Firebase as an android app backend

Question

I am working on an Android application and planning to use Firebase as backend.

My main question if I need any other backend resources (hosting, server side scripting, etc) in addition to Firebase.

In front end my app will collect some user data, convert it to Json (as far as i know Firebase uses Json) and sent to Firebase.

I will create and maintain a database in Firebase.

And the main question: can i run a code/script/logic on Firebase to compare user data against the data in database. Then return a result to that specific user.

This question arises especially after Google introduced Firebase "functions": https://firebase.google.com/docs/functions/.

Or do i need an additional backend service like AWS?

And after all would you recommend to use a native backend instead of using Firebase.

Thanks in advance for support.

Answer 1

Good for you because Firebase offers a Real Time Database and the new one which it also good to use Firestore. You dont need a Server for this, everything will be done under firebase databases via your app's code under some set of rules. Check for this quote from Firebase Official Site on RealTime Database from this link.

The Firebase Realtime Database can be accessed directly from a mobile device or web browser; there’s no need for an application server. Security and data validation are available through the Firebase Realtime Database Security Rules, expression-based rules that are executed when data is read or written.

More over because you are making a new app the best way is to use Firestore as your database because in addition to synchronization across multiple device it is scalable and more over its new (beta now). So if you are planning to make apps where you will have a lot of users its time to get to know Firestore. If you want to compare the two database differences check this link. For more information check the official firebase site here.