Alternatives to PocketBase
Open-source backend in a single Go binary with SQLite
PocketBase ranks #10 of 10 in Backend-as-a-service, with an Alt Score of 78. It is licensed under MIT License, free from Free and available on Linux, Windows, macOS and Web. 12 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
PocketBase is an open-source backend-as-a-service packaged as a single Go executable, bundling an embedded SQLite database, authentication, file storage, realtime subscriptions, and an admin dashboard with a REST API and client SDKs.
Developers who want a complete backend without provisioning separate services — indie hackers, side projects, and small teams that would rather run one self-hosted binary than assemble Postgres, an auth server, S3, and a websocket service.
A single portable executable with an embedded SQLite database, built-in email/password/OAuth2 authentication, local or S3-compatible file storage, realtime subscriptions over Server-Sent Events, a browser-based admin dashboard, and an auto-generated REST-ish API for every collection.
PocketBase runs as one Go binary that turns each defined collection into a plain SQLite table and automatically exposes CRUD, filtering, and realtime endpoints for it, with per-collection filter-expression rules (listRule, viewRule, createRule, updateRule, deleteRule) enforcing access control; it can also be extended with Go or JavaScript event hooks.
Why people leave PocketBase
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Supabase is an open-source backend-as-a-service built on PostgreSQL, providing a managed database, authentication, file storage, realtime subscriptions, edge functions, auto-generated APIs, and vector.
Appwrite is an open-source backend-as-a-service that bundles a database, authentication, file storage, realtime, serverless functions, and messaging behind REST/GraphQL APIs and client SDKs, available.
AWS Amplify is Amazon's backend-as-a-service toolkit for web and mobile apps, providing managed authentication (Cognito), auto-generated GraphQL/REST APIs (AppSync), a database (DynamoDB), file storag.
Convex is a reactive backend-as-a-service where the database, server functions, and realtime subscriptions are written in TypeScript, giving apps live-updating queries, transactional writes, file stor.
InstantDB is an open-source backend-as-a-service focused on realtime, relational client-side queries: every query is multiplayer by default, with built-in authentication (magic codes, OAuth, guest aut.
Back4app is a backend-as-a-service platform built on top of the open-source Parse Server framework, offering a managed MongoDB (and NoSQL) database, auto-generated REST/GraphQL APIs, built-in authenti.
Firebase is Google's app-development platform offering a backend-as-a-service: the Firestore and Realtime Database, Authentication, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions, hosting, and client SDKs for web, iO.
Parse Platform (Parse Server) is a fully open-source Node.js backend-as-a-service framework, originally built by Parse Inc.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Backend-as-a-service checklist (16 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Backend-as-a-service checklist | PocketBase | Supabase | Appwrite | AWS Amplify | Convex | InstantDB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Managed database | ||||||
| Auth built in | ||||||
| File / object storage | ||||||
| Realtime subscriptions | ||||||
| Serverless / edge functions | ||||||
| Auto-generated APIs | ||||||
| Self-hostable | ||||||
| Open source | ||||||
| Client SDKs | ||||||
| Row-level security | ||||||
| Vector / AI support | ||||||
| Free tier |
Every fact and feature listed for PocketBase is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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License MIT License verified 2026-07-13
The MIT License (MIT)
https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/blob/master/LICENSE.md -
Pricing model Free verified 2026-07-13
PocketBase is a self-hosted, MIT-licensed open source binary with no first-party paid cloud/hosting product.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software
https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/blob/master/LICENSE.md -
Starts at Free verified 2026-07-13
No pricing page exists; the executable is downloaded and self-hosted at no cost.
