Firebase Hosting integrates with serverless computing options, including
Cloud Functions for Firebase and Cloud Run. Using Firebase Hosting with
these options, you can host microservices by directing HTTPS requests to trigger
your functions and containerized apps to run in a managed, secure environment.
Cloud Functions for Firebase
: You write and deploy a
function, which is backend code that responds to a specific trigger. Then, using
Firebase Hosting, you can direct HTTPS requests to trigger your function
to run.
Cloud Run
: You write and deploy an
application packaged in a container image. Then, using Firebase Hosting, you
can direct HTTPS requests to trigger your containerized app to run.
Use cases
How can you use serverless computing options with Firebase Hosting?
Serve dynamic content
? In addition to serving static content on
your Hosting site, you can serve dynamically generated responses from a
function or containerized app that is performing server-side logic.
For example, you can point a URL pattern (like
/blog/<blog-post-id>
) to a
function that uses the URL's blog post ID parameter to retrieve content
dynamically from your database.
Build REST APIs
? You can create a microservice API using functions.
For instance, functions can handle the sign-in functionality for your
website. While your website is hosted at
/
, any request to
/api
is
redirected to your microservice API. For an example, check out
this open-source sample
.
Cache dynamic content
? You can
configure caching
of your dynamic content on
a global CDN.
For example, if a function generates new content only periodically, you
can speed up your app by caching the generated content for at least a short
period of time. You can also potentially reduce execution costs because the
content is served from the CDN rather than via a triggered function or
containerized app.
Prerender your single-page apps
? You can improve SEO and optimize
sharing across various social networks by creating dynamic
meta
tags. To
learn more, watch this
video
or check out
this open-source sample
.
Choosing a serverless option
While both
Cloud Functions for Firebase
and
Cloud Run
integrate with
Firebase Hosting and offer a fully managed, autoscaling, and secure
serverless environment, the two options can be leveraged for different use cases
and desired level of customized configuration.
When using either serverless option, it is best to co-locate it with the servers
for Firebase Hosting by deploying in one of the following regions:
us-west1
us-central1
us-east1
europe-west1
asia-east1
The following table describes some basic considerations for using
Cloud Functions for Firebase versus Cloud Run. For a full listing of
quotas, limits, and metrics, refer to each product's detailed documentation
(
Cloud Functions for Firebase
or
Cloud Run
).
Consideration
|
Cloud Functions for Firebase
|
Cloud Run
|
Setup
|
The Firebase CLI bundles multiple tasks into single commands, from
initializing to building and deploying.
|
Containers offer more customizable options, so setup, build, and
deployment tasks involve discrete steps.
|
Runtime environment
|
Requires Node.js, but you can specify
which
version
of Node.js to use.
|
When
building your
container
, you specify the runtime environment.
|
Language and frameworks support
|
JavaScript and TypeScript
Web frameworks, like Express.js, are supported.
|
Any language that Dockerfiles support, including
Go, Node.js, Python, Java, and others
Web frameworks for each language are supported.
|
Timeout for Hosting request
|
60 seconds (see Note below)
|
60 seconds (see Note below)
|
Concurrency
|
1 request per function instance
(no concurrency per instance)
|
Up to 1,000 concurrent requests per container instance
|
Billing
|
Cloud Functions usage
Free usage quota, but a
Cloud Billing account
is required. See the
Firebase FAQ
.
|
Cloud Run usage
+
Container Registry storage
Free usage quota, but a
Cloud Billing account
is required
|
|