Appwrite
activeby Appwrite · since 2019 · also known as Appwrite Cloud
Open-source backend platform with databases, auth, storage, functions and realtime, self-hosted or cloud.
Overview
Appwrite is a BSD-licensed backend-as-a-service you can run with Docker or use as Appwrite Cloud. It bundles databases with permissions and realtime events, authentication, file storage, serverless functions, messaging and static site hosting behind one set of SDKs. Appwrite 2.0, released September 2026, made PostgreSQL the default engine (MariaDB and MongoDB remain supported) and added schemaless DocumentsDB and HNSW-indexed VectorsDB collections plus an embeddings API. It is a strong Firebase alternative when you want to self-host, but its database API is narrower than writing SQL directly against Postgres.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +Fully self-hostable Firebase-style stack under a permissive licence
- +Document-level permissions and realtime events out of the box
- +SDKs for web, Flutter, Apple, Android and many server languages
- +Appwrite 2.0 adds Postgres by default, vectors and schemaless collections
Trade-offs
- −Database access is through Appwrite's API, not raw SQL
- −No offline sync in the client SDKs
- −Self-hosting runs many containers to operate and upgrade
Great for
- +Self-hosted backend for mobile and web apps
- +Firebase replacement with data sovereignty requirements
- +Internal tools needing auth, storage and functions quickly
Think twice for
- −Complex SQL analytics
- −Offline-first apps
- −Very high write-throughput systems
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 8 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Medium · ≤ 10 TB
- Horizontal scaling
- Manual
- Multi-region
- No
- Transactions
- Limited ACID
- Consistency
- Strong
- Schema
- Flexible
- Architecture
- Client server
- Query languages
- Appwrite Query API, GraphQL
Self-hosted scale depends on the underlying database; Cloud offers several regions.
Deployment
Ecosystem
Alternatives to Appwrite
Google's app platform: Firestore, Realtime Database and Data Connect, plus auth, functions and hosting.
appwrite vs firebase →Open-source Postgres backend platform: database, auth, storage, realtime and edge functions in one project.
appwrite vs supabase →Open-source backend in one Go binary: SQLite database, auth, files, realtime and admin UI.
appwrite vs pocketbase →Reactive TypeScript backend with a transactional document database, server functions and live queries.
appwrite vs convex →Realtime client-side database with relational queries, auth and permissions; cloud sunsets in 2027.
appwrite vs instantdb →Open-source Postgres platform with storage-level copy-on-write branching, scale-to-zero and anonymized clones.
appwrite vs xata →Appwrite FAQ
What is Appwrite?
Appwrite is a relational database by Appwrite, first released in 2019. Appwrite is a BSD-licensed backend-as-a-service you can run with Docker or use as Appwrite Cloud. It bundles databases with permissions and realtime events, authentication, file storage, serverless functions, messaging and static site hosting behind one set of SDKs. Appwrite 2.0, released September 2026, made PostgreSQL the default engine (MariaDB and MongoDB remain supported) and added schemaless DocumentsDB and HNSW-indexed VectorsDB collections plus an embeddings API. It is a strong Firebase alternative when you want to self-host, but its database API is narrower than writing SQL directly against Postgres.
Is Appwrite open source?
Yes. Appwrite is open source. License: BSD 3-Clause License.
Does Appwrite support ACID transactions?
Partly. Appwrite offers limited ACID guarantees (for example, single-record or single-partition transactions), with strong consistency.
Does Appwrite scale horizontally?
Appwrite has no built-in sharding; scaling out means partitioning data in your application. It is comfortable at medium scale (≤ 10 TB).
How can I run Appwrite?
You can self-host it and use the vendor's managed cloud.
What is Appwrite best for?
Appwrite is a strong fit for self-hosted backend for mobile and web apps; firebase replacement with data sovereignty requirements; and internal tools needing auth, storage and functions quickly. Think twice for complex SQL analytics.
What are the best alternatives to Appwrite?
Common alternatives to Appwrite include Firebase, Supabase, PocketBase, Convex and InstantDB. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
How popular is Appwrite?
Appwrite ranks #106 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (27.2/100), and #35 among relational databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.