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Appwrite
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Appwrite

Appwrite is an open source backend-as-a-service you can self-host — a Firebase alternative that bundles authentication, databases, storage, serverless functions, messaging, and hosting behind SDKs and a REST API.

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What is Appwrite?

Appwrite is an open source backend-as-a-service that gives your app a ready-made backend — authentication, a database, file storage, serverless functions, messaging, and realtime updates — accessed through client SDKs and a REST API. You self-host it with Docker or use the managed Appwrite Cloud, and it’s a direct alternative to Firebase.

What is Appwrite best for?

Web, mobile, and Flutter developers who want to ship an app without building and wiring up backend infrastructure by hand. It fits teams that like Firebase’s speed but want to own their data, avoid usage-based cloud bills, or run the whole stack on their own servers.

What can Appwrite do?

  • Authentication with email/password, OAuth, phone/SMS, magic links, and multi-factor auth
  • A document database with querying, relationships, and pagination
  • File storage with encryption, compression, and image transformations
  • Serverless functions across 15 runtimes (Node.js, Python, PHP, Dart, Go, and more)
  • Messaging for email, SMS, and push notifications from one API
  • Realtime updates over WebSockets, plus Sites for Git-based app hosting
  • Client SDKs for Web, Flutter, Apple, Android, and React Native, and server SDKs for 10+ languages

Is Appwrite free?

Yes — Appwrite is free to self-host under the BSD-3-Clause license, and you only pay for the server it runs on. Appwrite Cloud is the paid, managed option: a free tier for small projects, then Pro from $25/month, with custom Enterprise pricing for SLAs, compliance, and SSO.

Where does Appwrite fall short?

  • Its database is a document/collection model layered on MariaDB, not raw SQL. If you need direct Postgres access, complex joins, or arbitrary SQL, a tool like Supabase fits better.
  • The self-hosted stack runs many containers at once (the API, MariaDB, Redis, and background workers), so it wants more memory and CPU than a lightweight single-binary backend like PocketBase.
  • The ecosystem is smaller and younger than Firebase’s, which means fewer third-party integrations and less community tooling around it.

What does Appwrite replace?

Appwrite is a self-hosted alternative to Firebase and AWS Amplify — the same auth, database, storage, and functions bundle, but on infrastructure you own. Its authentication piece also stands in for a dedicated identity service like Auth0.

FAQ

Is Appwrite open source? Yes. Appwrite is released under the BSD-3-Clause license, a permissive OSI-approved license that allows commercial use. The full platform is on GitHub and free to self-host.

Can I self-host Appwrite for free? Yes. Self-hosting is free — you only pay for the server. It installs with Docker Compose and also runs on Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, or Rancher.

Is Appwrite a good Firebase alternative? For teams that want to own their data and avoid per-read cloud pricing, yes. Firebase still has the edge on managed scale and Google Cloud integrations, so the trade is control versus convenience.

What do I need to run Appwrite? A machine that can run Docker. The stack includes the Appwrite API plus MariaDB and Redis, so give it enough RAM and CPU to run several containers comfortably.