In our series on Angular Backend as a Service (BaaS) offerings we’ve covered a wide array of disparate service providers – from bare-metal offerings like Ruby on Rails to highly-focused providers like Backand. Let’s take this opportunity to summarize what we’ve found thus far. Below we’ll revisit each of the providers we have covered, and present guidelines on when a given provider might be the best choice.

1. Comparison of Angular Backend
as a Service Providers
In our series on Angular Backend as a Service (BaaS) offerings
we’ve covered a wide array of disparate service providers –
from bare-metal offerings like Ruby on Rails to highly-focused
providers like Backand. Let’s take this opportunity to summarize
what we’ve found thus far. Below we’ll revisit each of the
providers we have covered, and present guidelines on when a
given provider might be the best choice.
Parse
Parse is focused on presenting an easy-to-use cross-platform data access
layer. It provides a number of different data management and synchronization
facilities for many different platforms, greatly reducing the need to write
complex server code to inform clients of updates to your data. Parse is
relatively inexpensive, scalable, and known for its ease-of-use. Parse would
likely be best used in a scenario where data access flexibility is the end goal,
both in terms of access and portability. Parse allows your development team
to focus on writing an attractive presentation layer in the native environment
www.backand.com

2. of your choice, removing the data access layer considerations that usually
arise as a result.
Firebase
Firebase handles the same problem domain as Parse – the data access layer –
but with a focus on performance and real-time data presentation. A significant
amount of Firebase’s design effort was built on data synchronization and
resiliency, with ways to manage apps with intermittent connectivity (such as
those on mobile devices) and integrate them with an always-on interface (like
a website). Firebase would be an excellent choice for a real-time interactive
application, where data accuracy and availability were high priorities in an
application that spans multiple platforms.
The Django Project
The Django Project sits at a layer above both Parse and Firebase, focusing on
providing a quick way to develop a rich web application experience. Django
provides an Object-Relational Mapping system that allows for a quick way to
tie your application into your data store, and supports numerous templates
– along with a default administrative data interface – that allow your
application to be up and running quickly. It is important to note, though, that
Django is a stand-alone stack that must be built atop an existing (or new)
data layer. Django may be an excellent choice in systems where both a robust
and customizable front end and a quick and secure administrative back-end
are desirable.
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails is a full-featured web development stack that gives you all of
the power of a web development framework built with a focus on Object-
Relational Mapping and a Model-View-Controller architecture. While it
doesn’t provide much in the way of pre-built functionality, it gives you the
full power of the underlying code base – providing no true limits on what you
can develop. Ruby on Rails may be a good choice when you want to make sure
that your organization has the freedom it needs to grow in any number of
directions, and when your desired functionality doesn’t fit neatly into any of
the above boxes. However, if you are developing with AngularJS to drive your
front end, you may face some unique challenges when mapping the helpers
given to you by Ruby to the data models required by Angular.
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3. Backand
Backand takes elements of all of the above and combines them into an easy-to-
use application focused on getting a web application up and running
as quickly as possible. It is built on AngularJS and Bootstrap, providing a
technology stack that consists entirely of JavaScript, and uses Amazon RDS to
provide data storage and scalability. Backand is an excellent choice for data-driven
Angular applications where speed of deployment and ease of use is
the focus, while still allowing for the flexibility necessary to truly represent
and manipulate your data as needed.
Conclusion
There is no one right answer to the question of “Which framework should
I choose?” Each project covered – from the true BaaS offerings like Parse
and Firebase to the more fully-integrated options like Ruby on Rails and the
Django Project – has its positives and negatives. Furthermore, there is no
need to assume each must be used in isolation. A Ruby on Rails app could
easily use Parse for its data layer, while Django could just as easily be built
on top of Firebase. Backand provides an excellent balance, as the only
Angular BaaS (ABaaS), between true control of the entire stack and rapid
deployment, managing to both take the complexity out of creating a data-driven
application while maintaining the configurability that makes other
offerings a popular choice. Ultimately the choice of platform will come down
to the needs of your development organization – it is our hope that this series
has given you the information you need to make the decisions you must.
Build your Bootstrap + Angular app with Backand today. – Get started now.
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Contact Information
Backand Inc.
info@backand.com
www.backand.com