The Spark plan is free with no payment method required, and its quotas — 50K Firestore reads and 20K writes a day, 1 GB stored, 10 GB Hosting storage, 50K auth MAUs — are also included on the paid Blaze plan. Analytics, Crashlytics, Cloud Messaging and A/B Testing are free on both.

How much does Firebase cost after the free tier?

Blaze is pay-as-you-go: Cloud Functions $0.40 per million invocations after 2M/month, Realtime Database $5/GB stored and $1/GB downloaded, Hosting $0.026/GB stored and $0.15/GB transferred, and Firestore usage at Google Cloud rates.

How many users can Firebase Authentication handle for free?

Up to 50,000 monthly active users at no cost — but only 50 monthly active users for SAML and OIDC sign-in. Beyond that, Google Cloud Identity Platform pricing applies, and phone verification is billed per SMS.

Why do Firebase bills grow unexpectedly?

Because Blaze meters reads, writes, storage, egress and invocations separately. Firestore's free allowance is a daily 50K document reads, so a client that repeatedly re-reads the same documents can pass it quickly, and egress beyond the free tier is billed per GB.

Does Firebase have a free plan?

Yes. Firebase offers a free tier with limits; paid plans unlock higher usage or team features.

What are the main drawbacks of Firebase?

The trade-offs we noted: Lock-In: Moving away from Firebase is very difficult due to its unique NoSQL structure.; Query Limits: Not as flexible as SQL for very complex relational data queries.; Cost Prediction: 'Pay-as-you-go' can strain budgets if traffic spikes unexpectedly..

When should you not use Firebase?

Skip Firebase if: You want a bill you can predict: Blaze is metered per read, write, GB and invocation, and beyond Firebase's own table most services fall through to Google Cloud pricing; Your app is read-heavy — Firestore's free tier is a daily 50K reads, and a busy client that re-reads documents is the classic source of surprise Firebase bills; You serve large files or video: Hosting includes only 360 MB of transfer a day, then $0.15/GB, and Realtime Database downloads are $1/GB.

Developer Tools

Firebase

Google's app platform.

What it is

Firebase is Google's comprehensive platform for solving all mobile and web backend needs via a single SDK. It lets developers build 'real-time' apps without server management. Its Firestore DB scales infinitely on Google Cloud. It's a massive ecosystem that also manages analytics, crash reports, A/B tests, and push notifications from a single panel.

Firebase pricing

Firebase does not publish a plan ladder we could verify. Free tier available.

Prices read from the vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-09. Vendors change plans without notice — check the source before you budget. Price verification log.

People also compare Firebase with…

Key features

Cloud Firestore
A flexible NoSQL document database that stays synced globally at scale.
Authentication
Install a secure login system for email, phone, or social accounts with one click.
Cloud Functions
Run your custom code as serverless functions triggered by events.
Push Messaging
Send unlimited push notifications to iOS, Android, and Web users for free.

Strengths and trade-offs

What works well

Speed: Set up a functioning backend and auth system in as little as one day.
Google Synergy: Works perfectly with Google Analytics and Google Cloud Platform.
Generous Free Plan: Costs are zero for many small to medium-sized projects.
Real-Time Sync: The leader for apps needing instant data updates like chat apps.

Where it falls short

Lock-In: Moving away from Firebase is very difficult due to its unique NoSQL structure.
Query Limits: Not as flexible as SQL for very complex relational data queries.
Cost Prediction: 'Pay-as-you-go' can strain budgets if traffic spikes unexpectedly.

Who it is for

Mobile App Developers and Rapid Prototyping Specialists.

Pick it or skip it

Pick Firebase if

Prototypes and small apps: the Spark plan needs no payment method and its quotas (50K Firestore reads a day, 10 GB Hosting storage) carry over into the paid plan
Teams that want analytics, Crashlytics, Cloud Messaging, A/B testing and Performance Monitoring at no cost regardless of plan
Apps with fewer than 50,000 monthly active users, where Authentication is free
Mobile teams needing device testing occasionally — 60 virtual and 30 physical device minutes a day are free before $1 and $5 per device-hour

Skip it if

You want a bill you can predict: Blaze is metered per read, write, GB and invocation, and beyond Firebase's own table most services fall through to Google Cloud pricing
Your app is read-heavy — Firestore's free tier is a daily 50K reads, and a busy client that re-reads documents is the classic source of surprise Firebase bills
You serve large files or video: Hosting includes only 360 MB of transfer a day, then $0.15/GB, and Realtime Database downloads are $1/GB
You need a hard spend cap — the pricing plans are a free tier and pay-as-you-go, with budget alerts rather than a stop-at-limit switch

Our verdict

The strongest ecosystem for those who want to focus on features instead of server management.

