Integrating React with Firebase using just react or node.js?

Question

Im new to backend dev, and I have a full fledge working React app that GETs,DELETEs and PUTs data using a fake server. Now I need to use an actual backend and I was thinking of going with Firebase as it seems really convenient. However I saw some examples using Firebase directly in the React app, and some using Node.js to do the work.. Could someone please tell me whats the best way to go with this? If there's an easier way to create REST API using express/mongo, I am also open to those :)

Answer 1

You have to keep in mind that anything you do from the frontend will be visible to the user, so communicating with Firebase from React will be a bad idea at least for anything involving sensitive information (passwords, credit card info, etc.). Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Use a Node backend and use that to communicate with your DB and other services.

To address the last part of your question, it is possible that Firebase might be more than you need. A simple setup with Express and MongoDB might be easier. MLab has a pretty good free sandbox database-as-a-service that requires very minimal setup.