Features
- Email/password, phone, and anonymous authentication
- Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter OAuth providers
- FirebaseUI drop-in auth components
- Multi-factor authentication support
Pros
- Generous free tier (50K monthly active users)
- Battle-tested at Google scale
- Drop-in UI components for quick setup
Cons
- Vendor lock-in to Google/Firebase ecosystem
- Custom claims and RBAC require Cloud Functions
- Limited customization of auth flows
Overview
Firebase Authentication provides a complete identity solution backed by Googleās infrastructure. It supports email/password, phone number, and popular OAuth providers (Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, GitHub), with pre-built UI components for web, iOS, and Android.
Firebase Auth integrates with Firebaseās security rules for Firestore, Realtime Database, and Cloud Storage, providing automatic access control based on user identity. Custom claims allow server-side role assignment, and identity platform features add advanced capabilities like blocking functions and MFA.
When to Use
Firebase Auth is the natural choice when building on the Firebase platform, when you need authentication for mobile and web applications with a generous free tier, or when you want Google-backed infrastructure with minimal setup.
Getting Started
npm install firebaseimport { getAuth, signInWithEmailAndPassword } from "firebase/auth";
import { initializeApp } from "firebase/app";
const app = initializeApp({ /* config */ });
const auth = getAuth(app);
const { user } = await signInWithEmailAndPassword(
auth, "user@example.com", "password"
);