Which database is best? A com­par­is­on of MongoDB vs Firebase

A com­par­is­on study of MongoDB vs Firebase shows similar ap­proaches and data formats, but their primary purpose differs. While MongoDB is par­tic­u­larly con­vin­cing when it comes to big data, Firebase is a better option for mobile ap­plic­a­tions.

Two strong al­tern­at­ives to the classic SQL solution

Rather than relying on tra­di­tion­al SQL databases, many users are starting to opt for the NoSQL approach (‘Not only SQL’). The NoSQL dispenses with re­la­tion­al tables, offering instead the option of scaling databases ho­ri­zont­ally as data volumes grow. Most NoSQL solutions choose a document-oriented approach, thus ensuring the necessary flex­ib­il­ity. We’ll take a look at two of the most popular databases using this approach, MongoDB and Firebase, and show you their sim­il­ar­it­ies and dif­fer­ences.

MongoDB: The scalable NoSQL database

MongoDB is a very flexible and scalable NoSQL database designed in par­tic­u­lar to make storing and managing large amounts of data possible. This data can be struc­tured, semi-struc­tured or un­struc­tured and is stored in documents with the binary JSON format BSON. MongoDB was developed in 2009 by Eliot Horowitz and is dis­trib­uted by MongoDB, Inc. (formerly 10gen) under the Server Side Public License. Written in C++, it has become one of the most popular and suc­cess­ful open source NoSQL databases in the world.

Firebase: Google’s solution for mobile ap­plic­a­tions

Firebase is a de­vel­op­ment platform that was founded in 2011 by Andrew Lee and James Templin and acquired by Google three years later. Its main purpose is the de­vel­op­ment and man­age­ment of mobile apps for Android, iOS and the web. To do so, the solution provides the necessary tools and the in­fra­struc­ture so that different functions can be provided on different platforms.

Firebase offers two database models, which are the cloud-native NoSQL solution RealTime Database for real-time data storage and syn­chron­isa­tion, and the cloud Firestore Database for client-side and server-side de­vel­op­ment. When comparing MongoDB and Firebase, it should be noted from the outset that Firebase is not just a NoSQL database man­age­ment system, but also functions as a com­pre­hens­ive Backend-as-a-Service.

What are MongoDB and Firebase’s services used for?

Both databases are mul­ti­fa­ceted and can be used for different purposes. MongoDB performs par­tic­u­larly well if you need a service that is fun­da­ment­ally designed for large volumes of data and one which has the potential to grow with in­creas­ing demands. The flex­ib­il­ity and ho­ri­zont­al scalab­il­ity speak for NoSQL database. As the system is document-oriented and schema-less, different types of data can be stored and retrieved without major latency. This makes MongoDB par­tic­u­larly suitable for:

• Content man­age­ment
• E-Commerce
• other ap­plic­a­tions that require in­di­vidu­al con­fig­ur­a­tion and com­pre­hens­ive analysis in real time

Like MongoDB, Firebase also relies on sharding. This tech­no­logy enables large data sets to be auto­mat­ic­ally dis­trib­uted across different servers. This is intended to cushion the load on the one hand and prevent failures on the other. As a result, Firebase can handle large workloads almost ef­fort­lessly and can grow with them. The focus of the service, however, is primarily on mobile ap­plic­a­tions. Firebase offers valuable tools like real-time syn­chron­isa­tion and an offline mode. Firebase is thus a perfect solution in the following situ­ations:

• Gaming apps
• Chat programs
• Social networks

Func­tion­al­ity

When comparing the func­tion­al­ity of MongoDB and Firebase, it’s not difficult to spot their sim­il­ar­it­ies. Both being NoSQL services, they do away with rigid re­la­tion­al tables and are therefore able to offer flexible data struc­tures. MongoDB stores data as binary JSON documents (BSON) and bundles them into col­lec­tions. The documents consist of key-value pairs, whereby the key always consists of a character string and the values may contain other documents, boolean values, arrays or other file types. If you want to change the structure of a document like this, you can simply delete or add fields. The fields can be searched using a text search. So, the col­lec­tions remain clear even with a high workload.

