Firebase is a sophisticated service from Google that can help developers create and develop applications without the need to manually manage servers.
Build sophisticated applications, developing back-end without managing servers, scale easily, build machine learning infrastructure, hosting solutions and storage, as well as Cloud Functions, is the dream of most developers.
Firebase is the right choice when you want to develop your application all the way to production.
One of Firebase’s excellent features is the Firebase Hosting feature which you can use for various purposes, one of which is storing website content.
Not only as hosting, there are many other things about what Firebase is that you need to know. Come on, see to the end the explanation about what Firebase is and why Firebase is a popular service for developers!
What is Firebase?
Firebase is a service developed by Google to help developers in building and producing applications, without having to think about managing the servers used.
Besides being favored because it is the service of the world’s number one search engine, Firebase also offers some ease of managing databases, hosting, cloud storage and more.
The infrastructure offered by the Firebase service is Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS), which allows developers to focus on the front end of the applications and take advantage of back-end services without the need to build or maintain servers. This certainly makes it easier to develop applications that are being built.
Firebase features
Firebase is a service that offers two versions, namely Free or free and Premium or paid. The features offered by Firebase Free are actually good enough to support the existing application development facilities build by developers.
Here we summarize the differences between the two free (Spark) and paid (Blaze) versions of Firebase services:
| Firebase Spark (free version) | Firebase Blaze (includes all Spark features) |
| A/B testing | A/B testing |
| Analytics | Analytics |
| App Distribution | App Distribution |
| Indexing App | Indexing App |
| Cloud Messaging (FCM) | Cloud Messaging (FCM) |
| Crashlytics | Crashlytics |
| Dynamic Links | Dynamic Links |
| In-App Messaging | In-App Messaging |
| Performance Monitoring | Performance Monitoring |
| Remote Config | Remote Config |
| Hosting (10GB storage) | Hosting (10GB storage) |
| Realtime Database (100 simultaneous connections) | Realtime Database (100 simultaneous connections) |
| CloudStorage (5GB) | CloudStorage (5GB) |
| Cloud Firestore (1GB) | Cloud Firestore (1GB) |
| Authentication | |
| Cloud Functions | |
| Firebase ML |
You can check the cost of Firebase premium via the following link: Firebase Pricing
Types of Firebase and Their Functions
Based on its function, Firebase can be divided into three types, along with the types and explanations for each;
1. Firebase Builds
Firebase Build serves as a development space where you can build apps without managing servers, commits troubleshoot easily, and integrate applications with millions of users in it, without worrying about slowness and the like.
Several Firebase Build types are available tools important include:
CloudFirestore
Cloud Firestore is a flexible and scalable database for developing mobile, website, and server versions of Firebase and Google Cloud.
Remote Config
The Remote Config feature in Firebase is a cloud service which allows you to change the results and the appearance of your app without requiring users to download app updates first.
When using Remote Config, you can later use the Firebase Console or the Remote Config Back-end API to override default values within the app for all app users or for a segment of your user base.
Real-time Database
Firebase Realtime Database is a hosted/cloud database. Data is stored as JSON and synced in real-time to every connected client.
When you build cross-platform apps with the Apple, Android, and JavaScript SDK platforms, all of your clients automatically receive updates with the latest data.
AppCheck
Firebase App Check helps protect API resources from abuse by preventing third parties from accessing back-end resources.
App Check can collaborate with Firebase services, Google Cloud services, and your own APIs to keep your resources safe.
Cloud Messaging
Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) is a cross-platform messaging solution that allows you to send messages at no cost.
Hosting
Firebase Hosting is a typical web content hosting, but it’s specifically for developers. You can upload a web app, then it can be for static and dynamic content that will later connect to the global CDN.
You can also pair Firebase Hosting with Cloud Functions or Cloud Run to build and store microservices on Firebase.
CloudStorage
Firebase’s Cloud Storage is a powerful, simple and cost-effective object storage service. The Firebase SDK for Cloud Storage adds Google’s proprietary security features to the uploaded and downloaded files for your Firebase app.
2. Firebase Release and Monitor
This type of Firebase serves to simplify the process of testing, triaging, and troubleshooting problems encountered early on, such as fixing stability or performance issues.
You can also release and monitor the features that have been released carefully so that problems do not occur later. Some of the important tools in Firebase include:
Firebase Crashlytics
Firebase Crashlytics is a tool for reporting bugs in real-time, which can help you track, prioritize, and fix stability issues that can result in decreased app quality.
Crashlytics is also capable of filtering bugs and generating reports on whether or not the error is impacting multiple users. It can also alert you when a problem suddenly gets worse and modularly figure out which line of code is causing the crash.
Google Analytics
Firebase Google Analytics is another analytical tool offered by Google for doing crawl and error checking in your application. Apart from functioning as an analysis, Google Analytics can also provide input to its users to optimize application performance.
One of the important features of tools this is its detection system capable of tracking down the source of the problem from scripts in the application, so you can easily make improvements according to existing suggestions.
Remote Config
Firebase’s Remote Config feature is a cloud service that allows you to change configurations as needed and update your app’s view instantly, without users having to download app updates first.
Performance Monitoring
Firebase Performance Monitoring is a service that helps you get results monitoring your app’s performance across multiple platforms such as Android, Apple, or websites to understand in real-time which app performance needs to be improved.
Later you can use this information to fix problems related to application/website performance.
Test Lab
Test Lab on Firebase is a cloud-based application testing infrastructure that allows you to test and configure your app across multiple devices, in order to get a better idea of how your app/website performs on the user’s side directly.
App Distribution
Firebase App Distribution is a useful tool to make it easier to distribute apps to trusted testing devices. By getting your app into your test device, you can get feedback early.
To support proper and better distribution and analytics processes, you can also use Crashlytics in your app which will later get stability metrics for all projects that run automatically. Later, you can understand the right time to deploy widely.
3. Firebase Engage
Firebase is more focused on optimizing applications for users, such as optimizing UX and campaign programs to attract more audiences who are looking for the same thing. Then analyze the needs and maintenance required to make it useful, in various different user segments.
Firebase Engage also uses some tools which is also available on the two previous types of Firebase, such as Remote Config, Google Analytics, Cloud Message and others. However, Firebase Engage also has some tools alone:
Authentication
Firebase Authentication is a logging tool such as the identity of a visitor or survivor, which will be stored in your app. Firebase Authentication provides back-end services, easy-to-use SDKs, and out-of-the-box UI libraries to authenticate users to your app.
Features supported by the Firebase Auth model include authentication using passwords, phone numbers, and many more.
Firebase Dynamic Links
Firebase Dynamic Links is a tool that serves as the link you want across multiple platforms. With Dynamic Links, users will get the best experience when opening links.
If a user opens Dynamic Link on iOS or Android, then they can be redirected directly to the content in the app. Whereas if a user opens the same Dynamic Link in a desktop browser, then they can be redirected to the content on your website.
Conclusion
What is firebase? Firebase is a service from Google that you can use to create and develop applications and websites, without having to bother managing the servers used.
Thus, our article about what is Firebase. Interested in trying to build an app with Firebase?
