Compare all

AWS AppSync vs Firebase

Discover how AWS AppSync compares to Firebase, and understand which is right for your use case, based on dimensions such as core features, pricing, reliability, and scalability.

AWS AppSync logo

What is AWS AppSync?

AWS AppSync is a fully managed service designed to streamline the process of building and deploying serverless GraphQL and pub/sub over WebSocket APIs. It enables developers to seamlessly handle and synchronize mobile app data in realtime across devices and users. Even when a mobile device is offline, AppSync permits data access and modification.

Firebase logo

What is Firebase?

Firebase is a cloud-native backend by Google that allows developers to build mobile and web applications. Firebase services include Firebase Realtime data, Firestore database, authentication, and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), among others.

Compare AWS AppSync and Firebase

Let’s compare AWS AppSync and Firebase, looking at key dimensions such as their core features, pricing, integrations, QoS, performance, and security and compliance.

Disclaimer:This comparison was created based on documentation and resources freely available online about AWS AppSync and Firebase. The content was last updated on 1 Aug 2024 for AWS AppSync and on 18 Nov 2024 for Firebase. Be sure to double-check everything before you make any decisions. If you do find anything incorrect or out of date, then please contact us.

Core features
Pub/Sub messaging

Reduces communication code complexity, simplifying the process of building highly functional and architecturally complex realtime apps.

AWS AppSync
Firebase

Partial

Firebase does not natively support Pub/Sub messaging. However, this can be implemented with Google's Pub/Sub service.

Read more
Chat capabilities

Accelerates the time to implement rich chat experiences with features such as read receipts, typing indicators, and more.

AWS AppSync

Partial

AWS AppSync can be used with other AWS products to build a chat product.

Find out how
Firebase

Yes

You can build chat capabilities on top of Firebase's Realtime Database.

Collaboration capabilities

Enables you to quickly integrate realtime collaborative features like live cursors, member location, avatar stacks, and component locking.

AWS AppSync

Partial

AWS AppSync provides the primitives to build basic collaborative experiences.

See example
Firebase

Yes

State sync capabilities

Enables realtime data synchronization across devices and users, ensuring a cohesive and up-to-date user experience.

AWS AppSync

Partial

Can be built on top of AppSync, but not available out of the box.

Firebase

Yes

The Firebase Realtime Database lets you store and sync data between your users in real time.

Read more
Presence

Maintaining a view of which users are connected, and their associated metadata, enables their online status to be updated in realtime.

AWS AppSync

Partial

"AWS AppSync does not provide events related to client connections or disconnections" (see source) - but it can be built on top of it by composing multiple AWS products.

Firebase

Yes

Firebase Realtime Database natively supports presence.

Read more
Occupancy

High-level metrics about the clients currently connected to a channel make it simple to show things such as connected user count, or display which channels are the most popular.

AWS AppSync

No

Firebase

Partial

Firebase does not have built-in support for occupancy tracking. However, occupancy tracking functionality can be built on top of the Firebase Realtime Database.

Message interactions

Enables interaction with previously-sent messages, facilitating the implementation of features like message reactions and threads.

AWS AppSync

No

Firebase

Partial

Message interactions are not natively supported in Firebase. However, you can programmatically build interactions on top of Firebase's Realtime Database.

Message history

Enables clients to catch up on missed messages when inactive, ensuring a user doesn’t miss any important messages.

AWS AppSync

Partial

Looks like you can get message history, but only in combination with other AWS services

see source
Firebase

No

Push notifications

Cross-platform push notifications make it possible to deliver important and timely messages to users even when they’re inactive.

AWS AppSync
Firebase

Yes

You can create, send, and monitor push notifications using Firebase Cloud Messaging.

Read more
Message delta compression

Minimizes bandwidth and can reduce latency, particularly in scenarios where continuous updates are sent.

AWS AppSync
Firebase

No

Programmatic management

Enables the automation of provisioning, management, and testing of service resources, simplifying integration with existing development workflows such as CI.

AWS AppSync

Yes

You can perform programmatic management using the AWS SDKs (Software Development Kits), AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), or infrastructure-as-code tools like AWS CloudFormation or AWS CDK (Cloud Development Kit).

Firebase

Yes

Firebase projects can be managed programmatically using the Firebase Management API.

Pricing
Free plan

With a free plan, you can test the service’s functionality and compatibility with your project before committing to a paid plan.

