Appwrite
Backend & DatabasesAn open-source backend platform with authentication, databases, storage, functions, messaging and hosting, available as managed cloud or self-hosted.
Open-source alternative to:
What the free edition leaves out
The free edition is genuinely usable, but some team or enterprise features need a paid plan. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.
| Feature | Free edition | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Paid | The Enterprise page (Cloud or premium self-hosted) lists enterprise authentication for the console; it does not name SAML. | Source ↗ |
| Role-based access control | Paid | The Enterprise page (Cloud or premium self-hosted) lists fine-grained access control beyond the standard owner and developer roles. | Source ↗ |
| Audit logs | Paid | The Enterprise page lists activity logs that track console actions across the organization. | Source ↗ |
| Multi-user / teams | Free | The self-hosting security docs describe adding other developers to a self-hosted console through invitations. | Source ↗ |
| Backups and restore | Not confirmed | The docs say self-hosted instances need manual backups, and that Appwrite Cloud offers automated backups with one-click restore. The page read does not say which cloud plans include it. | Source ↗ |
| API access | Free | The REST, GraphQL and Realtime APIs are documented in the Appwrite docs. | Source ↗ |
| Support SLA | Paid | The Enterprise page lists a 99.99% uptime SLA. | Source ↗ |
Best for
Teams that want an all-in-one backend with auth, database, storage and functions that they can run themselves or use as a managed service.
Why choose it over Firebase
The repository is BSD-3-Clause and the platform can be installed on any machine that runs Docker. The Cloud has a free plan.
Where it falls short
Console SSO, custom organization roles, activity logs and uptime SLAs are listed under the Enterprise plan, and the Enterprise page describes a separate premium self-hosted edition. Self-hosted installs need manual backups, and you manage updates, scaling and compliance yourself. The stack is several containers, with a 4 GB RAM minimum.
Open-source alternative to
- Firebase — Appwrite offers the same kind of backend services as Firebase (auth, database, storage, functions, messaging), and its site has a comparison page against Firebase, so it can replace Firebase as an app backend.
Category
Backend & DatabasesTopics
Tech stack
TypeScript
PHP
DockerLanguages as reported by GitHub for the repository.
