Developer Tools · head to head
ConfigCat vs Firestore
ConfigCat
Developer Tools
Feature flag service priced per flag and environment with unlimited seats and unlimited monthly active users
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
Firestore
Databases
Flexible, scalable NoSQL cloud database from Firebase
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Firestore is free; ConfigCat starts at $110/mo.
- Only ConfigCat lists feature flags and configuration; only Firestore lists document Model.
- Where Firestore falls short: the no-cost Spark plan caps Standard edition at 50,000 document reads, 20,000 writes and 20,000 deletes per day.
- Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which ConfigCat and Firestore actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).
Not yet recorded: founded for ConfigCat.
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in ConfigCat
- Feature flags and configuration
- Percentage rollouts
- Targeting rules and segments
- Unlimited seats
- Global CDN delivery
- Audit log
- Public API and webhooks
- SDKs across languages
Only in Firestore
- Document Model
- Real-time Updates
- Offline Support
- ACID Transactions
- Expressive Queries
- Multi-region
- Security Rules
- Firebase Auth
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
ConfigCat
- A consumer or mobile app with millions of users where per-MAU flag pricing would cost more than the flags are worthnot Firestore
- A team that wants every engineer, product manager and support agent to have a login without paying per seatnot Firestore
- Decoupling deployment from release with percentage rollouts and a kill switch, without buying an experimentation platformnot Firestore
- A small team that needs ten flags permanently and can run indefinitely on the free tiernot Firestore
Firestore
- Storing structured application data with realtime listenersnot ConfigCat
- Backing mobile and web apps with a serverless document databasenot ConfigCat
- Building offline first apps that sync when connectivity returnsnot ConfigCat
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
ConfigCat
- There is no experimentation or statistical analysis engine, so teams wanting real A/B tests with significance testing must buy and integrate a separate analytics or experimentation product
- Pricing by flag count punishes exactly the hygiene you want: the Pro tier caps at 100 flags, so teams that do not aggressively retire stale flags are pushed to the 325 dollar Smart tier for housekeeping reasons rather than growth
- The free tier allows only 2 environments, which does not cover the common development, staging and production split, so almost any real deployment starts on a paid plan
- It is a smaller vendor than the category incumbents, so enterprise procurement teams will find less depth in compliance attestations, contractual terms and reference architecture than LaunchDarkly offers
- Flag evaluation relies on SDK-side caching of a CDN-delivered config, which is fast but means propagation of a change is eventually consistent rather than instant, something to understand before relying on it as an emergency kill switch
Firestore
- The no-cost Spark plan caps Standard edition at 50,000 document reads, 20,000 writes and 20,000 deletes per day
- The Spark plan caps storage at 1 GiB and network egress at 10 GiB per month
- Charging is per document read, so a query returning many documents bills for every one of them
- Going beyond the free thresholds requires the pay as you go Blaze plan billed at Google Cloud rates with no fixed monthly ceiling
Pricing, plan by plan
ConfigCat
Free- Forever FreeFree
- 10 feature flags
- 2 environments and 2 products
- 2 segments
- Pro$110/mo
- 100 feature flags
- 3 environments and 3 products
- Unlimited seats and MAUs
- Smart$325/mo
- Unlimited feature flags
- Unlimited environments, products and segments
- Unlimited seats and MAUs
- Enterprise$900/mo
- Everything in Smart
- Enterprise support and controls
- Unlimited everything on flag counts
Firestore
Free- SparkFree
- 1GB storage
- 50K reads/day
- 20K writes/day
- BlazeFree
- Pay as you go
- Unlimited operations
- Multi-region
Which should you pick?
Choose ConfigCat if
- You need feature flags and configuration.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, API, iOS, Android, Windows.
- You also want percentage rollouts.
Choose Firestore if
- You need document model.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, Flutter.
- You also want real-time updates.
Questions people ask
- Is ConfigCat or Firestore better?
- Neither clearly leads. ConfigCat starts at Free and Firestore at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, ConfigCat or Firestore?
- ConfigCat starts at Free and Firestore at Free.
- Does ConfigCat or Firestore run on more platforms?
- ConfigCat runs on Web, API, iOS, Android, Windows. Firestore runs on Web, iOS, Android, Flutter.
- Can I use ConfigCat for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is ConfigCat best used for?
- ConfigCat is most often used for a consumer or mobile app with millions of users where per-mau flag pricing would cost more than the flags are worth, a team that wants every engineer, product manager and support agent to have a login without paying per seat, decoupling deployment from release with percentage rollouts and a kill switch, without buying an experimentation platform, a small team that needs ten flags permanently and can run indefinitely on the free tier. Of those, a consumer or mobile app with millions of users where per-mau flag pricing would cost more than the flags are worth and a team that wants every engineer, product manager and support agent to have a login without paying per seat are not what Firestore is typically brought in for.
- What can ConfigCat do that Firestore cannot?
- ConfigCat covers Feature flags and configuration, Percentage rollouts, Targeting rules and segments, Unlimited seats. Firestore covers Document Model, Real-time Updates, Offline Support, ACID Transactions.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
ConfigCat: How is ConfigCat priced?
By feature flag, environment and product count. Seats, monthly active users and flag reads are unlimited on every plan.
Firestore: What are the free limits on Cloud Firestore?
The Spark Plan includes 1 GiB of stored data, 50,000 reads per day, 20,000 writes per day, and 20,000 deletes per day at no cost.
SourceConfigCat: Is the free tier usable?
For small projects yes, but at 10 flags and 2 environments it will not cover a dev, staging and production setup.
Firestore: What happens when I exceed the Spark Plan free tier?
Exceeding the free tier requires upgrading to the Blaze Plan, which bills based on actual usage through Google Cloud pricing. Charges apply for reads, writes, deletes, and data storage.
SourceConfigCat: Can it run A/B tests?
It can split traffic, but there is no statistics engine. You need a separate analytics tool to decide a winner.
Firestore: Can I use Firestore without a credit card?
Yes, you can use the Spark Plan indefinitely without a credit card. To use the Blaze Plan (pay-as-you-go), a credit card is required.
SourceConfigCat: How fast does a flag change take effect?
SDKs poll and cache, so changes propagate on the polling interval rather than instantly.
Firestore: Is there a trial period for Cloud Firestore?
No trial period is specified. The Spark Plan free tier serves as the trial, with no time limit.
SourceRelated pages
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