{"slug": "pocketbase", "name": "PocketBase", "category": "databases", "category_name": "Databases", "description": "Open-source backend in one Go binary with embedded SQLite, auth, file storage and realtime API.", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 9, "warners": 0, "score": 5.849, "rising": -0.64, "first": "2025-11-27", "latest": "2026-10-09", "why": "HN commenters recommend it as a productive backend for personal projects, side projects and internal tools, with one team calling it bulletproof for internal line-of-business apps.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 4, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [4, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": ["Side projects", "Productivity"], "caveat": "Public API risk", "short_quote": "After discovering pocketbase, I never went back to any of those tools. Works surprisingly well even for mid to large web-apps.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://pocketbase.io", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["PocketBase"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters recommend it as a productive backend for personal projects, side projects and internal tools,", "cites": [{"id": 737227424, "item_id": 46076714, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076714", "by": "olav", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools.", "excerpt": "I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools. I tend to combine it with https://pocketpages.dev/ which gives me file-based routing and nice templates. Ah, and Pocketbase has automatic database migrations, so all schema modifications can go into version control. I even hacked a Gemini protocol server into it, so that I can browse my personal knowledge graph using Lagrange.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal projects and internal tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}, {"id": 737395152, "item_id": 46087197, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46087197", "by": "chillaranand", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "After discovering pocketbase, I never went back to any of those tools. Works surprisingly well even for mid to large web-apps.", "excerpt": "I used to use other tools like supabase and others for side projects. After discovering pocketbase, I never went back to any of those tools. Works surprisingly well even for mid to large web-apps.", "context": "", "use_case": "side project backend", "switched_from": "Supabase", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}, {"id": 747918226, "item_id": 46744889, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46744889", "by": "dtkav", "date": "2026-01-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it with pocketbase and it is a delightful and very productive setup.", "excerpt": "sqlite+litestream [1] is fantastic, i highly recommend it. I use it with pocketbase and it is a delightful and very productive setup. This guide [2] is for an older version of pocketbase and litestream, but i can update it if would be helpful/interesting for anyone. [1] https://github.com/benbjohnson/litestream/ [2] https://notes.danielgk.com/Pocketbase/Pocketbase+on+Fly.io", "context": "", "use_case": "backend with SQLite", "switched_from": "", "story": "Many Small Queries Are Efficient in SQLite"}, {"id": 800278576, "item_id": 50017411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50017411", "by": "lhoff", "date": "2026-10-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You might want to have a look at pocketbase. I use it as a backend for my vibecoded \"auto-SaaS\" Tools.", "excerpt": "> A self made app i call \"auto-SaaS\": postgREST+empty page+AI Agent (clippy chat animation and all) that allows me to build ANY personal saas i need: You might want to have a look at pocketbase. I use it as a backend for my vibecoded \"auto-SaaS\" Tools.", "context": "", "use_case": "backend for personal tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?"}]}, {"text": " with one team calling it bulletproof for internal line-of-business apps.", "cites": [{"id": 737226256, "item_id": 46076641, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076641", "by": "jddj", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof.", "excerpt": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof. Saved us a lot of time and money. I'm a control freak and I like well defined endpoints with well defined performance characteristics, so the expressiveness of the API is in my mind a drawback for anything public facing, but it's undeniably a great experience on the front end, and if you design your tables with the API and filters in mind", "context": "", "use_case": "internal line-of-business apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}]}, {"text": " Caveats are few: one commenter warns its expressive API and overposting need care in public-facing apps,", "cites": [{"id": 737226256, "item_id": 46076641, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076641", "by": "jddj", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof.", "excerpt": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof. Saved us a lot of time and money. I'm a control freak and I like well defined endpoints with well defined performance characteristics, so the expressiveness of the API is in my mind a drawback for anything public facing, but it's undeniably a great experience on the front end, and if you design your tables with the API and filters in mind", "context": "", "use_case": "internal line-of-business apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}]}, {"text": " and another dislikes its SPA approach.", "cites": [{"id": 737222785, "item_id": 46076424, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076424", "by": "matt_callmann", "date": "2025-11-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'll give it a try, but I'm not a fan of the SPA approach.", "excerpt": "I'll give it a try, but I'm not a fan of the SPA approach. Try using it with Templ and server-side rendering (SSR) instead of any JavaScript framework. If anyone has already done this and can share their experience, I would love to hear about it!