Is Firebase Hosting free?
And how much does Firebase Hosting cost?
You’ll find answers to 10 questions in this blog post.
Excited?
Let’s get started.
First I’ll cover the basics since many people have no idea what is Firebase and its hosting capabilities.
Quick Jumps
1. What is Firebase?
Firebase is a mobile and web application development platform developed by Firebase, Inc in 2011. Later, it was acquired by Google in 2014.
More technically, Firebase is a BAAS short for Backend-as-a-service which helps you to build better apps, websites, or games regardless of server-side coding, API or backend data storage.
2. What is Firebase Hosting?
Firebase Hosting service is a dynamic and static web hosting service that is fast, secure, and reliable. The big G calls it production-grade web content hosting for developers.
Moreover, files are deployed on SSDs and CDN edge servers around the globe. It supports hosting files like (javascript, HTML, CSS, etc), also supported through Cloud Functions.
3. Is Firebase Hosting Free?
Firebase Hosting is not completely free since it works on the principles of the Freemium Model. In the Freemium Model, Firebase Hosting is provided free of charge, but you’re charged for additional features.
Here you can see the Firebase Hosting pricing for free and premium model.
The highlighted square shown in the screenshot is the free version features for Firebase Hosting.
When you cross the limits of GB stored (space), you’re entitled to pay $0.026 per GB. It means if you want the storage of 50GB, you’ll pay $1.3 only. That’s a pretty good deal.
Similarly, your website consumes 100GB of bandwidth a month, you’ll pay $15 per month that may be a huge amount.
Pro Tip: Use Cloudflare CDN to reduce your bandwidth consumption.
The best thing about the free version of the Firebase Hosting is you can attach custom domain otherwise other platforms charge heavily for it.
Without SSL, your website and app will never be considered secure. It has become a standard, SSL is given free of cost.
Another good thing is that you can host multiple sites per project. You don’t need to create separate projects for your website.
It shows the FIrebase Hosting pricing is affordable to most developers. For beginner developers, the free version is enough to feed their needs and wants.
4. Should You Use Firebase Free Hosting?
It depends on you.
Google has another great product that is Blogger that offers you unlimited space, unlimited bandwidth, free custom domain and free SSL.
But it has a lot of limitations and issues when it comes to customization.
In Firebase hosting, you have to make a folder and put all your files to run on your website. You can make your own HTML and CSS simple website with it.
But if you want to be a pro blogger, you should use WordPress hosting.
Did you know? Our website is hosted on DigitalOcean and runs on WordPress.
5. Can You Install WordPress on Firebase Hosting?
Very interesting question.
You cannot install WordPress on Firebase Hosting since Firebase doesn’t support PHP and any server-side programs. PHP is the fundamental need of WordPress to function fully whereas Firebase Hosting only delivers static content, for example, HTML, CSS, JS, and images.
For WordPress, you must have a database, PHP running 5.2 or the latest 7.5, and many other technologies that Firebase Hosting doesn’t provide at all.
7. Does Firebase Hosting Support PHP?
Firebase Hosting doesn’t support PHP. Firebase Hosting is only capable of handling static content like HTML, CSS, JS, and images. You’ll need to buy dedicated hosting that is made for PHP for example, Bluehost, SIteground, or Kinsta to run PHP.
8. Can You Add a Custom Domain to Firebase Hosting?
Of course, you can add a custom domain to Firebase Hosting free of cost. It requires some steps that we have explained in this article.
9. What is the Firebase Hosting Bandwith Limit?
In the free plan of Firebase Hosting, you’re limited to use only 10GB of bandwidth per month. If your page size is 1MB, it can handle only 10,000 visitors a month.
10. How to Use Custom Domain Name Email with Firebase Hosting?
Firebase Hosting doesn’t provide email feature like Gmail. But you can easily create a professional email with the help of Zoho that offers a free plan. You just need access to the domain to create a professional email. You can watch this video.