What is Firebase?
The short answer
Firebase is Google's app platform offering a real-time database, authentication, hosting and serverless functions for web and mobile apps.
Firebase, explained
Like other hosted back-ends it trades control for speed of setup, and its security rules must be written carefully.
Questions people ask about Firebase
What is Firebase?
Firebase is Google's app platform offering a real-time database, authentication, hosting and serverless functions for web and mobile apps.
Related terms
Supabase is a hosted back-end built on Postgres that provides a database, authentication, file storage and APIs, often used as a quick back-end for web apps.
Back-endThe back-end is the server-side part of a site that visitors never see: databases, logins, payments, business logic and the APIs the front-end calls.
ServerlessServerless means running back-end code as small functions that the host starts on demand, so you pay for use and never manage a server.
Next.jsNext.js is a React framework for building websites and web apps, adding routing, server rendering, static generation and API routes on top of React.
Part of the Web Encyclopedia by Apex Flow Digital. Definitions are general knowledge, kept current, with no invented statistics.