Firebase for "big" binary data storage with Unity3D

Question

I am using the Firebase SDK for Unity3d.

Our users will create custom objects that we plan to save as binary. The binary data may take 100s GB in the database in relatively short time. Firebase Realtime Database is too expensive to use in our case and I am looking for a better option.

I would prefer to use the Firestore as the cost per GB is much lower. Unfortunately it is still in beta and there is no SDK for Unity available yet.

My questions:

• as for now is it possible to use Firestore with Unity3D without the official SDK? If yes, what would be the best approach? Please point me in the right direction. I know there is API documentation but in my mind there must be a reason why they don't include that package in unity SDK yet.

• what about saving the binary to Firebase Cloud Storage as a file and using the Realtime Database for basic user data with reference to the file in storage? Is this approach more error prone? I know this is the way to do it with pictures, videos etc, but what about C# object converted to binary that needs to be saved from and loaded to memory each time user make changes to the object?

• Is there maybe a better approach I am not aware of?

Answer 1

If you have large amounts of binary data, by far your best bet is to store that in Cloud Storage, then store a reference to that object in your database (Realtime Database or Firestore).