Comparing a few different backend services. Sample project on github: https://github.com/pyro2927/Backend-Comparison

1. BAAS SHOWDOWN
iOS.mn - Joe Pintozzi
Dec. 2nd, 2013

2. SPONSORS THIS WEEK

3. WHAT IS BAAS?
•
Backend as a service
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Provides web and mobile developers with cloud storage
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Can integrate into social networks, support push notifications, and user
management
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Allows mobile/front-end developers to not have to develop a backend

4. WHAT IS OUT THERE?
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StackMob
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Helios.io (FOSS)
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Appcelerator
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Firebase
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Parse
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Google’s Mobile Backend Starter

5. WHAT’S IMPORTANT?
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Ease of implementation
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3rd party service integration
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User accounts
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Data control
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Cross platform SDKs/access
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Price

6. •
Has many “products”: Parse Data, Parse Push, Parse Social, Parse Hosting
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Easy to use, nice data dashboard
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First 1million requests per month are free
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Great documentation, easy relational objects
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Automatic (basic) analytics

7. PARSE CODE

8. PARSE USER ACCOUNTS
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Users
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Facebook Users
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Twitter Users

9. PARSE DATA DASHBOARD

10. PARSE INTEGRATION - CLOUD
MODULES
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Mailgun
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Twilio
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Stripe
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Mandrill

11. PARSE CLOUD CODE
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Allows you to add hooks for when data is added/removed
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Add different endpoints - “Cloud Functions”
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100% Javascript
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…but it kinda stops there
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…can’t run/test locally

12. PARSE: OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
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Easiest SDK(s)
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Cleanest data dashboard
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Decent integrations with other services
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Cloud Code can be VERY hard to debug

13. FIREBASE
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Built in data synchronization (pub/sub)
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Fine grained access w/ Firebase ACLs
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Many different Javascript libraries
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5GB/month & 50 simultaneous users transfer free
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Everything is a callback (blocks)

14. FIREBASE CODE

15. FIREBASE USERS
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Facebook
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Twitter
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Github (web only)
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Persona (web only)
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Email & Password
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Singly

16. FIREBASE FORGE

17. FIREBASE INTEGRATIONS - WEAK
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In short, NONE
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No concept of “Cloud Code”

18. FIREBASE: OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
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Best for data synchronization between clients
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Real time data is awesome
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Somewhat hard time with relational data

19. STACKMOB
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Social Integration
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SDKs are open source!!!! :D
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Push Notifications
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Good number of integrations
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Dedicated Database
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Free….? I think

20. STACKMOB PRICING

21. STACKMOB CODE

22. STACKMOB DASHBOARD

23. STACKMOB MODULES

24. STACKMOB: OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
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Greatest number of 3rd party modules
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Best free tier
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Clunky dashboard
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Can grant access to other users to admin dashboard via Collaboration
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High hopes for its future

25. HONORABLE MENTION: HELIOS
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Totally open source
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Written by Mattt (guy who wrote AFNetworking)
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Ready to be pushed to Heroku for easy access
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Datastore requires quite a bit of setup
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No iOS SDK

26. HELIOS INTEGRATIONS
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Data model can be sucked in from Core Data
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Registers/sends push notifications
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Tracks in-app purchases
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Integrates with Passbook

27. DEMO!
https://github.com/pyro2927/BackendComparison