Appwrite pricing, free tier, and when it's worth paying
Open-source backend platform for auth, databases, functions, and storage.
Best for
- Open-source backend
- Self-hosting option
- Auth and storage
Not good for
- Teams that need Postgres-specific SQL workflows
Pros and cons
Pros
- The Pro plan is a flat $25 per month rather than metered per-service billing, so costs stay predictable as usage grows within the plan limits.
- A single Apple SDK supports iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, which helps if you ship the same account and data model across Apple platforms.
- Because the same API runs in the cloud and on a self-hosted server, you can start on the managed free tier and move to your own infrastructure later without rewriting client code.
- Features arrive as an integrated set of databases, functions, storage, and messaging, so you configure one platform instead of stitching several services together.
Cons
- Appwrite Cloud is younger than the largest backend platforms, so some third-party integrations and long-tail documentation are still filling in.
- Free-tier projects pause after a week of inactivity, which can surprise you on a slow side project or during a quiet development stretch.
- Self-hosting shifts uptime, security patches, backups, and scaling onto you, so the free-to-run server still costs real time.
- The platform surface is broad, so configuring auth methods, permissions, and function runtimes correctly takes some ramp-up.
Short answer
Appwrite is an open-source backend for authentication, databases, file storage, functions, and messaging. On Appwrite Cloud the Free plan is $0 per month and includes 75,000 monthly active users, 2 GB of storage, and 5 GB of bandwidth. Pro starts at $25 per month and includes 200,000 monthly active users. The pricing page does not list a Scale plan. Enterprise is custom. Self-hosting has no license fee. Checked Oct 20, 2026, on the Appwrite pricing page.
Appwrite plans (checked Oct 20, 2026)
| Plan | Price | What is included |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 per month | 75,000 monthly active users, 5 GB bandwidth, 2 GB storage, 750,000 executions, and 2 projects. Projects pause after a week of inactivity. Hitting a limit freezes the project. |
| Pro | From $25 per month | 200,000 monthly active users, 2 TB bandwidth, 150 GB storage, 3.5 million executions, one dedicated project, daily backups kept for 7 days, and email support. Extra users are $3 per 1,000 past 200,000. An extra project is $15. Extra bandwidth is $15 per 100 GB. |
| Scale | Not listed | No Scale plan on the pricing page. The old Scale docs URL redirects to the billing index. |
| Enterprise | Custom | The vendor lists uptime SLAs, a success manager, 24/7 Slack support, SOC-2, HIPAA, a BAA, and SSO. |
| Self-hosted | No license fee | You run the open-source server and pay for the machine, updates, backups, and uptime. |
In selected regions, Appwrite also lists a Start plan from $10 per month, with 100,000 monthly active users, 40 GB of storage, and 80 GB of bandwidth. Outside those regions the page shows Free, Pro, and Enterprise. Checked Oct 20, 2026, in the Start announcement.
Pro includes $10 of database compute credits each month. Serverless databases have a $0 fixed compute fee, and reads and writes use the plan quota. A dedicated database starts at $10 per month. These are the vendor's prices, from the same pricing page.
Self-hosting is the cheaper cash outlay when that machine costs less than Pro at $25 per month plus the overages the project would actually incur. Appwrite's self-hosting docs say that counting time and expertise often makes Cloud cost less. Checked Oct 20, 2026.
Cost at 1,000, 10,000, and 100,000 monthly active users
The amounts below are the user-quota bill for one project. They assume bandwidth, storage, reads, writes, and executions stay inside the plan. They are not a full invoice.
