Is PocketBase really free?

Yes. PocketBase is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month.

Do I need to code to install PocketBase?

No. The level is beginner and the install takes about 5 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.

How is it different from Firebase?

PocketBase does most of what Firebase does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.

Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

Free alternative

Free alternative to Firebase

PocketBase does the same job as Firebase for free, in open source: you install it on your machine or a small server, and you stop paying.

What replaces Firebase

The main alternative

PocketBase

🟢 Beginner⏱️ ~5 min to installSave €22/mo

PocketBase is an entire backend in a single executable written in Go, barely 12 MB to download. You run it, and you get everything people usually pay Supabase or Firebase for: a SQLite database with realtime subscriptions, user management (email and password, plus about fifteen OAuth2 providers like Google, Apple or GitHub), file storage on your disk or on S3 with thumbnails on the fly, a ready-to-use REST API and a dashboard to create your collections without writing SQL. On the code side, a JavaScript SDK (browser, Node.js, React Native) and a Dart SDK for Flutter. If you need server logic, you write hooks in JavaScript or Go, right inside the same binary. Your data lives in a folder next to the executable: backing up means copying that folder, and the dashboard can do it on its own, locally or to S3. MIT license, over 60,000 stars on GitHub, and a project carried by a single developer, Gani Georgiev, with no company behind it.

Loucash’s verdict on PocketBase

8/10

This is the open source alternative to Supabase and Firebase I recommend when you want to understand what you are running. One file, a SQLite database, authentication, files, realtime and a clean dashboard. You start it in five minutes on a VPS at 4 or 5 euros a month, and it holds more than 10,000 realtime connections on a €4 Hetzner VPS, measured by the author himself. What gets in the way, and it needs saying. The project is not at version 1.0: the author warns that compatibility is not guaranteed and that an update may require a manual migration. There is no hosting on offer, so the €22 saving assumes you have a server (and if you are on Supabase's free plan, you save nothing for now, you mostly gain control). It runs on one machine only, no spreading across several servers, and that is a deliberate choice. And it is one person's project, with no company and no paid support: it is very active, with a release out this week, but you depend on a single developer. Last point: the author writes in plain words that if you plan to rely only on an AI without reading the docs, you had better not use PocketBase. The prompt above saves you time, but at least read the introduction and the page on access rules. Do not confuse it with self-hosted Supabase, which is still PostgreSQL and several Docker containers to maintain: PocketBase is the light version, for a freelancer, a small team, a SaaS getting started. If you need PostgreSQL, cloud functions or a huge load, it is not the right tool. For everything else, it is the one I would install first.

Who it is for: You build an app, a SaaS or an internal tool, you pay or are about to pay for Supabase or Firebase, and you want a complete backend at home that you understand end to end.

See the full page →See the tool ↗

The prompt that installs PocketBase

Paste this prompt into Claude: it checks the repository, asks you its questions and installs the tool step by step.

Installe PocketBase (le backend open source en un seul fichier, repo GitHub pocketbase/pocketbase). Demande-moi d'abord si je l'installe sur mon ordinateur ou sur un VPS Linux, et quel est mon système (macOS, Windows ou Linux, x64 ou ARM64). Télécharge la dernière version stable depuis la page des releases du repo officiel pour ma plateforme, décompresse l'archive dans un dossier dédié, puis lance ./pocketbase serve. Ouvre le lien d'installation qui s'affiche au premier lancement et aide-moi à créer mon compte superuser (ou crée-le avec la commande ./pocketbase superuser create si le lien ne s'ouvre pas). Si je suis sur un VPS : mets PocketBase en service systemd pour qu'il redémarre seul, et sers-le en HTTPS sur mon nom de domaine, soit avec le certificat Let's Encrypt automatique de PocketBase, soit derrière un reverse proxy Caddy ou Nginx. Ensuite, dans le tableau de bord d'administration, crée une première collection de test avec deux ou trois champs, ajoute un enregistrement, et vérifie que l'API le renvoie. Explique-moi où sont mes données (le dossier pb_data) et comment les sauvegarder. Explique chaque étape simplement, je débute.

Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.

Frequently asked questions

Is PocketBase really free?: Yes. PocketBase is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month.
Do I need to code to install PocketBase?: No. The level is beginner and the install takes about 5 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.
How is it different from Firebase?: PocketBase does most of what Firebase does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.
Do I own my data?: Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.