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Side projects", "summary": "Commenters use it as the backend for personal and side projects, including AI-built tools.", "quotes": [{"id": 737395152, "item_id": 46087197, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46087197", "by": "chillaranand", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "After discovering pocketbase, I never went back to any of those tools. Works surprisingly well even for mid to large web-apps.", "excerpt": "I used to use other tools like supabase and others for side projects. After discovering pocketbase, I never went back to any of those tools. Works surprisingly well even for mid to large web-apps.", "context": "", "use_case": "side project backend", "switched_from": "Supabase", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}, {"id": 737227424, "item_id": 46076714, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076714", "by": "olav", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools.", "excerpt": "I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools. I tend to combine it with https://pocketpages.dev/ which gives me file-based routing and nice templates. Ah, and Pocketbase has automatic database migrations, so all schema modifications can go into version control. I even hacked a Gemini protocol server into it, so that I can browse my personal knowledge graph using Lagrange.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal projects and internal tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}, {"id": 800278576, "item_id": 50017411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50017411", "by": "lhoff", "date": "2026-10-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You might want to have a look at pocketbase. I use it as a backend for my vibecoded \"auto-SaaS\" Tools.", "excerpt": "> A self made app i call \"auto-SaaS\": postgREST+empty page+AI Agent (clippy chat animation and all) that allows me to build ANY personal saas i need: You might want to have a look at pocketbase. I use it as a backend for my vibecoded \"auto-SaaS\" Tools.", "context": "", "use_case": "backend for personal tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?"}]}, {"label": "Productivity", "summary": "Users describe it as a delightful, productive setup that saves time and money.", "quotes": [{"id": 747918226, "item_id": 46744889, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46744889", "by": "dtkav", "date": "2026-01-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it with pocketbase and it is a delightful and very productive setup.", "excerpt": "sqlite+litestream [1] is fantastic, i highly recommend it. I use it with pocketbase and it is a delightful and very productive setup. This guide [2] is for an older version of pocketbase and litestream, but i can update it if would be helpful/interesting for anyone. [1] https://github.com/benbjohnson/litestream/ [2] https://notes.danielgk.com/Pocketbase/Pocketbase+on+Fly.io", "context": "", "use_case": "backend with SQLite", "switched_from": "", "story": "Many Small Queries Are Efficient in SQLite"}, {"id": 737226256, "item_id": 46076641, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076641", "by": "jddj", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof.", "excerpt": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof. Saved us a lot of time and money. I'm a control freak and I like well defined endpoints with well defined performance characteristics, so the expressiveness of the API is in my mind a drawback for anything public facing, but it's undeniably a great experience on the front end, and if you design your tables with the API and filters in mind", "context": "", "use_case": "internal line-of-business apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}]}, {"label": "Internal tools", "summary": "Used for internal tools and line-of-business apps, where one team found it bulletproof.", "quotes": [{"id": 737226256, "item_id": 46076641, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076641", "by": "jddj", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof.", "excerpt": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof. Saved us a lot of time and money. I'm a control freak and I like well defined endpoints with well defined performance characteristics, so the expressiveness of the API is in my mind a drawback for anything public facing, but it's undeniably a great experience on the front end, and if you design your tables with the API and filters in mind", "context": "", "use_case": "internal line-of-business apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}, {"id": 737227424, "item_id": 46076714, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076714", "by": "olav", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools.", "excerpt": "I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools. I tend to combine it with https://pocketpages.dev/ which gives me file-based routing and nice templates. Ah, and Pocketbase has automatic database migrations, so all schema modifications can go into version control. I even hacked a Gemini protocol server into it, so that I can browse my personal knowledge graph using Lagrange.