AWS AppSync

Yes

250,000 API requests free per month for 12 months with the AWS Free Tier.

Firebase

Yes

The Spark plan (free plan) realtime database is limited to 100 simultaneous connections and 1 GB of storage.

Read more
Pricing model

The pricing model should align with your project's expected load, usage patterns, and budget in order to be cost-effective and efficient.

AWS AppSync

You pay only for what you use with no minimum fees or mandatory service usage. You are billed separately for query and data modification operations, and for performing realtime updates on your data.

Read more
Firebase

Firebase has a free plan and a pay-as-you-go plan:

  • Free (Spark) plan: Limited to 100 simultaneous connections and 1 GB of storage.
  • PAYG (Blaze) plan: 1 GB of storage is priced at $5. Supports multiple databases per project.
Integrations & interoperability
SDKs

Supporting multiple languages and platforms offers greater flexibility when building cross-platform realtime apps.

AWS AppSync
  • iOS
  • Android
  • JavaScript
See source
Firebase
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Web
  • C++
  • Unity
Supported realtime protocols

Support for multiple protocols provides the flexibility to choose a protocol that best suits your project’s requirements.

AWS AppSync
  • WebSockets
Firebase
  • WebSockets
  • Server-sent events (SSEs)
Serverless functions

Enables integration with third-party cloud providers by facilitating the execution of custom code against messages to perform business logic like on-the-fly translation.

AWS AppSync
  • AWS Lambda
Firebase
  • Cloud Functions for Firebase
Streaming & queueing

Provides a dependable method to reroute messages from the service to third-party streams and queues for further processing.

AWS AppSync

AWS AppSync doesn't directly integrate with streaming and queuing services for data ingress and egress, but you can use the following AWS services alongside AppSync to build scalable and event-driven architectures for your applications:

Ingress:

  • Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
  • Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service)

Egress:

  • AWS Lambda
  • Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service)
Firebase

Yes

Observability services

Enables realtime monitoring and troubleshooting by offering insights into service behavior directly in your observability platform of choice.

AWS AppSync

Partial

Through AWS X-Ray native integration.

Read more
Firebase

Yes

Using Firebase Performance Monitoring you can monitor your application performance based on location, device, or version.

CI/CD tools

Makes it possible to provision and configure service infrastructure as part of a CI or CD pipeline, enabling repeatable and reliable deployments.

AWS AppSync

No

Firebase

Yes

Supports:

  • Jenkins
  • Buddy CI/CD
  • Google Cloud Build
  • GitHub Workflow
Quality of Service
Scalability

Scalability is vital as it ensures the service can handle increased data load or users without compromising performance.

AWS AppSync

No published metrics are available. However, this works on top of serverless technology which means theoretically it should scale to millions of concurrent connection with little to no tuning from the customer.

Firebase

Firebase Realtime Database is limited to 200,000 simultaneous connections, 1000 Cloud Functions per write (500 for v2 per region), 1 MB event size, and 10 MB/sec data transfer to Cloud Functions.

Guaranteed message delivery

Ensures messages are never lost during transmission, even in the presence of network disruptions.

AWS AppSync

No

Firebase

No

Guaranteed message ordering

Maintains the sequence of messages as they were sent. This is particularly important in apps where the chronological order of messages is essential for meaningful communication.

AWS AppSync

No

Firebase

No

Exactly-once message delivery

Guarantees that each message is processed exactly once, preventing data inconsistencies that can arise from duplicate processing or missing messages.

AWS AppSync

No

Firebase

No

Performance & availability
Uptime Guarantee

An uptime guarantee instills confidence in the reliability of the service and protects your business from the negative impacts of downtime.

AWS AppSync

99.95 uptime SLA

Firebase

99.95%.

Read more
Global edge network

By bringing servers (Points of Presence, or PoP) geographically closer to the devices of end users, and routing requests to the nearest PoP, global latency is reduced to a minimum.

AWS AppSync

No

Firebase

Yes

Firebase benefits from Google's global edge network.

Multi-region data replication (message durability)

By replicating data across multiple regions, the risk of data loss or downtime is greatly mitigated since if data is lost or a server fails in one region, the information can be retrieved from another.

AWS AppSync

Partial

Single region by default - multi region deployment of AWS AppSync would require integration of Amazon DynamoDB Global Tables.