PocketBase is an open source backend consisting of embedded database (SQLite) with realtime subscriptions, builtin auth management, convenient dashboard UI and simple REST-ish API.
https://pocketbase.io/docs/ -
Platforms Linux, Windows, macOS, Web verified 2026-07-13
"Web" reflects the browser-based superusers dashboard (http://127.0.0.1:8090/_/); docs state the first-run installer link 'should be automatically opened in the browser to set up your first superuser
Download v0.39.6 for Linux x64 (~12MB zip) Download v0.39.6 for Windows x64 (~12MB zip) Download v0.39.6 for macOS x64 (~12MB zip)
https://pocketbase.io/docs/ -
Status active verified 2026-07-13
Latest GitHub release v0.39.6 was published 2026-07-08, five days before this research, confirming ongoing active development pre-1.0.
PocketBase is still under active development and full backward compatibility is not guaranteed before reaching v1.0.0.
https://pocketbase.io/docs/ -
Managed database No verified 2026-07-13
PocketBase uses an embedded, self-managed SQLite database with manual backup/restore — there is no first-party managed cloud database offering.
To backup/restore your application it is enough to manually copy/replace your pb_data directory (for transactional safety make sure that the application is not running).
https://pocketbase.io/docs/going-to-production/ -
Auth built in Yes verified 2026-07-13
PocketBase is an open source backend consisting of embedded database (SQLite) with realtime subscriptions, builtin auth management, convenient dashboard UI and simple REST-ish API.
https://pocketbase.io/docs/ -
File / object storage Yes verified 2026-07-13
By default PocketBase stores uploaded files in the pb_data/storage directory on the local file system. ... you could switch to an external S3 compatible storage (AWS S3, MinIO, Wasabi, DigitalOcean Sp
https://pocketbase.io/docs/files-handling/ -
Realtime subscriptions Yes verified 2026-07-13
The Realtime API is implemented via Server-Sent Events (SSE).
https://pocketbase.io/docs/api-realtime/ -
Serverless / edge functions Partial verified 2026-07-13
program"." — Extensibility is via Go/JavaScript event hooks (pb_hooks) running inside the self-hosted PocketBase process, not cloud/edge-deployed serverless functions.
Each handler function (hook, route, middleware, etc.) is serialized and executed in its own isolated context as a separate
https://pocketbase.io/docs/js-overview/ -
Auto-generated APIs Yes verified 2026-07-13
Collections represent your application data. Under the hood they are backed by plain SQLite tables that are generated automatically with the collection name and fields (columns).
https://pocketbase.io/docs/collections/ -
Self-hostable Yes verified 2026-07-13
it's completely portable. This means that it doesn't require any external dependency and could be deployed by just uploading the executable on your server
https://pocketbase.io/docs/going-to-production/ -
Open source Yes verified 2026-07-13
PocketBase is an open source backend consisting of embedded database (SQLite) with realtime subscriptions, builtin auth management, convenient dashboard UI and simple REST-ish API.
https://pocketbase.io/docs/ -
Client SDKs Yes verified 2026-07-13
JavaScript - pocketbase/js-sdk (Browser, Node.js, React Native) Dart - pocketbase/dart-sdk (Web, Mobile, Desktop, CLI)
https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/blob/master/README.md -
Row-level security Partial verified 2026-07-13
Access control is enforced via per-collection filter-expression API rules (listRule/viewRule/etc.), not SQL-level row-level security policies.
Each collection has 5 rules, corresponding to the specific API action: listRule viewRule createRule updateRule deleteRule ... PocketBase API Rules act also as records filter!
https://pocketbase.io/docs/api-rules-and-filters/ -
Vector / AI support No verified 2026-07-13
The documented list of collection field types has no vector/embedding field type.
BoolField NumberField TextField EmailField URLField EditorField DateField AutodateField SelectField FileField RelationField JSONField
https://pocketbase.io/docs/collections/ -
Free tier Yes verified 2026-07-13
There are no paid tiers; the entire self-hosted product is free under the MIT license.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software
https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/blob/master/LICENSE.md
FAQ
Yes. Convex, InstantDB and Back4app have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
Supabase, Appwrite and AWS Amplify — every license claim links its source.