---
layout: post
title: 75 Features From Across 31 BaaS Providers
image: >-
  http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/blog/baas-trends.png
author:
  name: kinlane
tags:
  - Providers
  - Features
---
I’m currently tracking on [31 backend as a service providers](/trends/baas.php), in an effort to better understand how this new breed of platforms are helping developers build web and mobile apps. After looking at all the BaaS providers, there are 13 clear leaders:

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/appcelerator-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/appcelerator.php "Appcelerator")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/flurry-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/flurry.php "Flurry")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/urban-airship-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/urban_airship.php "Urban Airship")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/Kii-Logo.png)](/serviceproviders/kii.php "Kii")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/stackmob-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/stackmob.php "StackMob")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/Parse-Logo.png)](/serviceproviders/parse.php "Parse")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/Geoloqi-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/geoloqi.php "Geoloqi")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/kinvey-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/kinvey.php "Kinvey")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/buddy-platform.png)](/serviceproviders/buddy.php "Buddy")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/sencha-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/sencha.io.php "Sencha.io")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/quickblox-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/quickblox.php "Quickblox")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/FeedHenry-Logo.png)](/serviceproviders/feedburner.php "FeedBurner")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/cloudmine-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/cloudmine.php "Cloudmine")

Then there are another 18 other players, trying to play catch up in a space that is working hard to define itself in 2013:

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/anypresence-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/anypresence.php "AnyPresence")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/api-o-mat-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/api_o_mat.php "API O MAT")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/app42-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/app42.php "App42")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/Appacitive.png)](/serviceproviders/appacitive.php "Appacitive")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/applicasa-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/applicasa.php "Applicasa")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/baasbox-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/baasbox.php "BaaSBox")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/baobab-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/baobab.php "Baobab")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/CloudyRec-logo-2.png)](/serviceproviders/cloudyrec.php "CloudyRec")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/FatFractal-Logo.png)](/serviceproviders/fatfractal.php "FatFractal")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/kumulos-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/kumulos.php "Kumulos")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/LeanEngine-Logo.png)](/serviceproviders/leanengine.php "LeanEngine")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/Mod-DB-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/mobdb.php "mobDB")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/Mobeelizer-Logo.png)](/serviceproviders/mobeelizer.php "Mobeelizer")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/openi-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/openi.php "OPENi")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/open-kit-logo-larger.png)](/serviceproviders/openkit.php "OpenKit")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/openmobster-logo.png)](/serviceproviders/openmobster.php "OpenMobster")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/Proxomo-Logo.png)](/serviceproviders/proxomo.php "Proxomo")

[![](http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/serviceproviders/Scotty-App-Logo.png)](/serviceproviders/scottyapp.php "ScottyApp")

My goal is to better understand what features are offered across these 31 BaaS providers. To accomplish this, I spent no more than an hour per provider looking through their sites and playing with their products to get at least a basic understanding of their offerings.

When looking for features I tried to standardize the best I could, but it is difficult when there are different approaches to the deployment of resources on each platform. I found about 75 distinct features being offered across the 31 BaaS providers. I’m sure there are other features, and vital details missing, but I wanted to start somewhere. Here is what I found, organized as best I could:

> **User Management**
> 
> *   User
> *   User Roles
> *   LDAP
> 
> **Content Management System (CMS)**
> 
> **Data**
> 
> *   Table
> *   Relational
> *   Key Value
> *   Browser
> *   MySQL Connector
> *   PostGres Connector
> *   Oracle Connector
> *   Caching
> *   XML
> *   CSV
> 
> **File Management**
> 
> *   Storage
> *   Sync
> 
> **Image & Photo Management**
> 
> *   Storage
> *   Gallery & Collections
> *   Processing
> 
> **Custom Code / Objects**
> 
> **Programmatic Interfaces**
> 
> *   Web Service Connectors
> *   REST API
> *   Custom REST API
> *   Query
> 
> **Commerce**
> 
> *   Product Catalog
> *   Shopping Cart
> 
> **Virtual Commerce**
> 
> *   In-App Purchases
> *   Custom Virtual Store 
> *   Virtual Goods Management 
> *   Currency Maintenance 
> *   Virtual Economy Regulation
> 
> **Other Monetization**
> 
> *   Promotions
> *   Subscriptions
> *   Billing
> *   Passbook
> 
> **Ranking**
> 
> *   Recomendations
> *   Reviews
> *   Ratings
> *   Likes
> 
> **Advertising**
> 
> **Communication**
> 
> *   SMS
> *   Email
> *   Email Templates
> *   Push Notification
> *   Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
> *   Messaging System
> 
> **Calendar Events**
> 
> **Posts**
> 
> **Friends**
> 
> **Shared Links**
> 
> **Geo**
> 
> *   Spatial
> *   Location
> *   Check-In
> *   Places
> 
> **Gaming**
> 
> *   Players
> *   Ranking
> *   Scores
> *   Boards
> *   State
> 
> **3rd Party Integration**
> 
> *   Twitter
> *   Facebook
> *   Dropbox
> *   Fitbit
> *   Foursquare
> *   Github
> *   Instagram
> *   LinkedIn
> *   Meetup
> *   Tumblr
> *   Withings
> *   Wordpress
> *   Yammer
> *   Twilio
> *   Underscore
> *   SendGrid
> *   Moment
> *   Mandrill
> *   Mailgun
> *   CrowdFlower
> *   Google Places
> *   Google Apps
> *   Salesforce
> *   SAP
> *   Siebel
> *   Wordpress
> 
> **SSL**
> 
> **Availability**
> 
> *   Performance
> *   Scaling
> *   Load Balance
> 
> **Deployment**
> 
> *   On-Premise
> *   Virtual Private Cloud
> *   Public Cloud
> 
> **Environment**
> 
> *   Sandbox
> *   Production
> 
> **Utility**
> 
> *   Logging
> *   Backups
> *   Clients
> *   Jobs
> 
> **Analytics**
> 
> These BaaS providers support a wide variety of mobile devices, platforms, frameworks in multiple languages:
> 
> **Mobile Devices**
> 
> *   iOS
> *   Android
> *   Windows
> *   Blackberry
> 
> **Reader Devices**
> 
> *   Kindle
> 
> **Mobile Platforms**
> 
> *   PhoneGap
> *   Trigger.io
> *   Titanium
> 
> **App Frameworks**
> 
> *   ql.io
> 
> **Automation**
> 
> *   Temboo
> 
> **Languages**
> 
> *   JavaScript
> *   Java
> *   C#
> *   PHP
> *   Python
> *   Ruby
> 
> There were many different ways the BaaS platforms provided support to its developers:
> 
> **Support**
> 
> *   Phone
> *   Web
> *   Chat
> *   Dedicated Account
> *   Dedicated Tech
> 
> I found 10 different ways that BaaS providers delivered pricing:
> 
> **Pricing**
> 
> *   API Calls
> *   Push Notification
> *   Bandwidth
> *   Storage
> *   Active Users
> *   Analitics
> *   Support
> *   App
> *   Synchronization
> *   Features
> 
> **Marketplace**

You can [view all 75 features at the BaaS Github Repository](http://kinlane.github.com/backend-as-a-service/) I setup. Let me know any that you feel are missing, and I’ll consider adding.

Next up, I will add the features into my BaaS tracking database and publish a breakdown of providers, with the features they offer. Letting people search and filter, and also open up to each BaaS provider to comment and submit additional features they offer.