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Pithy is not for everyone. These pages lay out where it is the better call — and where the tool you already have is the right one to keep.
Whole backends
You are picking a backend, and these are what you would pick. The overlap is nearly total, so the decision rarely comes down to a feature — it comes down to whose account your customers' data sits in.
Firebase is Google's managed backend, and the fastest way to ship a mobile app there has ever been. Pithy is a kit that runs inside your own Cloudflare account. Here is the honest side-by-side.
Read the comparisonSupabase is a managed Postgres platform. Pithy is a composable kit that runs entirely inside your own Cloudflare account. Here is the honest side-by-side.
Read the comparisonConvex is a reactive backend where TypeScript functions run against a document store that pushes changes to clients. Pithy is a kit that composes onto Cloudflare's own primitives. Here is the honest side-by-side.
Read the comparisonAppwrite is an open-source backend you can self-host or buy managed. Pithy is a kit that composes onto Cloudflare's primitives inside your own account. Both answer ownership; they answer it differently.
Read the comparisonPocketBase is one Go binary with SQLite, auth, files, realtime and an admin UI. Pithy is a kit that composes onto Cloudflare's primitives. Both are SQLite; almost nothing else is the same.
Read the comparisonNhost is Postgres and Hasura with auth, storage and functions around them — GraphQL-first and self-hostable. Pithy composes onto Cloudflare's primitives with SQL and HTTP. Both are open source.
Read the comparisonAmplify is a TypeScript-first framework that provisions AWS services for you — Cognito, AppSync, DynamoDB, S3, Lambda. Pithy is a kit that provisions Cloudflare primitives. Same idea, different cloud, different amount of it.
Read the comparisonOne thing, done well
Each of these is better at its one thing than the kit is, and every page below says so. What is left to decide is whether that one thing should be a second integration, a second user table and a second bill.
Clerk is a hosted identity product with the best drop-in components in the category. Pithy has auth as one capability among many. Compared on auth alone — and on whether you need a second vendor for it.
Read the comparisonAuth0 is the enterprise identity platform. Pithy has auth as one capability among many. Compared on auth alone — and on whether the compliance surface you are buying is one you actually need.
Read the comparisonRevenueCat is the best hosted answer to cross-platform purchases. Pithy has payments as one capability. Compared on subscriptions alone — and on where your customers' purchase history lives.
Read the comparisonAlgolia is a hosted search product with latency nobody else matches. Pithy has semantic search as one capability. Compared on search alone.
Read the comparisonCloudinary is a media pipeline with transformations nobody else matches. Pithy has media and storage as capabilities. Compared on media alone.
Read the comparisonhyi187
Turn-based and asynchronous is where the kit competes: authoritative sessions, matchmaking, standings and an economy. If your players move in the same space at the same time, it does not compete, and these pages say where the line falls.
PlayFab is Microsoft's complete backend for live games — identity, economy, matchmaking, dedicated servers, LiveOps and analytics. Pithy has the game capabilities in a Worker you own. Compared honestly.
Read the comparisonNakama is an open-source game server with accounts, storage, realtime multiplayer, matchmaking, leaderboards, tournaments, parties and chat. Pithy has the asynchronous half in a Worker you own.
Read the comparisonPhoton is real-time networking for games — Fusion, Quantum and Realtime — priced on concurrent users. Pithy has turn-based multiplayer as one capability. Compared on multiplayer alone.
Read the comparisonLootLocker is a hosted game backend for leaderboards, progression and player economy. Pithy has those as capabilities in a Worker you own. Compared on the game services alone.
Read the comparisonColyseus is an open-source Node framework for authoritative game servers, with rooms, state synchronization and matchmaking. Pithy has turn-based sessions as one capability. Compared on multiplayer alone.
Read the comparisonNo vendor at all
Every page above has a company on the other side of it. This one does not, and it is the comparison worth reading even if you never install anything.
Five minutes to hello world. No account required to try it locally.