Firebase

No

Multi-region data replication is currently not supported in Firebase Realtime Database, but it is supported in Firestore databases.

No single point of failure or congestion

Having no single point of failure means a system is resilient and can continue to operate even if one part fails. Avoiding a single point of congestion ensures messages flow efficiently across the system and avoids bottlenecks that could lead to performance issues under load.

AWS AppSync

Partial

Not available by default - but could be built with the integration of Amazon DynamoDB Global Tables.

Firebase

No

Each Realtime Database instance is tied to a single region chosen at the time of creation.

Latency

Low latency is crucial for realtime apps as it ensures swift and efficient data transmissions, providing a smoother and more responsive user experience.

AWS AppSync

Unknown, although reports in forums suggest it is 200-500 ms.

Firebase

Unknown.

Security & compliance
API key authentication

Simplifies the authentication code on trusted servers compared to requesting, managing, and refreshing tokens.

AWS AppSync
Firebase

No

Token-based authentication

Provides a means to securely authenticate user devices against your user management system.

AWS AppSync

Yes

JWT via Amazon Cognito User Pools.

See how it works
Firebase

Yes

Supported with JSON Web Tokens (JWTs).

Read more
Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication

SSO streamlines login processes, boosts security by minimizing password use, and meets compliance needs for secure data access management.

AWS AppSync

Yes

Can set up auth with AWS IAM, and AWS IAM can be configured with any identity source (e.g. Okta).

Learn more
Firebase

Yes

SSO in a Firebase application can be implemented using SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language).

Read more
Rules for permissions and operations

Provides control over which users can subscribe and publish to certain channels.

AWS AppSync
Firebase

Yes

Using Firebase Realtime Database Security Rules you can set who has access to your database.

Read more
End-to-end encryption

Ensures that the data transmitted between the client and the API server remains confidential and secure while in transit.

AWS AppSync

Yes

TLS1.2 supported; TLS1.3 recommended.

Read more
Firebase

No

Data in transit is encrypted using HTTPS in all Firebase services, but this does not include end-to-end encryption.

Read more
Encryption at rest

Ensures data stored by the service is secure and compliant, while also mitigating the risks of a data breach.

AWS AppSync

Yes

Done using AWS Key Management Service keys. This ensures that data in services like AppSync is securely encrypted.

Read more
Firebase

Partial

Some Firebase services are encrypted at rest while others are not. Firebase Realtime Database and Firebase Cloud Messaging are encrypted at rest.

Read more
Compliance

Compliance with regulations can impact your ability to meet legal obligations in your industry.

AWS AppSync
  • SOC
  • PCI
  • HIPAA/HIPAA BAA
  • IRAP
  • C5
  • ENS High
  • OSPAR
  • HITRUST CSF programs
Firebase
  • SOC1
  • SOC2
  • SOC3
  • ISO 27001
  • GDPR
  • CCPA

Alternatives to AWS AppSync and Firebase

While both AWS AppSync and Firebase are worth considering as options for realtime experiences, they aren’t without their limitations. We suggest evaluating them against the following alternatives to make sure you find the right solution for your needs.

Alternatives to AWS AppSync

Amazon-api-gateway logo

Amazon API Gateway is a service for building, deploying, and managing APIs.

Firebase logo

Firebase Realtime Database is a cloud-hosted database by Google, allowing developers to build realtime applications for web and mobile.

tech provider image

Apollo GraphQL is a scalable platform that unifies all your data sources to one GraphQL API.

See more alternatives to AWS AppSync

Alternatives to Firebase

tech provider image

Supabase Realtime is a globally distributed real-time server network built on PostgreSQL, enabling developers to build applications with real-time data sync.

Pusher logo

Pusher is a first-generation pub/sub messaging service that provides bi-directional hosted APIs for adding realtime features to applications.

tech provider image

OneSignal is a customer engagement platform that offers push notifications, messages, and email sends for businesses to manage communication with their users.

See more alternatives to Firebase

Discover how AWS AppSync and Firebase stack up against Ably

Ably is the definitive realtime experience platform of the internet. See how we compare to AWS AppSync and Firebase on key dimensions such as core features, pricing, integrations, QoS, performance, and security and compliance.

Try Ably for free to discover the benefits for yourself

Ably has built reliable realtime infrastructure so you don’t have to. On our free plan you benefit from:

  • 6M monthly messages
  • 200 concurrent channels
  • 200 concurrent connections