MySQL vs Firebase for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

MySQL Overview

MySQL is the relational database that powers the majority of the web. Tables, rows, columns, SQL, foreign keys. It is the foundation of the LAMP stack and the default database for PHP applications, WordPress, and a significant portion of enterprise software.

For a solo developer, MySQL is dependable. It stores your data reliably, handles concurrent access, supports transactions, and works with every framework and hosting provider. The community is massive, the documentation is thorough, and the tooling ecosystem is mature.

MySQL is purely a database. It stores and retrieves data. Authentication, file storage, real-time features, and API endpoints are separate concerns that you build or integrate yourself.

Firebase Overview

Firebase is Google's complete app development platform. Firestore (the NoSQL document database) is the core, but Firebase includes authentication, cloud storage, serverless functions, hosting, analytics, push notifications, and remote configuration. It is an entire backend in a box.

The Spark free tier is generous: 1 GiB Firestore storage, 10 GB hosting, 50K daily document reads, and authentication for most providers. You can build and launch a real application without spending anything. The Blaze pay-as-you-go plan charges only for what you use beyond the free tier.

Firebase was built with mobile development in mind, and it shows. The iOS, Android, and Flutter SDKs are excellent. Real-time listeners update your UI instantly when data changes. For mobile-first applications, Firebase provides a development experience that is hard to match.

Key Differences

SQL vs. NoSQL changes how you think about data. MySQL uses tables with fixed schemas, joins for relating data, and SQL for querying. Firebase's Firestore uses collections and documents with flexible schemas and no joins. You design your data structure around how your UI reads it, duplicating data across documents to avoid expensive lookups. These are fundamentally different mental models.

MySQL is just a database. Firebase is a platform. Choosing MySQL means you also need to choose and integrate authentication, file storage, hosting, and possibly real-time functionality. Choosing Firebase means these come bundled and working together from day one. For a solo developer, having fewer integration decisions speeds up development significantly.

Complex queries are MySQL territory. Need to join three tables, filter by date range, group by category, and aggregate totals? One SQL query. In Firestore, you cannot join collections. You cannot run aggregate queries across documents without reading them all. You cannot do complex filtering on fields that are not indexed. For data-heavy applications, this is a serious limitation.

Real-time sync is Firebase territory. Firestore listeners push data changes to connected clients instantly. Building this with MySQL requires WebSockets, a pub/sub layer, and significant custom code. If your app needs live updates (chat, collaborative features, live dashboards), Firebase provides this functionality out of the box.

Pricing models differ in important ways. MySQL is free to run. A $5/mo VPS handles it. Firebase charges per operation: reads, writes, deletes, and storage. A viral moment or a poorly designed listener can trigger thousands of reads per second and create an unexpected bill. I have seen developers get surprised by Firebase costs when their usage patterns do not match what they expected.

Vendor lock-in is much worse with Firebase. MySQL is an open standard. Your data, schema, and queries work with MariaDB, Percona, PlanetScale, or any MySQL-compatible service. Firebase data lives in Google's proprietary Firestore format. Migrating away means rewriting your entire data layer. This is a real risk for any long-term project.

When to Choose MySQL

• Your data is relational (users, orders, products with relationships)
• You need complex queries with joins, aggregations, and reporting
• You want to avoid vendor lock-in to any single provider
• You are building with PHP/Laravel or WordPress
• Cost predictability matters (flat VPS cost vs. per-operation pricing)

When to Choose Firebase

• You are building a mobile app (iOS, Android, Flutter)
• You need real-time data sync without building WebSocket infrastructure
• You want authentication, storage, and hosting bundled together
• You are prototyping and want to ship as fast as possible
• Your data model is simple and does not need complex queries

The Verdict

Firebase edges out MySQL with an 8/10 vs 7/10 for solo developers, primarily because of the platform advantage. Getting authentication, real-time sync, storage, and hosting bundled together saves a solo developer significant time. For mobile apps especially, Firebase is the faster path to a working product.

But MySQL wins when your data is relational, your queries are complex, or vendor lock-in is a concern. If you are building a web application with a backend framework like Laravel or Django, MySQL (or better yet, PostgreSQL) with your framework's built-in tools gives you more power and flexibility than Firebase.

My recommendation: use Firebase for mobile-first MVPs and prototypes where speed matters most. Use MySQL (or Postgres) for web applications, SaaS products, and anything where data relationships, reporting, or long-term portability matter. And if you are choosing a relational database for a new project, honestly consider PostgreSQL over MySQL for the richer feature set.