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal projects and internal tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}]}, {"label": "Litestream pairing", "summary": "Commenters report it works well with SQLite replication via Litestream.", "quotes": [{"id": 747918226, "item_id": 46744889, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46744889", "by": "dtkav", "date": "2026-01-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it with pocketbase and it is a delightful and very productive setup.", "excerpt": "sqlite+litestream [1] is fantastic, i highly recommend it. I use it with pocketbase and it is a delightful and very productive setup. This guide [2] is for an older version of pocketbase and litestream, but i can update it if would be helpful/interesting for anyone. [1] https://github.com/benbjohnson/litestream/ [2] https://notes.danielgk.com/Pocketbase/Pocketbase+on+Fly.io", "context": "", "use_case": "backend with SQLite", "switched_from": "", "story": "Many Small Queries Are Efficient in SQLite"}, {"id": 750282977, "item_id": 46892686, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46892686", "by": "xrd", "date": "2026-02-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've used it with pocketbase and it works.", "excerpt": "I love litestream. I've used it with pocketbase and it works. sqlite is a great building block for almost everything. Does anyone know whether you could use this to stitch together a bunch of .db files (that share the same schema) in an ad-hoc way? For example, if I decided I wanted to synchronize my friend's .db file, could I enable this using litestream? And, what if my friend wanted to sync two of his friends' .db", "context": "", "use_case": "backend with Litestream", "switched_from": "", "story": "Litestream Writable VFS"}]}, {"label": "Scales further", "summary": "One former Supabase user says it works well even for mid to large web apps.", "quotes": [{"id": 737395152, "item_id": 46087197, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46087197", "by": "chillaranand", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "After discovering pocketbase, I never went back to any of those tools. Works surprisingly well even for mid to large web-apps.", "excerpt": "I used to use other tools like supabase and others for side projects. After discovering pocketbase, I never went back to any of those tools. Works surprisingly well even for mid to large web-apps.", "context": "", "use_case": "side project backend", "switched_from": "Supabase", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}]}, {"label": "Schema migrations", "summary": "Automatic database migrations let schema changes go into version control.", "quotes": [{"id": 737227424, "item_id": 46076714, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076714", "by": "olav", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools.", "excerpt": "I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools. I tend to combine it with https://pocketpages.dev/ which gives me file-based routing and nice templates. Ah, and Pocketbase has automatic database migrations, so all schema modifications can go into version control. I even hacked a Gemini protocol server into it, so that I can browse my personal knowledge graph using Lagrange.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal projects and internal tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Public API risk", "summary": "Its expressive API and overposting risk call for caution in public-facing apps.", "quotes": [{"id": 737226256, "item_id": 46076641, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076641", "by": "jddj", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof.", "excerpt": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof. Saved us a lot of time and money. I'm a control freak and I like well defined endpoints with well defined performance characteristics, so the expressiveness of the API is in my mind a drawback for anything public facing, but it's undeniably a great experience on the front end, and if you design your tables with the API and filters in mind", "context": "", "use_case": "internal line-of-business apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}]}, {"label": "SPA approach", "summary": "One commenter dislikes the SPA approach and would rather use server-side rendering.", "quotes": [{"id": 737222785, "item_id": 46076424, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076424", "by": "matt_callmann", "date": "2025-11-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'll give it a try, but I'm not a fan of the SPA approach.", "excerpt": "I'll give it a try, but I'm not a fan of the SPA approach. Try using it with Templ and server-side rendering (SSR) instead of any JavaScript framework. If anyone has already done this and can share their experience, I would love to hear about it!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}]}], "who": [], "tags": ["for side projects", "for internal tools", "pairs with Litestream"], "use_cases": ["backend for personal tools", "backend", "backend experiment", "backend with litestream", "backend with sqlite", "side project backend"], "compared": [{"slug": "sqlite", "name": "SQLite", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "supabase", "name": "Supabase", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "litestream", "name": "Litestream", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46075320", "title": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49985548", "title": "Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49308059", "title": "Ask HN: How do you keep up with HN these days?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47741527", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (April 2026)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46811812", "title": "Litestream Writable VFS", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46742635", "title": "Many Small Queries Are Efficient in SQLite", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 4}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 800278576, "item_id": 50017411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50017411", "by": "lhoff", "date": "2026-10-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You might want to have a look at pocketbase. I use it as a backend for my vibecoded \"auto-SaaS\" Tools.", "excerpt": "> A self made app i call \"auto-SaaS\": postgREST+empty page+AI Agent (clippy chat animation and all) that allows me to build ANY personal saas i need: You might want to have a look at pocketbase. I use it as a backend for my vibecoded \"auto-SaaS\" Tools.", "context": "", "use_case": "backend for personal tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?"