Firebase also stores data in a JSON-like format. In the RealTime Database, these are combined in a JSON tree, while Cloud Firestore also relies on documents and col­lec­tions, ensuring they remain clear. Similar to MongoDB, these documents are made up of key-value pairs, whereby the key is a character string and the values can consist of com­pletely different data types. The RealTime Database is designed for fast data ingestion and further pro­cessing. The data is stored long-term on Cloud Firestore and can also be retrieved at a later date. This database also contains an interface that uses a query syntax based on SQL.

Per­form­ance

Both databases in the MongoDB vs Firebase com­par­is­on show a markedly strong per­form­ance. That said, in this segment MongoDB clearly comes out ahead. The service is optimally set up for big data and delivers all kinds of fast and efficient queries for web ap­plic­a­tions. It can be used in the cloud or on-site as required, further improving the system’s per­form­ance.

The per­form­ance of Firebase depends above all on how in­di­vidu­al data is stored. The database is par­tic­u­larly im­press­ive when it comes to providing data for mobile ap­plic­a­tions in real time and works ef­fi­ciently in offline mode. The overall per­form­ance is improved by the load being dis­trib­uted by Cloud Firestore across different servers. It becomes prob­lem­at­ic however when the Data load ac­cu­mu­lates in a single location.

Com­pat­ib­il­ity

As an open-source database with com­mer­cial support services, MongoDB not only offers com­pat­ib­il­ity with numerous cloud providers, it also works with servers based on Linux, macOS, Solaris or Windows. It is com­pat­ible with several frame­works such as Angular or Django, or container platforms and runtime en­vir­on­ments such as Docker or Node.js. The database also supports all important pro­gram­ming languages such as:

• C
• C#
• C++
• Dart
• Go
• Haskell
• Java
• JavaS­cript
• Perl
• PHP
• Python
• R
• Ruby
• Rust

Firebase also has several ad­vant­ages within this ecosystem; ensuring, for example, that the ap­plic­a­tions created rank well, and are well po­si­tioned with regards to SEO. But in many of the above cat­egor­ies, Firebase offers sig­ni­fic­antly fewer options. The developer tool is intended to work in par­tic­u­lar with other tools and platforms from Google. As such the database is located ex­clus­ively in the Google Cloud, which makes migration to other en­vir­on­ments com­plic­ated. Compared to MongoDB, Firebase also supports sig­ni­fic­antly fewer pro­gram­ming languages. Only these languages are supported:

• Java
• JavaS­cript
• Objective-C

Security

In terms of data security, both parties in the MongoDB vs Firebase battle perform well. Because both systems dis­trib­ute the load to different servers, you can respond quickly in the event of an outage and make the data available again im­me­di­ately. In addition, MongoDB offers numerous security features for its pro­pri­et­ary versions. These include, among others:

• Au­thor­isa­tions
• En­cryp­tions
• TLS/SSL
• Role Based Access Control.

As access to Firebase is the­or­et­ic­ally possible from any device, the cor­res­pond­ing security ar­chi­tec­ture has to also be set up as well as possible. This is where SSL comes in, au­then­tic­a­tion and the Firebase security rules, which determine which users have access to the data.

Costs

These two solutions also differ in terms of their pricing. As an open-source service, MongoDB is basically com­pletely free. You can download the software and then use it locally or on your server. For more security features and com­pre­hens­ive support, it is worth looking into the com­mer­cial paid solutions like MongoDB Atlas.

The al­tern­at­ive from Google offers the Blaze and Spark models. Spark provides a free con­tin­gent and offers some free services. Other services and higher resource con­sump­tion fall under Blaze. Billing is based on actual usage. This system can be a little confusing, es­pe­cially at the beginning.

These companies have made their decision in the MongoDB vs Firebase com­par­is­on

MongoDB or Firebase? There are numerous large companies faced with the very same question. Which solution is best? These companies have opted for one of the two heavy­weights.

Some of the most suc­cess­ful companies that rely on MongoDB are:

• Adobe
• Amadeus
• AppScale
• Craftbase
• Disney
• Etsy
• Foursquare
• Lyft
• MTV
• The New York Times
• Via Varejo

Some of the well-known companies that use Firebase include the following:

• Alibaba
• Duolingo
• The Economist
• Instacart
• Launch­Darkly
• Lyft
• The New York Times
• NPR One
• Shazam
• Twitch
• Venmo