Google Cloud Firestore

Google Cloud Firestore is a fully managed NoSQL document database provided by Google Cloud. Google describes it as offering MongoDB compatibility, automatic scaling and real-time synchronisation of data, which suits applications whose clients need to see changes as they happen.

Firestore is a proprietary managed service. It runs only on Google Cloud and there is no self-managed edition, so adopting it ties an application to that platform. The service is not versioned in the way that downloadable software is, which means there is no release number or release date to track, and Google manages upgrades on the customer's behalf.

A free tier exists, though its limits were not recorded. Beyond the free allowance, the vendor's pricing is not published, so buyers should consult the Google Cloud product page and pricing calculator to estimate costs for their expected reads, writes and storage. Costs in document databases of this kind often depend on how the application is written, so a trial with realistic traffic is worth doing before committing.

The MongoDB compatibility mentioned by Google may reduce the effort of moving an existing application, but teams should test the specific drivers, queries and features they depend on.