parse.com open-source alternatives for backend [closed]

Question

Just wondering if there is a free parse.com alternative that allows one to arbitrarily store data in tables and create databases on the fly (say in mysql) that works like parse.com.

I'd love to know and use it before spending time to create one.

Thanks!

Answer 1

This answer has been updated to take into account the Parse.com shutdown. Parse Server (the parse.com service) is now available open source.

Go with Parse Server, running on Heroku and mLab - seriously.

There are 4 compelling reasons to do this:

1. It's really well developed. There are APIs for a dozen platforms, including mobile and web. The time you would spend just rebuilding the security and extensibility is huge.
2. Parse is free* (mLab and Heroku cost at scale). You can build a huge user base before it costs anything. I currently have apps with 50k+ active users for which I pay zero. (See my answer here for this in more detail: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26809697/parse-request-per-second-too-expensive-want-to-get-personal-aws-developed-advi/26846950#26846950)
3. The documentation and community is excellent. I have found answers to every question on their systems either neatly laid out in their docs (which include an awesome guide as well as standard class documentation) or via Stack Overflow. It is hard to quantify how much faster and more fun this makes development.
4. Even with Parse.com shutting down, there is a huge community that will keep the technology moving. It's a simple, fantastic API and server structure.

Answer 2

As this was recently active I'll add my 2€

I've looked around for a few months and the best one I have found so far is Loopback which is a MEAN based service and its open sourced. It seems to have a few heavyweight users including some who explicitly say they have used it as a migration route from Parse.com

http://loopback.io/

Technically it has a lot of similarities to the Parse stack with support for User accounts etc. Its opensource and I have so far brought it up on AWS for which the creators provide a preconfigured AMI

This does not have exactly all the same parts as Parse, but the core ones are there and you can roll whatever you like.

I intend building a front end to Parse using this and express to fill areas that Parse doesn't do and to provide a means of migrating from Parse that retains broadly the same technical/architectural tools. The associated Strongloop tools/service appears to provide a nice ops package once one leaves the managed service provided by Parse.

One big advantage is that you are not restricted to any particular database and if the app would work better with MySQL you can use that or something else instead of Mongo.

I have yet to find anyone else who has used it to compare notes.

Edit :

Loopback (or the company) has now been acquired by IBM, from my perspective this means it better competes with Parse on a strategic level as it has a major backer for the technology. I'm still using Parse on my own (and customers) projects but looking to try Loopback on a future personal project.

Answer 3

You can try out apiOmat. It's a BaaS (Backend as a Service) hosted in Germany and protected bei german law without any NSA or prism stuff. You can work with generated SDKs so it will be very easy to store data.

Answer 4

Take a look at:
http://helios.io and
http://deployd.com.

They look OK.