Frequently asked questions
Everything about ichibase — pricing, databases, migration and more.
- What is ichibase?
- ichibase is a backend-as-a-service. It gives you a PostgreSQL and/or MongoDB database with auth, object storage, edge functions, realtime and full-text search — all on a commodity VPS at a flat monthly price. It is an alternative to Supabase, Firebase and MongoDB Atlas.
- How is ichibase pricing different from Supabase, Firebase or MongoDB Atlas?
- ichibase charges a flat monthly price — the cost of the underlying VPS plus a small fee — instead of billing per request, per row read, or per gigabyte of egress. Your bill stays the same whether you serve a hundred requests or a million, so it never spikes unexpectedly with traffic.
- Which databases does ichibase support?
- PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or both in the same project. You pick the database that fits your app instead of choosing a vendor by which database they happen to offer.
- Can I migrate from Supabase, Firebase or MongoDB Atlas?
- Yes. ichibase has built-in migration that imports your data — and your users with their existing passwords — from Supabase, plain PostgreSQL, Firebase (Firestore + Auth), MongoDB and MongoDB Atlas. NoSQL sources can land in MongoDB one-to-one or be auto-mapped into Postgres tables.
- Is there a free tier?
- Yes. The free tier runs one project on a shared cluster with Postgres or MongoDB, auth, storage, edge functions and realtime, so you can build and ship without paying. Paid plans (Pro and Business) move your project onto its own dedicated VPS.
- What features does ichibase include?
- Postgres and MongoDB, authentication (email/password, passwordless, OAuth with Google and GitHub, two-factor), row-level security and policies, object storage, Deno edge functions, realtime subscriptions, Typesense full-text search, Redis, daily backups, and team collaborators on paid plans.
- Is my data locked in?
- No. ichibase runs standard PostgreSQL and MongoDB, so your data uses open, portable formats. You can export your full database and storage at any time and take it elsewhere.
- Where does ichibase run, and is it self-hosted?
- ichibase is a managed service that provisions your backend on commodity VPS providers (such as Hetzner and DigitalOcean). Paid projects get their own dedicated VPS. You get VPS-level economics without operating the servers yourself.
- Which languages and SDKs are supported?
- ichibase exposes a REST API (PostgREST-compatible for Postgres) and ships official client SDKs for TypeScript/JavaScript, Flutter/Dart, Swift, and Kotlin/Java (Android). The SDKs are public on GitHub at github.com/ichi-base.
- Is ichibase open source?
- The ichibase client SDKs are public on GitHub (github.com/ichi-base). The platform itself is offered as a managed service. Because it runs standard Postgres and MongoDB, you are never locked in and can export your data at any time.