Drizzle vs Firebase for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

Drizzle Overview

Drizzle ORM gives you a TypeScript-native way to write SQL queries with compile-time type checking. Your schema lives in TypeScript files, your queries look like SQL, and the generated output is exactly what you would expect. No magic. No surprise N+1 queries. No 40 MB client library.

For solo developers, the appeal is clarity. You always know what query is running against your database. The migration system (drizzle-kit) handles schema changes, and the whole package works across Postgres, MySQL, and SQLite. You pair it with whatever database host fits your budget and deploy however you want.

The downside is that Drizzle only does one thing: ORM. Everything else, auth, storage, hosting, realtime, is your problem to solve.

Firebase Overview

Firebase is Google's Backend-as-a-Service platform. It bundles Firestore (NoSQL document database), Authentication, Cloud Storage, Hosting, Cloud Functions, and a dozen other services under one roof. You create a project in the Firebase console, drop in the SDK, and start building immediately.

The Firestore database uses a document-collection model. You do not write SQL. Instead, you structure data as nested documents and query it using the Firestore SDK. For simple CRUD applications this is fast and intuitive. For anything involving complex joins, aggregations, or relational data, it gets painful.

Firebase's free tier (Spark plan) gives you 1 GB Firestore storage, 10 GB bandwidth, 50K daily reads, and free authentication. That is enough to build and launch a small product without spending a dollar on infrastructure.

Head-to-Head Comparison

When to Pick Drizzle

Pick Drizzle when your data is relational. If you need joins between tables, complex filtering, aggregations, or transactions, you want SQL. Drizzle gives you SQL with type safety and nothing else getting in the way.

It is also the right choice when you care about vendor independence. Drizzle works with any Postgres, MySQL, or SQLite provider. If Neon shuts down tomorrow, you move to another Postgres host. Your ORM code does not change.

Choose Drizzle if you have experience with SQL and you want predictable costs. You pay a fixed monthly fee for your database host rather than worrying about per-operation charges that can spike unexpectedly.

Solo developers building SaaS products with user dashboards, reporting features, or complex data relationships will be much happier with a relational database and Drizzle than trying to force that into Firestore's document model.

When to Pick Firebase

Pick Firebase when you need to go from zero to working app as fast as possible and your data model is simple. If you are building a mobile app, a chat application, or a quick prototype where documents map naturally to your entities, Firebase removes almost all backend work.

Firebase is also strong when you need realtime sync. Firestore's snapshot listeners push data changes to connected clients instantly. Building a collaborative tool, a live dashboard, or a chat feature? Firebase handles the hard part of keeping clients in sync.

Choose Firebase if you are building something that needs offline support out of the box. Firestore's client-side cache lets your app work without a network connection and sync when connectivity returns. That is hard to replicate with a traditional SQL setup.

The Verdict

This comparison comes down to your data model and how much backend work you want to do yourself.

If your data is relational, you know SQL, and you want to own your infrastructure decisions, Drizzle with a managed Postgres provider gives you more power and flexibility. You will need to add auth, storage, and other services separately, but you avoid vendor lock-in and pricing surprises.

If you want maximum speed to launch, your data fits a document model, and you do not mind being locked into Google's ecosystem, Firebase gets you shipping faster with less code. Just keep an eye on your read and write counts as you scale, because Firebase billing can surprise you.

For most solo developers building web-based SaaS products, I would lean toward Drizzle plus a managed Postgres service. The relational model handles more use cases, and the total cost of ownership is more predictable. But if you are building a mobile-first app with simple data needs and you want to skip all backend setup, Firebase is genuinely hard to beat for speed.