloud account they control. One option is Encore, an open source infrastructure SDK for TypeScript and Go where databases, Pub/Sub and object storage are declared in code and provisioned in your own AWS or GCP account. The schema from a Supabase or Nhost database becomes Encore migrations and the data loads from a Postgres dump, and apps can also be built as Docker images and run on your own infrastructure.

Related guides

• What is backend-as-a-service
• Supabase alternatives
• Firebase alternatives
• Migrate from Supabase to AWS