# Alternative to Realtime Firebase? **URL:** \ **Category:** Questions about Thunkable X\ **Tags:** firebase\ **Created:** [August 10, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/alternative-to-realtime-firebase/1442512 "2021-08-10T19:26:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hdawc](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/hdawc/32/119068_2.png) [@hdawc](https://community.thunkable.com/u/hdawc)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/alternative-to-realtime-firebase/1442512/1 "2021-08-10T19:26:50Z")
Hi, I’m aware that there are various FOSS and Enterprise alternatives. I’m looking for something that can be integrated similar to Firebase Realtime so when data is updated, it shows in the app. Firebase can get expensive even with a small group of users changing/ `downloading data frequently. I’ve looked at things like: - Hasura - Backendless - RethinkDB - Parse And others. But there’s a lot to take in and a lot to be aware of. I’m happy to setup a server and run a DB. I even thought of using WordPress with custom APIs, or that NocoDB Airtable Alterative, as well as PubNub which is a complete Enterprise solution that would need a lot more work but has a lot more features… I’m just not sure what would be best to allow the ‘realtime’ functionality (and authentication) that I would like. _ **More importantly, can I even do this in Thunkable?** _ Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![jared](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/jared/32/138473_2.png) [@jared](https://community.thunkable.com/u/jared)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 10:56pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/alternative-to-realtime-firebase/1442512/2 "2021-08-10T22:56:36Z")
Fire fire base should be free until you start downloading 10 GB worth of data from your database a month. It also stored up to 1 GB of data for free. Are you sure that you’re not allowing your users to download the least amount of information possible that’s resulting in lower data per call to the dB which would increase the total number ofpossuble dB calls per month before going over the 10 FB limit ---
**Author:** ![jared](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/jared/32/138473_2.png) [@jared](https://community.thunkable.com/u/jared)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 11:11pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/alternative-to-realtime-firebase/1442512/3 "2021-08-10T23:11:41Z")
And no. You won’t get real-time anything with any other service as we do t have the ability to add event listeners. That is unless You are using the webviewer and custom JavaScript. You can definitely use any real-time dB with listeners this way ---
**Author:** ![hdawc](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/hdawc/32/119068_2.png) [@hdawc](https://community.thunkable.com/u/hdawc)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 11:12pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/alternative-to-realtime-firebase/1442512/4 "2021-08-10T23:12:18Z")
> [@jared](#): > > Are you sure that you’re not allowing your users to download the least amount of information possible that’s resulting in lower data per call to the dB which would increase the total number ofpossuble dB calls per month before going over the 10 FB limit I know what the allowances are and I can already see that my app might use quite a bit of data as it stores (loyalty point) transactions. So yes, I’m sure 😉 I don’t _really_ need realtime, but I also can’t find anything that is as fast or simple to use (or integrated with Thunkable, and Airtable is too high level, I don’t need all that shiny interface calendar/kanban high-priced stuff). As soon as one leaves the free version of Firebase it gets pricey and I was looking for advice on other API services that people are aware of that provide perhaps a more generous starter package, or similar JSON structure database type services. Cheers ---
**Author:** ![hdawc](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/hdawc/32/119068_2.png) [@hdawc](https://community.thunkable.com/u/hdawc)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 11:12pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/alternative-to-realtime-firebase/1442512/5 "2021-08-10T23:12:28Z")
> [@jared](#): > > And no. You won’t get real-time anything with any other service as we do t have the ability to add event listeners. > > That is unless > > You are using the webviewer and custom JavaScript. You can definitely use any real-time dB with listeners this way okay, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![ioannis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/ioannis/32/146956_2.png) [@ioannis](https://community.thunkable.com/u/ioannis)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 1:17pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/alternative-to-realtime-firebase/1442512/6 "2024-11-08T13:17:26Z")