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Cloud computing has been playing an active role these days, as it offers a wide array of functions to apps. Developers come up with amazing apps using their favorite tools and languages. Therefore, developer experience plays a vital role in web and mobile app development . Now, when we talk about cloud services, you are served with a variety of choices. You can use them to monitor web and mobile apps apart from deploying and scaling them.
Let us take a look at three of these cloud services; AWS, Firebase, and Heroku, and analyze which one is better for your app.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been the bulging AWS cloud computing service provider in the world. It has proved to be the most lucrative branch of Amazon. As a result, businesses have made it their first preference as a cloud service provider.
Amazon launched SQS, also known as Simple Queue Service, in 2004, which happened to become the first AWS. In 2006, they came up with S3, also known as Simple Storage Service, which became their influential cloud service. Apart from this, they also launched Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) to enable businesses to develop full-fledged apps in the cloud.
Today, the services have extended to identity administration, AR & VR, databases, IoT, consumer service, storage, and robotics well.
AWS provides a permanent solution for a continuous deployment similar to services such as Netlify. Additionally, you can have a continuous deployment with Google Cloud. However, it requires you to go for a little more configuration.
AWS offers several settings for activities like testing, production, and development. However, in Firebase, you need to set up various projects, and it is a time-consuming process.
With AWS, you have the privilege of selecting the type of database you want to use in the back end. On the other hand, firebase provides only NoSQL databases.
AWS offers single-packaged services to the applications. Thus, you can depend on AWS for an all-in-one solution for your requirements.
With AWS, you can integrate Amplify SDK to a mobile app with Apollo and GraphQL.
With Firebase , you can have an SDK for iOS, Android, and the web. It is beneficial if you are dealing with the front-end dev to develop an application with ease. Moreover, you can do so without requiring any back-end skills. Apart from this, you can have the privilege of using a REST API, which allows you to create a custom API.
Firebase offers callable functions, which enable you to create Cloud Functions and triggers by setting a URL to the database. This feature resembles AWS Lambda. When you trigger this function, you require to arrange an API gateway and add a logic that approves. This task is a tough one.
Apart from the features mentioned above, Firebase offers a wide range of services that are described as follows.
It offers dynamic links that allow users to access the right place in your application irrespective of the fact that it is installed or not.
Firebase allows you to experiment and customize your app behavior with the feature called Remote Config. For this purpose, it uses a server-side configuration.
It allows testing your applications across various devices with the help of Test Lab functionality.
With the help of this cloud service, you can strategize your upcoming launch, along with user engagement via Analytics.
You can add features of machine learning to the back end or the front end of your application through ML Kit.
Cloud Firestore and Realtime Database are the dedicated databases services of Firebase. They are known as NoSQL databases, which free you from the hassle of writing queries to deploy your data-driven application and setting up databases. When you are dealing with simple requirements, a NoSQL database comes to your help.
Heroku is basically, created on AWS. It offers the feature of PaaS, known as Platform as a Service. However, the services are simpler to use when compared to the Elastic Compute Cloud Service of AWS. Additionally, it provides high efficiency and backing for quick scaling, development, and deployment. One of the biggest benefits it offers is managing notifications and multiple management tools. Heroku has gained popularity due to its rapid development cycles with its completely managed infrastructure.
As we mentioned above, Heroku offers a PaaS feature, which consists of Dynos. It is solely a lightweight Linux container that consists of all the app processes. If you are a startup, you can choose Heroku to deploy your app. It automates the configuration process with the required infrastructure and other provisions such as database and storage. As a result, you do need to hire a DevOps team for this purpose.
Heroku enhances the developer experience with the Git repository. Moreover, you can select the language of your choice for mobile app development with Heroku. It also increases the development process with its add-ons. Moreover, some of these add-ons are free and others are chargeable. The time-saving and simplicity of Heroku are its best features.
Heroku offers a ready set-up and app servers to ease developers’ tasks of development. It offers a feature called Command Line Interface, also known as CLI. It helps manage the processes of the app through a simple dashboard with seamless incorporation of pre-existing development tools.
Firebase comes with easy set-up features, making it simple to use while developing and managing apps. It allows front-end developers to build and maintain the entire back end independently with little information about arranging things. Additionally, it is an ideal choice when it comes to building real-time apps. Firebase provides an easy-to-use SDK to save your time and money.
When speaking of medium and large enterprises, AWS comes as an obvious choice. It offers the flexibility of deployment right from the beginning. However, it requires hiring DevOps resources to handle the infrastructure, which will increase the cost. Moreover, the setting of infrastructure can be time-consuming. Besides, AWS comes up with a stable network of apps, tools, and services for the cloud.
When it comes to building applications for a small business, a small team, or an individual, Heroku is an ideal choice. It is said to be the most straightforward cloud service provider, as you do not need to acquire knowledge of the functioning of the infrastructure. Moreover, you do not need to hire DevOps resources, as it is most suitable for smaller cloud applications. However, the cost of Heroku depends on your project requirements, which means that if the traffic is intensive, it may cost you higher.
AWS offers a wide array of services at quite cheaper rates. It is because they have reduced the pricing by 80% over a period. Therefore, you can easily use AWS if you are planning to stick to a budget related to cloud services. However, if you plan to build real-time apps, DynamoDB comes to your help that happens to be relatively costly. In all, AWS offers services at half price when compared to those of Firebase.
AWS offers services at cheaper rates. On the other hand, Firebase provides some of them for free. Yes, you read that right. Services like user authentication, push notifications, and more are completely free with Firebase.
Again, when you need to build real-time apps, Firebase is a cheaper option when compared to AWS. It is because it serves real-time data syncing without any hassle. Thus, Firebase comes as a better choice when the number of users increases for real-time apps. However, you have to be cautious with your queries, or it may prove to be expensive.
Heroku offers a broad array of services to its users at specific rates. These services are available at various charges with a varied range of resources. Therefore, you have to select the best suitable alternative as per your app requirements.
In the blog above, we discussed the features and benefits of all three cloud service providers. All of them have their ups and downs while providing their best features. However, it completely depends on your project requirements and budget to make a choice out of AWS, Firebase, and Heroku.
