An Alternative for Firebase functions ? Is it okay to run them on a VM?

Question

I am using firebase functions for an Uberlike product. I can't get expected performance. Specially it takes a long time to load data from realtime-db. Up to 2-3 seconds for a read. It's may be due to called start, which is discussed here. => Why is Cloud Functions for Firebase taking 25 seconds?

So I decided to move the functionality of these functions to a VM instance. Using firebase onWrite and admin SDK, a similar functionality can be achieved on a virtual machine.

Is it okay to do so? Will I get any scalability issue?

have you considered using parse server? – Mox Feb 05 '18 at 04:57 — Mox, Feb 05 '18 at 04:57
@Mox nope. We are using firebase realtime db. – Janaka Chathuranga Feb 09 '18 at 05:10 — Janaka Chathuranga, Feb 09 '18 at 05:10

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 05 '18 at 05:08

It is definitely possible to run similar code on your own hardware/VM. In fact that is how many of Firebase's own back-end processes ran, before Cloud Functions was available.

What you'll miss is the auto-scaling of Cloud Functions though. Your machine/VM will always be running, and has a limited capacity (how much it can handle). Unlike Firebase, it has a fixed capacity.

Cloud Functions on the other hand, scaled down to 0 when there are no request, and scales up to meet demand as needed. Whether that is needed for your use-case, only you can determine.

Okay, Thank you very much Frank. I'll do so. – Janaka Chathuranga Feb 05 '18 at 10:16 — Janaka Chathuranga, Feb 05 '18 at 10:16

An Alternative for Firebase functions ? Is it okay to run them on a VM?

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