# Appwrite

> BSD-3-Clause backend: auth, database, storage, functions

**Category:** Next.js  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://appwrite.io  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/appwrite/appwrite  
**Added:** 2026-10-18

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## The Hook

Appwrite is an open-source backend platform you can self-host or use as a managed cloud: auth, databases, file storage, serverless functions, messaging, realtime and site hosting behind one set of SDKs, with an MCP server so coding agents can work on a live project.

## What's Good

BSD-3-Clause (appwrite/appwrite), release 2.5.0 (2026-10-13), active since 2019. Auth covers email, SMS, OAuth, anonymous sessions and magic URLs. Storage adds compression, encryption, image transforms and access control, Functions run in isolated runtimes on events, and Sites deploys static, SSR and CSR frontends. Self-hosting is a Docker install script for Unix or Windows, with client and server SDKs for most languages. ★~57.7k.

## The Catch

Self-hosted Appwrite is a stack of many Docker containers, so plan for upgrades, backups and monitoring yourself; major-version upgrades have migration steps. You are buying into Appwrite's APIs and permission model, which makes leaving harder than with plain Postgres. The managed Appwrite Cloud is a separate commercial offering.

## Verdict

A complete Firebase-style backend you can actually self-host — worth it if you want one SDK for auth, data and files.