Backend as a Service or BaaS is an approach for providing the web and mobile app developers with a way to connect their applications to backend cloud storage and APIs. It helps in processing providing common features such as user management, push notifications and social networking integration that mobile users demand from their apps these days. It is also known as Mobile Backend as a service (MBaaS). The new trend in development is leasing a ready-made architecture like BaaS and assigning the frontend development as freelance work, which is highly cost effective.
These services get provided via the use of custom software development kits (SDKs) and application programming interfaces (APIs). BaaS is a relatively new in cloud computing, with most BaaS Startups dating from 2011 or later. Although a fairly nascent industry, trends indicate that these services are gaining mainstream traction with enterprise consumers.
Pros of Using BaaS
1. BaaS saves a lot of time for you and provide features such as user management, data storage, queries, search and a whole lot more which saves you of hours of time. A developer can save weeks regarding backend development. Usually, the back end development is a repetitive activity is quite monotonous for developers. BaaS vendors show as a real good alternative to speed up software development.
2. You have no responsibility of your server and have virtually no backend infrastructure to power your app. Using a BaaS is a lot faster to get your app up and to run. Poses no dependency on the local device storage limit; this cloud-based file management system for mobile apps allows unrestricted storage of images, videos, and any other heavy data. The data is then easily available when required.
3. You don’t need a backend developer to code your app and connect it to the database; you end up writing fewer lines of code which tremendously reduces your time to go live in the market. The reduction in cycle time can be as big as up to 50%. Considering the effort to create an application is much lower, the product MVP (a Minimum Viable Product) can be launched faster and start to generate revenue earlier. It is in mainly important for the Startups where freelance gigs may be doing a lot of work.
4. You can have much richer apps built on your BaaS. BaaS end up giving you search, data storage, and user authentication right out of the box. If you pick the right BaaS, You can build an excellent App that leverages all the functionalities it provides.
5. Using BaaS, you can save considerable money, and it supercharges your app tremendously. The market is new but relatively mature, and there are several vendors available for all types of needs, making it easy for you to choose the right vendor in your budget and quickly go live.
6. Provides smooth user management, which allows linking the app user’s social accounts during the application registration. The total number of user can grow very fast without downtime or performance decrease. The scalability is not an issue on this platform, and there is no planning to be done on your side except the right design. You can engage a freelance designer for this task. Most of the BaaS vendors do provide real good security protocols, and that is also not much of your consideration.
7. One of the most used features of API BaaS is its expertise in SQL-style queries and full-text searches. It lets developers quickly access data entities for different criteria. The data can be used for user management, sending push notifications and performing other app-related operations. By leveraging on API BaaS, enterprises saves additional costs and time invested in developer and backend cycles. It is the key reason for the popularity of this service with large setups.
8. As an App provider, you should be focusing on what makes your app unique and different – what sets it apart from the competition. A backend is not a differentiator. It is essential, but your end user doesn’t care where the data gets stored. Only in the case of some industry applications like finance and healthcare, they may question you about the data storage location. Most users care about the user experience and speed of operations. So backend as a service allows you to focus on that, the frontend, while they take care of the backend.
9. It is a flexible, fast, and simple architecture for modifying any app functionality or a data structure without wasting time in the traditional deployment cycle in the App store. You can send frequent push notifications for updates to enhance the user engagement. It can also automatically trigger the push notification whenever there is a change in the App. Your freelance web developers can easily define these push triggers inside a BaaS panel.
10. In addition to the core BaaS features, some providers provide the ability to connect with any third-party REST API through a unified interface. It means you only need to learn one backend API, and you can switch between data providers with a single click. Without a BaaS, it would be difficult as you need to learn multiple APIs and will require a lot of time.
Service Providers:
Back4app provider helps developers and companies to build and host Parse APIs for the web, mobile, and IoT Apps.
Firebase provides the backend for your Apps, including data storage, user authentication, static hosting, and much more. The focus is on creating extraordinary user experiences.
Act engage features for mobile app engagement like for push notifications, in-app messages, and mobile retargeting.
Cloud Best offers Storage, Search and Real-time capabilities for your apps. Good for building applications with large data requirements and services.
BackAnd is a platform that allows you to create an AngularJS ready backend for your app. Its really good of you are working on AngularJS web apps, and your data storage is on Amazon RDS.
RapidAPI platform allows for saving data and integrating APIs. It is using blocks to represent each action.