Firebase is the fastest way to a working backend. Postgres is the one you don't outgrow. Most products want one early and the other eventually — here's how to choose.
Firebase hands you auth, a realtime database and hosting in an afternoon — brilliant for prototypes and apps with simple, document-shaped data. Postgres (behind a Node or similar API) gives you a relational model, real queries and full control — the backbone of products that grow complex.
We ship both. The honest answer is that the right pick depends on how relational your data is, how big you expect to get, and how much you mind vendor lock-in.
| Postgres (+ Node) | Firebase | |
|---|---|---|
| Data model | Relational — tables, joins, constraints | Document / NoSQL |
| Querying | Full SQL, complex queries, reporting | Simple lookups; complex queries are awkward |
| Real-time | Via your own layer or services | Built in (realtime DB / Firestore) |
| Time to first version | A bit more setup | Fastest — auth, DB, hosting out of the box |
| Scaling & cost | Predictable; scales with engineering | Easy early; cost can spike at scale |
| Vendor lock-in | Low — open source, portable | Higher — Google-specific APIs |
| Best for | Relational data, reporting, long-term products | Prototypes, simple data, fast launches |
Your data is relational, you'll need real queries and reporting, or you're building something meant to scale and last.
You want a working backend tomorrow, your data is simple/document-shaped, and you value speed over long-term control.
It's fine to launch fast on Firebase and plan a Postgres migration — we've done that path and can build for it from the start.
Neither universally. Firebase is fastest to launch and great for simple, document data; Postgres is relational, portable and predictable to scale. We default to Postgres for products built to grow.
Yes — it's a common path. Many products launch on Firebase for speed and move to Postgres as data and scale demand it. We can build with that migration in mind.
Firebase is cheaper and faster early on; at scale, its costs can rise sharply, while Postgres costs scale more predictably with your engineering.
Postgres behind a Node API for most products, because it scales without lock-in. We use Firebase when speed-to-launch and simple data win.
A two-week discovery sprint ends with a recommended architecture, a build plan and a fixed price — yours to keep either way.