}, {"id": 788960897, "item_id": 49310056, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49310056", "by": "xrd", "date": "2026-08-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It uses pocketbase as the backend.", "excerpt": "I built a Firefox extension that allows me to track comments. https://plzat.me When I see an interesting topic, I will read through the comments. If I see a good comment, I add it to plzat.me (it adds a little @ symbol next to the comment actions). That \"subscribes\" to that comment, so I get an email update if anyone replies to it. And, then I have a little dashboard which collects all the comments I've subscribed to", "context": "", "use_case": "backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How do you keep up with HN these days?"}, {"id": 763990577, "item_id": 47749411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47749411", "by": "peterhon", "date": "2026-04-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "So I was trying:\n\n  - pocketbase", "excerpt": "I got tired of paying lots of $$$ to form tools, in order to create useful forms and checklists for me, and with my specific requirements: - immutability - self-hostability and/or EU SaaS option - nested data (e.g. nesting a list of sailing legs into a sailing trip form) - formulas (today(), date, string, numeric,...) and conditionals (visible/required/enabled if) My goal will be to create an exceptionally cost effec", "context": "", "use_case": "backend experiment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (April 2026)"}, {"id": 750282977, "item_id": 46892686, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46892686", "by": "xrd", "date": "2026-02-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've used it with pocketbase and it works.", "excerpt": "I love litestream. I've used it with pocketbase and it works. sqlite is a great building block for almost everything. Does anyone know whether you could use this to stitch together a bunch of .db files (that share the same schema) in an ad-hoc way? For example, if I decided I wanted to synchronize my friend's .db file, could I enable this using litestream? And, what if my friend wanted to sync two of his friends' .db", "context": "", "use_case": "backend with Litestream", "switched_from": "", "story": "Litestream Writable VFS"}, {"id": 747918226, "item_id": 46744889, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46744889", "by": "dtkav", "date": "2026-01-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it with pocketbase and it is a delightful and very productive setup.", "excerpt": "sqlite+litestream [1] is fantastic, i highly recommend it. I use it with pocketbase and it is a delightful and very productive setup. This guide [2] is for an older version of pocketbase and litestream, but i can update it if would be helpful/interesting for anyone. [1] https://github.com/benbjohnson/litestream/ [2] https://notes.danielgk.com/Pocketbase/Pocketbase+on+Fly.io", "context": "", "use_case": "backend with SQLite", "switched_from": "", "story": "Many Small Queries Are Efficient in SQLite"}, {"id": 737395152, "item_id": 46087197, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46087197", "by": "chillaranand", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "After discovering pocketbase, I never went back to any of those tools. Works surprisingly well even for mid to large web-apps.", "excerpt": "I used to use other tools like supabase and others for side projects. After discovering pocketbase, I never went back to any of those tools. Works surprisingly well even for mid to large web-apps.", "context": "", "use_case": "side project backend", "switched_from": "Supabase", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}, {"id": 737289856, "item_id": 46080616, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46080616", "by": "born-jre", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pocketbase is pretty cool", "excerpt": "Pocketbase is pretty cool, i discovered it few years ago by looking at the projects using goja at the time. since i moved to lua to avoid goja paradox.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}, {"id": 737227424, "item_id": 46076714, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076714", "by": "olav", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools.", "excerpt": "I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools. I tend to combine it with https://pocketpages.dev/ which gives me file-based routing and nice templates. Ah, and Pocketbase has automatic database migrations, so all schema modifications can go into version control. I even hacked a Gemini protocol server into it, so that I can browse my personal knowledge graph using Lagrange.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal projects and internal tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}, {"id": 737226256, "item_id": 46076641, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076641", "by": "jddj", "date": "2025-11-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof.", "excerpt": "We use pocketbase for a lot of our internal LoB apps and it's been bulletproof. Saved us a lot of time and money. I'm a control freak and I like well defined endpoints with well defined performance characteristics, so the expressiveness of the API is in my mind a drawback for anything public facing, but it's undeniably a great experience on the front end, and if you design your tables with the API and filters in mind", "context": "", "use_case": "internal line-of-business apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}, {"id": 737222785, "item_id": 46076424, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076424", "by": "matt_callmann", "date": "2025-11-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'll give it a try, but I'm not a fan of the SPA approach.", "excerpt": "I'll give it a try, but I'm not a fan of the SPA approach. Try using it with Templ and server-side rendering (SSR) instead of any JavaScript framework. If anyone has already done this and can share their experience, I would love to hear about it!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pocketbase \u2013 open-source realtime back end in 1 file"}]}