Firebase vs Elasticsearch

Google's all-in-one meets the search engine that thinks it's a database. Here's our take.

Firebase

Nice Pick

Google's all-in-one. Fast to start, painful to leave.

Pros

• Mature ecosystem
• Great docs
• Fast prototyping
• Google scale

Cons

• Vendor lock-in
• NoSQL limits
• Pricing surprises
• Proprietary

Elasticsearch

The search engine that thinks it's a database. Great for logs, but good luck with transactions.

Pros

• Blazing-fast full-text search and analytics
• Scalable and distributed by design
• Rich ecosystem with Kibana for visualization

Cons

• Not ACID-compliant, so avoid for transactional data
• Can be resource-hungry and complex to tune

The Verdict

Use Firebase if: You want mature ecosystem and can live with vendor lock-in.

Use Elasticsearch if: You prioritize blazing-fast full-text search and analytics over what Firebase offers.

The Bottom Line

Firebase wins

Google's all-in-one. Fast to start, painful to leave.