Google Cloud Firestore drives you the maximum of Google Cloud’s robust infrastructure.
At its core, Firestore is a database that performs an excellent job to store your mobile and web app data. There are multiple options for database solutions available, but one that is always widely accepted as an option, specifically for startups, is Google Cloud Firestore.
Why is the right database selection significant?
Here are some reasons why you should not opt for any of the database solutions without precisely assessing them.
| The first thing is migration. Migration takes time and is usually quite more complex than implementing features. When you choose an inappropriate database solution, it can cost lots of money and time. There are some restrictions and rules that you need to follow while using the database solutions that might not address your database needs. Some of the database solutions are pretty budget-friendly with minimal usage, but costs will rise as you start scaling. |
Why should you opt for Google Cloud Firestore?
Google Cloud Firestore is a highly scalable, Cloud-hosted, NoSQL real-time database, which aids you to store/syncing/querying data for web and mobile apps worldwide.
#1. Asynchronous Querying
With Google Cloud Firestore, data can be fetched in real-time from mobile and web. When any query gets executed, you can attach a listener to it for receiving real-time callbacks. Query listeners get notified every time any modification takes place.
Cloud Firestore helps to achieve real-time updates from the document.
#2. Data Management Abilities
It is easy to manage and organize data while using Google Cloud Firestore. It stores data in documents that are organized in the Collections and offers an automatic, powerful query engine. It helps developers to execute complex queries against the NoSQL database.
Firestore is highly optimized to store large Collections of small documents. It offers high flexibility in structuring your data.
#3. Very Scalable
Google Cloud Firestore is Google’s second attempt to develop a NoSQL database that comprises successful elements of Google’s Firebase product.
Without being highly technical, Google Firestore supports a plethora of best practices to run a scalable database and make the developers’ tasks easygoing. As Firestore is supported by Google, you can be sure that your database has global scalability and strong reliability.
#4. Integration with other Firebase and Google Products
If you have a future plan to use other Firebase or Google Cloud Products, Firestore is the best option to integrate the two products.
Firestore out of the box is already integrated with Firebase Authentication so you don’t have to set it up. It will help you build MVP, prototyping, iteration, or something that you want to develop rapidly and run quickly. You can be free from the authentication, notifications, and other relevant backend elements.
#5. Offline Support
Google Cloud Firestore offers offline syncing that aids you to collaborate with the web and mobile app while there is no internet availability. You can store data offline and synchronize it to the database instantly when the internet connection gets available.
Firestore libraries manage all the synchronization, notifications, data blending, and other issues that enable web and mobile apps to execute perfectly when there is no network connectivity.
#6. No need for a Server
Google Cloud Firestore is a Cloud-based, serverless database solution that offers superior developer experience and streamlines the web and mobile app development process. You can be free from setting up intermediary servers for data accessibility and data management.
It is integrated with Google Cloud Platform and Firebase – Google’s mobile app development platform. So you can leverage both.
#7. High Security
Google Cloud Firestore provides automated multi-region simulation as well as robust consistency for mobile and web platforms. It means if you face any misfortune or accident, your data is secure.
You can also leverage automated data authentication with non-cascading rules. Even without any loops, assignments, or procedural statements, it facilitates you to compose complicated expressions to get the final true/false value.
Certain Limitations (Just to let you know)
Google Cloud Firestore has a few technical constraints that you should observe.
| You have to use a third-party provider for full-text search out-of-the-box as Firestore does not support it by default. The maximum size of the document is 1 MiB (1,048,576 bytes). That is quite enough but creates trouble for certain web or mobile apps. The maximum size of a field path is 1,500 bytes. The maximum size of a field value is 1 MiB – 89 bytes(1,048,487 bytes). The maximum depth of subcollections is 100. The maximum writes per second per database is 10,000 (up to 10 MiB per second). The time limit for a transaction is 270 seconds (60-second idle expiration time). |
If you want to take a deep dive into the technical limitation of Firestore, Visit https://cloud.google.com/firestore/quotas
Summing Up
Just like other database solutions, Google Cloud Firestore also has its strengths and weaknesses. However, Firestore is a great choice, especially for startups as it is pocket-friendly with minimal usage, and setting up is very quick. You can migrate for more cost-effective solutions as required.
Firestore is continuously upgrading its offering and addressing some of the constraints that users have faced. So it will become more of a comparable solution.
