Own server, Firebase, 8Base or Hasura?
Hi we are developing our MVP using react, we currently have Express and MYSQL for our database, we have not launched yet but we feel that it may be difficult to maintain our own database and are looking for a BasS to take the hassle and cost away from maintaining our own infrastructure.
Out of the selections i added in the tiltle what would you choose?
We like firebase but as we are building a healthcare web app we are concerned about HIPAA issues, we found Virgil security that says they will add another layer of security over firebase, firestore so we could go that route.
We looked at kinvey but wow that is toooo much money without even launching!
8base looks promising but they seem young and only have graphql
Hasura seems good as well but maybe more of a learning curve compared to firebase.
We really are stuck at the moment hope you guys can shed some light on the subject
Thanks again
UPDATE!!!!........ Moved to Rails :) best decision ever!
That sounds great that you are making healthcare MVP. From these options, Firebase definitely looks like a good and suitable option if you want a real-time database like Cloud Firestore but you must read this article https://blog.back4app.com/is-firebase-hipaa-compliant/ to explore how Firebase could be HIPAA compliant.
My understanding on this matter says you can get HIPAA compliance with Firebase if it is with GCP coverage. However, if you need an alternative then why don't you consider using Back4App with Parse server support? It could be a good choice indeed.
I will add one more choice for you as I used all of these services and wasn't always convinced. I'm the founder of Liteflow (https://liteflow.com), so I'm obviously biased, but here is my feedback about these products.
Firebase is great, but if you want your MVP to evolve into a real product, you might be stuck with Firebase and quickly have limitations.
8base and Hasura are great too but focused on automatic APIs with graphQL, that's good to do something quickly but can become a mess when you want to have something a bit secure and have to deal with the permission systems.
With Liteflow, we took a slightly different approach. You design your API with a low-code (YAML) workflow that can be something like "when the API is called, then return the data in the database", so you control your APIs. You can also use this workflow system to do background tasks and connect the different services we have (authentication, email, database, js-function, webhook...). For example, you can create behaviors like "when I have a new product added in the database, then send me an email" or anything relevant to your product.
I’ve only heard good things about Hasura. But I’d ensure every security concern is faced first with whatever you choose first before moving forward.
Be wary of paralysis by analysis. If they sound like good enough options after doing your due diligence, then they probably are close to equally good. But the days you spend thinking are the days you could have spent launching.
My recommendation is always to choose the one that feels like the path of least resistance. If one might be a little less sexy, but has all the convenience features you want right now, go for it.
PS. The database problem is why I always look to managed databases like on GCP, digital ocean, or AWS.
Thanks for the reply really appreciated my dev is looking into the options but I'm swaying to firebase/firestore as it has what we need, extensions etc and we can add an additional layer of security with virgil security and we can migrate if needed though a pain in the butt it us doable.
Can i ask a couple more questions if you dont mind?
Do we need a cms like strapi, contentful for deleting users, vendors etc or could we get away with just using firebase?
Should we use something like forest admin to build an admin for us or use a cms to take care of viewing things like payments, subscriptions, users, vendors?
Thanks
You got it!
You can definitely get away with just fire base, but I’d recommend a CMS. For me personally I separated out my marketing website (on my root domain) and then my application on a subdomain. Because I did that I’m able to choose a more friendly framework (next js) which doesn’t need a CMS for someone like me who’s a developer. I can just write in markdown and deploy it.
Yes that does seem like a good idea.
Wow so funny you say that i was thinking to do all the brochure parts of the website on the main domain in webflow or wordpress and have the app on the subdomain, thanks for helping me make tha decision:) my developer got back to me he said that most of our data will be api driven so doesn't matter really what backend we use but he said he likes the 8base gui better!
Exciting :)