Finding the Right BaaS Provider

BaaS stands for Backend as a Service. It is an opportunity to handle backend development to a third-party provider while focusing on frontend or other core activities. BaaS providers take care of all the repetitive, hard, and time-consuming tasks, saving a lot of time, effort, and money. It gives access to an excellent infrastructure as well as customized APIs and SDKs.

Top BaaS providers ensure that all the features such as cloud storage, servers, authentication, user permissions, and security are on the highest level.

It is a growing market, whether you are looking for Python or Node Js backend professionals. The market value is expected to reach $5.9 billion by the year 2025. The annual growth rate is about 23.9%, which is an astonishing number.

Why is a Backend as a Service in such high demand right now? The main reason is that it is a response to the rapidly growing market of the web and mobile app development industry. BaaS adoption allows not to reinvent the backend with every app, which is extremely time and resource-consuming. It helps a company to speed up MVP or release, as well as work on several apps frontend in detail, while infrastructure, server-side, and frameworks are taken care of.

BaaS can be used for:

• Gaming apps for both Android and iOs
• Single-page apps
• Music/video streaming
• Social network apps
• Websites of all kinds
• eCommerce applications
• Data management solutions, etc

Working with the “Backend as a Service” providers allows a company to focus on the frontend and do what they can do best. It helps to cut down the time and expenses dramatically. And it offers access to top-notch solutions and the best security options.

Iaas, PaaS, BaaS, and mBaaS – the Differences

The market offers not only BaaS services today; there are several other options to consider. All these abbreviations can seem confusing, so let’s go over each of them and set the differences and similarities straight.

Let’s start with mBaaS, which refers to the mobile Backend as a Service. It is pretty much the same thing as BaaS but for mobile development. For example, when looking for Python programmers for hire to work on a mobile game application, one can use mBaaS. So it is the same service, but that concerns not web applications but only mobile solutions.

IaaS stands for infrastructure as a service (AWS, Azure, or GCP, for example).

PaaS means platform as a service (Engine Yard or Heroku, for example).

Basically, IaaS, PaaS, and BaaS are stages that add another layer of service with each new abbreviation.

• IaaS  covers data centers, servers, data storage, and network
• PaaS covers everything from IaaS and deployment, management, and scaling
• BaaS covers everything from PaaS and adds features to build the backend

When choosing BaaS vs PaaS, it is obvious that the first is the more advantageous option. It has everything PaaS can offer and custom and functional backend as well.

When to Use BaaS

Whether a business wants to hire PHP programmer, JavaScript team, or Python engineer, it is important to know when such a decision is the optimal solution. When are BaaS service providers the best choice for a project? The main causes for such decision are:

• Working on MVP (minimum viable product) for small and medium-sized companies that do not have budget, staff, and time to get a full in-house backend development team
• Development of apps with a small number of integrations
• Building several similar apps at the same time or a similar app to different operating systems
• Speeding release date to beat the competition or answer the market needs

The business reasons to choose cloud BaaS providers are also very valid, for instance:

• Saving money instead of hiring an in-house team
• Saving time instead of expanding the in-house team
• Reducing time to market significantly
• Getting same results with fewer developers
• Outsourcing cloud infrastructure management to top-notch professionals

From a technical standpoint, the BaaS service allows one to focus on the frontend, delegate redundant tasks (stuck setup), and standardize the programming environment. It also lets to clone apps and testing environments. And experienced providers have such features as data storage, search, and authentication ready to use.

Pros and Cons of BaaS

Let’s sum up the pros and cons of cooperation with BaaS companies on web/mobile development projects.

Starting with advantages:

• Increased speed of development
• Reduced cost of the project
• Access to top-notch solutions and features
• Cloud infrastructure management
• It is serverless
• Security, backups, data storage are taken care of
• Work with professionals that are experts in this particular segment
• Your team doesn’t have to waste time on repetitive, redundant, and mundane tasks
• The app becomes easily scalable
• Compliance with GDPR or other legislative regulations’ privacy and data settings
• You can master the frontend (focus on high-value coding), and it is what users see

What about the disadvantages? Well, there are a couple of things to mention, such as:

• It is less flexible than a custom-created backend, of course
• The level of customization is also lower
• There might be a vendor lock for source platforms
• Sometimes the frontend will have to fit the backend in terms of functionality

Popular Features of BaaS

The best BaaS providers can offer a huge variety of features to choose from. But let’s name the most popular ones companies are looking for:

Tips on Choosing a BaaS Provider

Many companies offer BaaS architecture and related services. So the main difficulty for many businesses is choosing the right partner. Here are some tips on finding the best provider for your project.

• Check previous projects and portfolios. It is best if a company has experience with similar solutions or industries.  Do you like their work? If so, it is a good sign.
• Figure out their mobile support and mBaaS. The majority of products now have to be mobile-friendly or even mobile-native. Does the provider offer mBaaS for Android and iOS?
• Do they offer cloud infrastructure? What cloud providers and solutions do they work with?
• Ask about the scope of service and what they include. It should be a fully managed service backend.
• Ask about security measures and international regulations compliance (GDPR).
• Look for reasonable prices (if it is too cheap to be true, it is), professionalism, and a good track record (previous customers’ recommendations).

Why Choose BaaS Providers in Ukraine?

Of course, there are many outsourcing destinations out there. And the choice of country or providers depends on particular resources, needs, and requirements. But there is a reason why Ukraine is gaining momentum as an IT outsourcing and outstaffing destination. It has a lot of benefits to offer.

1.  It is located in the center of Europe, which is highly convenient for EU partners. There is little to no time difference and easy travel options. It allows constant and direct communication with the team.

2.  As a European country, Ukraine has similar business ethics and values. And local developers have a great command of English, which is another essential part of direct and effective communication.

3.  There is a great talent pool here with more than 200,000 IT professionals. Each year about 16,000 graduates enter the workforce, and overall, it is much easier to find an expert here than in many other countries.

4.  Ukrainian developers have an excellent track record and are well-known for the level of their skills. They are in 14^th place worldwide for them according to TopCoder.

5.  It is much cheaper than finding a provider in the EU, USA, or Canada.

Take Backend Off Your Back with Mobilunity!

Mobilunity is a Ukrainian IT team augmentation company with more than 10 years of experience. So if you are looking for expert BaaS services in Ukraine, we are happy to help you with this project.

Mobilunity gives Ukrainian developers access to the best talent and ensures an easy, fast, and cost-efficient hiring process. Among our satisfied clients, we are happy to name Zenchef (France), Paidy (Japan), Network or Arts (Switzerland), 3E Joueur (Canada), and Buttonorder (Germany).

We are ready to find a dedicated development team according to your requirements.

Are you ready to benefit from expert BaaS services? Contact Mobilunity!

Written by:

Anastasia Stefanuk

Market Researcher

Disclaimer: All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.