User-quota cost by monthly active users (checked Oct 20, 2026)
| Monthly active users | Plan that covers the user count | User-quota cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | Free, which includes 75,000 | $0 |
| 10,000 | Free, which includes 75,000 | $0 |
| 100,000 | Pro, which includes 200,000. Free stops at 75,000 and does not sell extra users. | $25 per month |
At 1,000 and 10,000 monthly active users the Free allowance covers the user count, so that part of the bill is $0. That holds only while the project also stays inside 5 GB of bandwidth, 2 GB of storage, 500,000 database reads, 250,000 writes, and 750,000 executions. At 100,000 users the Free plan freezes new accounts. Pro includes 200,000 users, so the plan price is $25 per month, and the extra-user rate of $3 per 1,000 does not start until 200,000. Checked Oct 20, 2026, on the Appwrite pricing page.
When Firebase or Supabase costs less
Firebase is the lower bill while the app still fits the Spark plan at $0 and an Appwrite quota would already require Pro. Firestore on Spark includes 50,000 document reads and 20,000 writes a day, which is 1,500,000 reads and 600,000 writes in a 30-day month. Appwrite Free includes 500,000 reads and 250,000 writes a month, then the project freezes. Analytics, Crashlytics, and Cloud Messaging are no-cost on Spark, and Appwrite Cloud does not bundle them. Checked Oct 20, 2026, on the Firebase pricing page.
At 100,000 monthly active users the Appwrite user line is the $25 Pro plan. Firebase lists other authentication services as included on Spark, with no per-user price on that row. If the project uses Identity Platform, Google charges $0.0055 per monthly active user from 50,000 to 100,000. That band is 50,000 users at $0.0055, which is $275, after the first 50,000 at $0. On that vendor rate, Identity Platform is the more expensive auth bill at this size. Checked Oct 20, 2026, on Identity Platform pricing.
Supabase matches Appwrite at the two ends of this range. The Free plan is $0 and includes 50,000 monthly active users, so 1,000 and 10,000 users are $0 on both. Appwrite Free still covers users through 75,000, where Supabase already requires Pro. At 100,000 users both Pro plans start at $25. Supabase then charges $0.00325 per monthly active user past 100,000. Appwrite includes users through 200,000, then charges $3 per 1,000. Supabase costs less when you are paying for a second project: Appwrite charges $15 for each project past the first, and a second Supabase project on Micro compute is $10 after the $10 credit covers the first. Supabase is also the fit when the data has to be Postgres and a dedicated Appwrite database would pass the $10 credit included with Pro. A dedicated tier above the $10 Starter price does that. Checked Oct 20, 2026, on the Supabase pricing page.
Where it fits less well: Appwrite's database is its own abstraction rather than raw SQL, so if you want to write Postgres queries directly, Supabase is closer to that model. Appwrite Cloud is also younger than Firebase, so some managed-service polish and integrations are still catching up.
Setup and integration
Appwrite provides an Apple SDK for Swift covering iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, alongside SDKs for Android, Flutter, React Native, and Web. On iOS you add the SDK through Swift Package Manager, point a Client at your project endpoint (cloud or self-hosted), and then call the Account, Databases, and Storage services. Getting email or OAuth sign-in working is a short exercise.
Two things to plan for. OAuth callbacks on iOS need a registered URL scheme, which is a common first-time snag. And if you self-host, you take on running and updating the Docker stack, backups, and scaling yourself, which is real work the cloud tier removes.
Frequently asked questions
Is Appwrite really free?
In two ways. The open-source server is free to self-host, so you pay only for hosting. Appwrite Cloud also has a free tier with 75,000 monthly active users, 5 GB bandwidth, and 750,000 function executions (checked Oct 20, 2026), though free projects pause after a week of inactivity.
How is Appwrite different from Firebase?
Both bundle auth, a database, storage, and functions behind an SDK. The main differences are openness and hosting: Appwrite is open source and can be self-hosted, while Firebase is a proprietary Google service tied to Google Cloud billing. If avoiding vendor lock-in or owning your infrastructure matters, Appwrite gives you that path.
Can I self-host to avoid the cloud fees?
Yes. The server is open source and runs with Docker, so you can host it yourself and skip the cloud plans. The trade-off is that you own uptime, updates, backups, and scaling, which the Pro plan handles for you.