Firestore vs SQLite
Firestore
cloud.google.com
SQLite
sqlite.orgSide by side
| Figure | Firestore | SQLite |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $12.50/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 9 | 16 |
| Spec score · Database Software | 9.2 (#4) | 9.4 (#2) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Product | Firestore is a fully managed, serverless document database for building AI, web, and mobile applications. | SQLite is an in-process, self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration transactional SQL database engine. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.2 out of 5 from 97 reviews. | 4.3 out of 5 from 260 reviews |
| Rating on Trustpilot | 2.0 out of 5 from 17 reviews for google.cloud.com. | 2.9 out of 5 from 2 reviews |
| Rating on TrustRadius | 10 out of 10 for a Firebase review that specifically uses Firestore. | 8 out of 10 from 47 reviews |
| Security | Firestore integrates with Cloud IAM, Cloud Identity Platform, and Firebase Authentication for identity-based access controls and data validation. | The security guidance says SQLite is extensively fuzz-tested and recommends defensive settings and lower input limits for applications accepting untrusted SQL. |
| Transactions | Firestore supports ACID-compliant transactions and atomic batch operations. | SQLite transactions are atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable even after system crashes and power failures. |
| What it does | Firestore is a fully managed, scalable JSON document database for mobile, web, and server applications. | SQLite is an in-process C library that provides a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration SQL database engine. |
Plans
Firestore
- Standard edition — document readsPrice not published
- Standard edition — document writesPrice not published
- Standard edition — document deletesPrice not published
- Standard edition — stored dataPrice not published
- Free quotaFree
- Free quotaFree
- Standard edition pay-as-you-go$0.03 a month
- Enterprise editionPrice not published
- Standard editionPrice not published
SQLite
- Public ForumFree
- SQLiteFree
- SQLite Consortium Membership$150 a year
- Technical Support$885 a year
- Annual Maintenance Subscription$1,500 a year
- Annual Maintenance Subscription$1,500 a year
- CEROD$2,000, paid once
- CEROD$2,000, paid once
- SQLite Encryption Extension (SEE)$2,000, paid once
- SQLite Encryption Extension (SEE)$2,000, paid once
In their own words
Firestore
Firestore is a fully managed, serverless document database for building AI, web, and mobile applications. It stores flexible JSON data and supports vector search, full-text search, geospatial queries, and ACID transactions on JSON or BSON-compatible documents. Client SDKs for Android, iOS, and web provide real-time updates and automatic syncing for offline access. Firestore can replicate data across multiple regions with strong consistency; multi-region deployments have a stated 99.999% SLA-backed availability. Integrations named for generative AI application work include Google AI Studio, remote MCP, LangChain, and LlamaIndex. Identity controls connect with Cloud IAM, Cloud Identity Platform, and Firebase Authentication. Data is encrypted before it is written to disk, with customer-managed keys available through Cloud KMS. The free quota applies to one database per project and includes 1 GiB of storage, daily read, write, and delete allowances, and 10 GiB monthly outbound transfer. New customers receive $300 in credits, separate from that quota. Server client libraries bypass Firestore Security Rules, so server access needs IAM controls.
SQLite
SQLite is a transactional SQL database engine that runs within an application, without a separate server process or configuration. Each complete database resides in a single disk file that works across platforms. Its SQL features include partial indexes, indexes on expressions, JSON, common table expressions, and window functions. Transactions are atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable, including after system crashes and power failures. A database file can have unlimited simultaneous readers, but only one writer at a time. The project recommends SQLite for device-local storage with low writer concurrency and less than a terabyte of content. SQLite is free for commercial or private use, with source code in the public domain. Downloads include source and precompiled binaries for Android, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows, along with WebAssembly and JavaScript bundles for web applications. A free public forum is available, alongside paid private email and technical support options. The maker is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was founded in 2000.