9 Best Backend-as-a-Service Platforms of 2026

Supabase ranks first because it gives app developers the most complete backend for the least setup and money. Each project is a full Postgres database with authentication, file storage, edge functions, realtime and cron jobs around it, so you can model data in SQL and still call it from client libraries. The free plan is generous for a production-grade stack: unlimited API requests, 50,000 monthly active users, a 500 MB database, 5 GB of egress and 1 GB of file storage. Pro starts at $25 a month and raises the allowances to 100,000 MAUs, 8 GB of disk per project, 250 GB of egress and 100 GB of file storage, with $10 of monthly compute credits that cover one Micro instance. The limits are clear: free projects pause after a week of inactivity, extra projects add compute charges, and SOC 2, SSO and the HIPAA add-on sit on the Team plan at $599 a month. Because the core is Postgres, leaving later is simpler than with proprietary data stores.

Firebase ranks second because it covers more of a mobile app's needs than any other platform here. Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Realtime Database, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions and hosting sit next to Cloud Messaging, Crashlytics, Remote Config, A/B Testing and Analytics, and many of those are no-cost at any scale. The Spark plan needs no payment method and includes 50K monthly active users for authentication, 1 GiB of Firestore storage, 50K document reads and 20K writes a day. The Blaze plan keeps those allowances and bills usage beyond them, such as $0.40 per million Cloud Functions invocations after 2M a month, and eligible accounts can get $300 in free credit. SQL Connect now adds a Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL option for relational data, with a 3 month no-cost trial. The tradeoffs are cost predictability and lock-in: there is no flat plan, bills track reads, writes and egress, and the data stores are Google Cloud services rather than portable open-source software.

Appwrite ranks third because it bundles the widest set of backend services under one subscription and keeps an open-source exit. A project includes auth, databases, storage buckets, functions, realtime, messaging and Sites hosting, so a small team can run an entire app without a second vendor. The free plan is generous on users, with 75K monthly active users, 2GB of storage, 5GB of bandwidth and 750K executions. Pro starts at $25 a month and raises that to 200K MAUs, 150GB of storage, 2TB of bandwidth and 3.5M executions, plus $10 of monthly compute credits for databases, which can run serverless or on dedicated tiers from $10 a month. Pro organizations can set budget caps and get email alerts at 75% and 100% of limits. The drawbacks: free projects pause after a week of inactivity, each extra Pro project costs $15, and SSO and SOC 2 reports are Enterprise features.

Convex ranks fourth because it removes the most glue code for realtime TypeScript apps. Queries are reactive, so clients stay in sync with the database without a separate subscription layer, and file storage, text search, vector search, crons, webhooks and Node.js actions are included on every plan. Auth supports over 80 OAuth integrations. The Free and Starter plan works for 1 to 6 developers and includes 1M function calls, 0.5 GB of database storage and 1 GB of file storage, with pay-as-you-go rates beyond that. Professional costs $25 per developer a month and raises the allowances to 25M function calls, 50 GB of database storage and 100 GB of file storage, and adds daily backups, log streaming, exception reporting, custom domains, HIPAA/SOC 2 reports and a BAA. The per-developer price is the main drawback for larger teams, and SAML/SSO requires the Business and Enterprise tier with a $2,500 monthly minimum. Teams that prefer SQL will find Supabase or Nhost more familiar.

AWS Amplify ranks fifth because it gives teams the deepest backend of any option here, but it asks the most of them. Amplify connects frontends to Amazon Cognito for auth, AWS AppSync for real-time APIs, DynamoDB for data, Lambda for functions and S3 for storage, and adds managed hosting with builds, CDN storage and server-side rendering. Every piece is a standard AWS service, so the app can grow into anything AWS offers. Pricing has no monthly minimums: hosting builds cost $0.01 a minute on a standard instance after 1,000 free minutes, data transfer costs $0.15 per GB served after 15 GB, and backend services follow their own pricing pages. New AWS customers get up to $200 in Free Tier credits, and Amplify has no per-seat pricing. The drawback is complexity: cost estimates span several services, and developers need to understand AWS accounts and permissions. Teams outside AWS will get started faster with Supabase or Firebase.

Nhost ranks sixth as the strongest choice for teams that want GraphQL on top of Postgres. Every project gets a dedicated Postgres instance with the Hasura GraphQL Engine, which brings realtime subscriptions, event triggers and role-based authorization, plus auth, storage with image transformation and a global CDN, and serverless functions. Authentication has unlimited users on every plan and supports OAuth providers, WebAuthn, magic links and 2FA, so the bill does not grow with sign-ups. The free Starter plan includes 1 GB of database, 1 GB of storage and 5 GB of egress for one project. Pro starts at $25 a month with $15 of compute credits and includes 10 GB of database, 50 GB of storage, 50 GB of egress, automated backups and managed Grafana. Costs to watch: custom domains are $10 per project a month, point-in-time recovery starts at $100, and the free project pauses after a week of inactivity. The smaller ecosystem means fewer tutorials than Supabase or Firebase.

Back4App ranks seventh and has the lowest fixed paid price on this list. It runs a managed backend with a database, auth, file storage, Cloud Code functions and jobs, and both REST and GraphQL APIs. The free plan needs no credit card and includes 25K requests, a 250MB database, 1GB of transfer and 1GB of files, which is enough for learning and prototypes. The MVP plan costs $15 per app a month billed annually and includes 500K requests, 1 GB of data storage, 250 GB of transfer, 50 GB of file storage and daily backups. Pay As You Go at $80 adds 5M requests and SOC 2 and ISO 27001, and Dedicated at $400 gives dedicated resources and HIPAA after a signed BAA. The limits are tight on the entry plan: up to 3 collaborators, 3 Cloud Code jobs and 20 MB uploads, and the headline prices assume annual billing. Request-based plans also mean busy apps can outgrow a tier quickly.

Xano ranks eighth because it is the most capable backend for teams that build visually, but it costs more than the rest. Its API builder creates unlimited REST APIs with server-side logic on a Postgres database, and recent additions include an MCP builder, an agent builder and CLI access so coding agents can build in Xano. The free plan suits testing only: it allows up to 100K records, watermarks images and limits API calls to 10 requests per 20 seconds. Essential costs $85 a month billed annually, or $99 billed monthly, and moves you onto dedicated infrastructure with no API rate limit, 5 team seats, 3 workspaces, 100 GB of image and file storage, branching and a 7-day rolling backup, plus GDPR, ISO and SOC 2 and 3 compliance. Pro at $224 a month adds a load balancer, roles, a 99.99% SLA and a HIPAA add-on. Redis data caching, sub-minute task schedules and private file storage are also Pro features.

Backendless ranks ninth and is the right pick for builders who want backend and front end in one visual tool. It combines a database, user management, file storage, push notifications, pub/sub messaging and Cloud Code with Codeless visual logic and a UI Builder, and it also ships SDKs for JavaScript, Flutter, Android, iOS and .NET. The free plan has 20 data tables, 1 GB of file storage and 50 API requests per minute. The Scale plan starts at $15 a month per app and lifts that to unlimited monthly API requests, 100 tables, 10 GB of file storage, 1,000 real-time connections and 500,000 push notifications. Scale comes in two variants: Scale Variable bills on daily peak requests per minute, and Scale Fixed bills at the tier you pick, so $15 is a starting point rather than a flat price. Every plan has unlimited developer seats. Cloud Code runs are limited to 5 seconds, and the platform's visual approach suits low-code teams more than developers who prefer pure code.