HonkIO Auth vs Firebase Authentication

• Firebase says its Authentication service runs only from US data centers and processes data exclusively in the United States. HonkIO Auth stores user data in Canada and processes requests on US-hosted infrastructure.
• With Identity Platform, Firebase Authentication is free up to 50,000 monthly active users. HonkIO Auth's Free plan covers 250 users per app.
• Phone sign-in on Firebase needs the Blaze plan and is billed per text. HonkIO Auth text codes are on Pro and Business, at HonkIO's normal SMS rate, to Canadian mobiles only.

HonkIO Auth is priced per app, per month, in CAD, and paid from the same prepaid balance as HonkIO's SMS and email: Free at $0 with 250 users, Pro at $49 with 2,500 users and then 2.5¢ each, and Business at $249 with 10,000 users and then 2¢ each. A user counts in a month only if they sign in on a day after the day they signed up, and likely bots never count. Sign-in emails and texts cost HonkIO's normal message rates, and passkey sign-ins are free.

With Identity Platform, Firebase Authentication is free up to 50,000 MAUs on both the Spark and Blaze plans, and SAML or OIDC sign-in is free up to 50 MAUs. Beyond that, Google Cloud pricing applies.

Phone sign-in needs the Blaze plan and is billed per text sent. Standard Firebase Authentication caps texts at 3,000 a day, and Identity Platform has no daily cap.

The two count users differently, so compare them with your own sign-in numbers rather than the headline prices.

HonkIO Auth stores your users' data in Canada: the database and cache are in Montréal, and sign-in emails go through AWS in Montréal (ca-central-1). Requests are processed on US-hosted infrastructure (Railway, US East), and Cloudflare ends TLS for sign-in hostnames as a processor without storing the traffic. So HonkIO says the data is stored in Canada, not that it never leaves Canada.

Firebase's privacy page says the Firebase Authentication service is run only from US data centers and processes data exclusively in the United States. Logged IP addresses are kept for a few weeks; other authentication data is kept until you delete the user, then removed from live and backup systems within 180 days.

Firebase's terms include Data Processing and Security Terms, under which Google is generally a processor. On HonkIO Auth, IP and network data, device cookies and risk scores are stored in Canada for 90 days, then deleted or reduced to aggregate counts, and you can export your users at any time.

• Your app already uses Firebase and you want sign-in in the same project.
• You expect up to 50,000 monthly active users and want them free.
• You need SAML or OIDC federation: Firebase supports it, free up to 50 MAUs, and HonkIO Auth does not.
• You send sign-in texts outside Canada: HonkIO Auth sends text codes to Canadian mobiles only.

When HonkIO Auth fits

• You want user data stored in Canada, in Montréal, for every app on every plan.
• You want passwordless sign-in only: email codes or links and passkeys on every plan, and text-message codes from your own Canadian number on Pro and Business.
• You want flat monthly fees in CAD, paid from the same prepaid balance as HonkIO's SMS and email, with users counted only when they come back on a later day.
• You want sign-in on your own domain on every plan, test apps included, and a hosted page in English and French.
• You want abuse protection on every plan: a self-hosted bot check with no third-party CAPTCHA, SMS pumping detection and a daily text spending limit.

HonkIO Auth uses the OpenID Connect authorization code flow with PKCE, so your app talks to it through an OIDC library you may already use, such as openid-client, Auth.js, Authlib or Socialite. Test apps are free, get every feature and send nothing.

• HonkIO Auth overview
• Next.js quickstart
• Plans and prices
• Where data is stored
• Sign-in methods
• Setting up your domain

Does Firebase Authentication store data in Canada?

No. As of October 2026, Firebase's privacy page says Firebase Authentication is run only from US data centers and processes data exclusively in the United States. HonkIO Auth stores user data in Canada, and processes requests on US-hosted infrastructure.

How many email sign-in links can Firebase send?

As of October 2026, Firebase's limits page lists 5 email link sign-in emails a day on Spark and 25,000 on Blaze. On HonkIO Auth, every sign-in email costs HonkIO's normal per-message rate, on every plan.

Is phone sign-in on Firebase's free plan?

No. Phone sign-in needs the Blaze plan and is billed per text. On HonkIO Auth, text codes are on Pro and Business and go to Canadian mobile numbers only.

Can I move from Firebase Authentication to HonkIO Auth?

HonkIO Auth is standard OpenID Connect, so an app that signs in through an OIDC library mostly needs a new issuer, client ID and secret. Code written against a provider's own SDK needs replacing. Plan how existing users will sign in: HonkIO Auth has no passwords, so they use an email code or link, a passkey or, on Pro and Business, a text code.

Does HonkIO Auth support passwords or social login?

No. HonkIO Auth is passwordless only, and has no social login and no enterprise single sign-on (SAML) or SCIM. If you need those, it isn't the right fit today.

1. Firebase: pricing
2. Firebase: privacy and security
3. Firebase Authentication: limits
4. Firebase: data processing and security terms

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