Frequently asked questions

Is Firebase free?: The Spark plan is free with no payment method required, and its quotas — 50K Firestore reads and 20K writes a day, 1 GB stored, 10 GB Hosting storage, 50K auth MAUs — are also included on the paid Blaze plan. Analytics, Crashlytics, Cloud Messaging and A/B Testing are free on both.
How much does Firebase cost after the free tier?: Blaze is pay-as-you-go: Cloud Functions $0.40 per million invocations after 2M/month, Realtime Database $5/GB stored and $1/GB downloaded, Hosting $0.026/GB stored and $0.15/GB transferred, and Firestore usage at Google Cloud rates.
How many users can Firebase Authentication handle for free?: Up to 50,000 monthly active users at no cost — but only 50 monthly active users for SAML and OIDC sign-in. Beyond that, Google Cloud Identity Platform pricing applies, and phone verification is billed per SMS.
Why do Firebase bills grow unexpectedly?: Because Blaze meters reads, writes, storage, egress and invocations separately. Firestore's free allowance is a daily 50K document reads, so a client that repeatedly re-reads the same documents can pass it quickly, and egress beyond the free tier is billed per GB.
Does Firebase have a free plan?: Yes. Firebase offers a free tier with limits; paid plans unlock higher usage or team features.
Who is Firebase best for?: Mobile App Developers and Rapid Prototyping Specialists.
What are the main drawbacks of Firebase?: The trade-offs we noted: Lock-In: Moving away from Firebase is very difficult due to its unique NoSQL structure.; Query Limits: Not as flexible as SQL for very complex relational data queries.; Cost Prediction: 'Pay-as-you-go' can strain budgets if traffic spikes unexpectedly..
When should you not use Firebase?: Skip Firebase if: You want a bill you can predict: Blaze is metered per read, write, GB and invocation, and beyond Firebase's own table most services fall through to Google Cloud pricing; Your app is read-heavy — Firestore's free tier is a daily 50K reads, and a busy client that re-reads documents is the classic source of surprise Firebase bills; You serve large files or video: Hosting includes only 360 MB of transfer a day, then $0.15/GB, and Realtime Database downloads are $1/GB.

What we checked

Public APIOffers a documented API you can build against.Yes
Mobile appHas a native app for iOS or Android, not just a mobile website.Yes
Open source / self-hostableSource is open and the tool can be run on your own infrastructure.No
SSO (SAML)Supports SAML single sign-on on at least one plan.Yes

“Not checked” means exactly that — we have not verified it, and we do not guess.

Evidence and freshness

Status: Vendor pricing page verifiedReviewed: 2026-09-09

Firebase — Pricing ↗
Checked 2026-09-09 · Supports: Two plans: Spark (no-cost, no payment method needed) and Blaze (pay as you go), with the Spark free quotas included on Blaze; eligible accounts get $300 in free credit, Firestore free daily quotas: 1 GiB stored, 10 GiB/month egress, 20K document writes/day, 50K reads/day, 20K deletes/day, then Google Cloud pricing, Cloud Functions: 2M invocations/month free then $0.40/million; 400K GB-seconds and 200K CPU-seconds free; 5 GB/month outbound then $0.12/GB; 120 build minutes/day then $0.003/min, Realtime Database: 100 simultaneous connections on Spark, 200K per database on Blaze; 1 GB stored free then $5/GB; ~10 GB/month download free then $1/GB, Hosting: 10 GB storage free then $0.026/GB; 360 MB/day transfer free then $0.15/GB, App Hosting outgoing bandwidth: 10 GiB/month free then $0.20/GiB uncached and $0.15/GiB cached; 5 GB storage free then $0.10/GB, Authentication is free up to 50K monthly active users (50 MAUs for SAML/OIDC), then Google Cloud Identity Platform pricing; phone auth is billed per SMS sent, Test Lab: virtual device tests $1/device/hour after 60 free minutes a day; physical device tests $5/device/hour after 30 free minutes a day, Remote Config: from September 1, 2026, 100,000 fetch requests per day per project are free, then $0.06 per 10K requests up to 10M/day and $0.01 per 10K beyond, A/B Testing, Analytics, App Distribution, Cloud Messaging, Crashlytics, In-App Messaging and Performance Monitoring are listed as no-cost

Limit: Vendor pricing page was reviewed by an editor on this date; this record is not a ToolCompare benchmark. Prices and limits change.

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