Every list of Firebase alternatives is a list of databases. If the thing you built on Firebase is chat, that’s the wrong list. Here are the options for chat specifically, with what each one makes you rebuild and what its bill looks like.
Many developers have fallen into the trap of using Firebase as a quick fix for real-time chat. With just a few lines of code, you can push messages to a database and have them sync across clients in real time. It’s a magical feeling – within an afternoon, you can get a basic chat working in your web or mobile app. No server code, no infrastructure headaches. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?