What is BaaS?

Backend-as-a-Service allows developers to develop their client-side solutions faster since they don’t have to build or maintain the backend.

What does BaaS provide?

Usually, BaaS solutions provide these, but are not limited to:

• User authentication
• User management
• Database
• Project management
• Hosting
• File storage
• Email delivery
• Notifications
• Serverside functions

Some BaaS options:

• backendless
• Back4App
• Firebase
• AWS Amplify
• Appwrite
• Supabase

Why do I need BaaS?

I want to learn how to develop and deliver complete solutions for Polygon Oasis customers. With BaaS, I don’t have to spend time debugging and building a custom backend for each project from scratch. Most of the time functionality that I need is quite common, for example, file storage, database, and user authentication.

Journey so far

First, I tried Google Firebase. It has everything going for it, a vast list of features and services, and the only downside is that you and your customers are the product of Alphabet company. If you don’t mind Alphabet company being your overlord, go for it.

After trying out FireBase, I tried to look for alternatives. First, I wanted to find a self-hosted option because unlimited scaling can be scary if you mistake your cloud functions.

There are a couple of “self-hosted” options out there. First, I tried Supabase, which markets itself as an open-source Firebase alternative. It had all features that I was looking for. You can start using it in minutes if you buy hosting from them, and it even has a free tier for small projects/testing, but I could not get it to work when I tried to self-host it. Supabase might be a good option for you if you don’t want to serve Alphabet company, but the self-hosting was too complex to set up for me.

After supabase, I found appwrite. Appwrite is a Secure Open-Source Backend Server for Web, Mobile & Flutter development. They are planning to release the appwrite cloud, so you don’t have to worry about hosting, but currently, you have to do self-hosting. So far, appwrite seems to be the best option for me. Accessible to self-host has all the features that I am looking for, and for a bonus, appwrite has an active discord community, so it’s easy to find support and help from there.

This is just the beginning of my BaaS journey. I will produce a more complete tutorial on how to self-host appwrite and let you know if I change platform any time but for now appwrite