Firebase vs Split Forms
Pricing
Firebase: Free Spark plan, pay as you go on Blaze
Split Forms: Free (500 submissions in total), Pro $5/mo (5,000/mo), Annual $49/yr (15,000/mo)
Description
Firebase: Google's app platform with a NoSQL database, authentication, hosting, cloud functions, storage and push messaging, plus SDKs for web and mobile
Split Forms: Hosted form backend: point any HTML or framework form at one endpoint and each submission is spam-filtered, saved to a dashboard and emailed to you
Pros
- The Spark plan needs no payment method and includes 1 GiB of Firestore storage and 50,000 document reads a day
- SDKs for Apple platforms, Android, the web, Flutter, Unity and C++
- Authentication is free up to 50,000 monthly active users
- Works on any site, from plain HTML to Next.js, Astro, Webflow or WordPress, by changing the form's action URL and adding an access key, with no SDK or server code
- Spam filtering on every plan uses a honeypot, a time-trap and per-IP rate limits, shows no CAPTCHA by default and keeps flagged entries in a spam folder you can review
- Pro costs $5 a month for 5,000 submissions and adds signed webhooks, Google Sheets, Notion and Airtable syncs, file uploads and Stripe payments on forms
Cons
- Cloud Functions and Cloud Storage need the pay-as-you-go Blaze plan
- Firestore is a NoSQL document database, not a relational SQL database like the Postgres behind Supabase
- Budget alerts only send email; a hard spending cap exists for just a few services, such as Cloud Functions and App Hosting
- The free plan is 500 submissions in total, not a monthly allowance
- Webhooks, integrations and file uploads are paid features, and files attached on the free plan are dropped
- There is no contractual uptime SLA, and EU data residency is not offered yet
Details
Firebase bundles the backend pieces an app needs: Cloud Firestore and the Realtime Database, Authentication, Hosting, Cloud Functions, Cloud Storage, Cloud Messaging for push notifications and Crashlytics. The client SDKs talk to these services directly, guarded by security rules, so many apps need no server of their own.
It suits founders building mobile apps or prototypes on Google’s infrastructure. Firebase Authentication, its sign-in service, can also be used without the rest of Firebase.
Spark is free and covers a side project. Once you need functions or file storage you move to Blaze, which keeps the same free allowances and bills the usage beyond them. Set a budget when you upgrade, and know that it only warns you by email: services keep running unless you add a spend cap where one is available.
Split Forms receives the submissions from a form you build yourself. You set the form’s action to https://splitforms.com/api/submit and add a hidden access key, and every entry is filtered for spam, stored in a dashboard and sent to you by email. It accepts URL-encoded, multipart and JSON bodies, so the same endpoint works for a static page, a JavaScript app or a site made with an AI builder.
It suits a founder who has a website and wants its contact, waitlist or order form to work without running a server or SMTP. Paid plans can forward each submission to Slack, Discord, Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable or any signed webhook, accept file uploads and send submitters to Stripe Checkout. Every plan, including Free, includes an MCP server with 12 tools that ChatGPT, Claude and coding agents can use to create forms and read submissions.
The free plan gives 500 submissions in total with unlimited forms and no card. Pro costs $5 a month for 5,000 submissions a month, and Annual costs $49 a year for 15,000 a month with 5 GB of file storage. Split Forms is operated by TownMediaLabs, and its founder is Raman Makkar.
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