# Back4app review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Managed backend platform built on Parse, billed per app Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Back4app is a managed backend platform for web and mobile apps, offering a database, authentication, cloud functions, file storage and auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs. Plans are priced per app by monthly requests and storage, and a separate web deployment product and an AI Agent are also listed. - **Category:** Web Hosting - **Made by:** Back4app - **Website:** https://www.back4app.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you run several apps, because each app needs its own subscription. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Back4app has a free plan, and paid plans start at $15 per app / month, billed annually (MVP plan). - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Free plan with 25K requests, 250 MB database, 1 GB data transfer and 1 GB file storage, no credit card required. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | 25K requests a month, 250 MB database, 1 GB transfer and 1 GB files, for developing, learning and prototyping. | | MVP | $15 per app / month, billed annually | 500K requests, 1 GB data storage, 250 GB transfer, 50 GB files and daily backups. The page shows a 40% annual saving. | | Pay As You Go | $80 per app / month, billed annually | 5M requests, 3 GB data storage, 1 TB transfer, 250 GB files, daily backups, SOC 2 and ISO 27001. Annual saving of 20% shown. | | Dedicated | $400 per app / month, billed annually | Unlimited requests on 10 CPUs and 14 GB RAM, 8 GB data storage, 2 TB transfer, point-in-time backups, HIPAA after a BAA. | | Enterprise | Custom | Custom SLAs, on-premises or your own infrastructure, multi-region, professional services and a dedicated engineer. | Read from https://www.back4app.com/pricing/backend-as-a-service on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Back4app before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **Annual billing saves 20% to 40%** (Annual discount): The pricing page shows 40% off on MVP and 20% off on Pay As You Go and Dedicated when billed annually. Source: https://www.back4app.com/pricing/backend-as-a-service ## Key features - **Database with auto-generated APIs:** A MongoDB-backed database with REST, GraphQL and SDK access, created automatically for each class, cloud function or job. - **Authentication and access control:** User sign-up and login with ACLs and role-based access control, plus email templates for verification and password reset. - **Cloud functions and jobs:** Server-side JavaScript functions that connect to the database and auth; the number of Cloud Code jobs rises by plan. - **Web deployment:** Deploy full-stack web apps from GitHub to a b4a.app URL with automatic CI/CD. - **Real-time and storage:** Live queries for instant data sync, and file storage delivered through a global CDN. - **AI Agent:** Describe an app and the AI Agent provisions the Back4app backend and deploys a web app, per the vendor's home page. ## Good for - Developers who want a managed Parse backend without running servers - Prototypes that start on the free plan and move to a paid app later ## Worth knowing - Each subscription covers one app, so several apps mean several subscriptions. - The listed prices are billed annually; the monthly rate is higher and the page shows only the saving. - Point-in-time backups on Dedicated include an add-on priced at $100 a month on lower plans. - Web deployment and the AI Agent have their own pricing pages, which were not readable for this entry. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Back4app is a managed Parse backend with a database, auth, cloud functions and storage. Each subscription covers one app, the prices shown are annual, and the free plan stops at 25K requests a month. - **Value for money: C.** The MVP plan is $15 per app a month billed annually, in the middle of web hosting at $10.99 to $20.83. It covers one app, and the next step is $80. - **Free plan and trial: B.** A free plan with 25K requests, 250 MB database, 1 GB transfer and 1 GB files, no card needed. A prototype can live on it, a real app will not. - **Features: C.** A database with generated APIs, auth, cloud functions, jobs, real-time and storage. Web deployment and the AI Agent have separate pricing pages that weren't readable for the listing. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. You build the backend and its data model yourself. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, but it has an API and connects to GitHub, MongoDB Atlas, DigitalOcean and Mailgun. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Back4app's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among web hosts - Back4app's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 99 of the 122 other web hosts we grade, and level with 14. - It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 99 of 122) and worst on features (C, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $15 a month, against a middle price of $9.69 for the category: 73 of the 107 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 5 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/web-hosting ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Back4app you would be making an AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.4 is higher than 99 of the 122 other web hosts we grade. It costs $180 a year. - You could not: An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. - You could not: It plugs into other products, GitHub, MongoDB Atlas and DigitalOcean among them, and has an API. - You could not: What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: roles and permissions. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with GitHub, MongoDB Atlas, DigitalOcean, Mailgun, Parse **Tags:** Public API, AI agents ## Alternatives - [Firebase Hosting](https://toolgpa.com/tools/firebase-hosting): Google's CDN hosting for static and single-page web apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/back4app-vs-firebase-hosting) - [Nhost](https://toolgpa.com/tools/nhost): Managed Postgres backend with GraphQL, auth, storage and functions. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/back4app-vs-nhost) - [Render](https://toolgpa.com/tools/render): Cloud hosting for web services, databases and workers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/back4app-vs-render) - [Railway](https://toolgpa.com/tools/railway): App and database hosting billed by the second for usage. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/back4app-vs-railway) - [Heroku](https://toolgpa.com/tools/heroku): Platform for deploying apps in containers called dynos. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/back4app-vs-heroku) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.back4app.com/pricing/backend-as-a-service - https://www.back4app.com/pricing - https://www.back4app.com Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/back4app Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).