AI & TechnologyParse, Kinvey and Realm Sync Are Gone: Where to Run Your App Backend in 2026

If your app was built on Parse, Kinvey, Telerik Platform or Realm Sync, that backend is gone, and links to the old docs now lead nowhere. In 2026, the realistic homes for a mobile app backend are Firebase, Supabase, Parse Server (self-hosted or hosted on Back4App), Appwrite and PocketBase. The safest choice is the one you could leave, because every service on the list below was once someone’s safe choice.

This guide replaces the migration posts and vendor pages that used to answer “where do I go after Parse?” Every date below comes from the vendor’s own announcement, and every price was checked on the vendor’s pricing page on October 17, 2026.

What shut down, and when

The pattern is the same each time. A hosted service that is not the vendor’s main business gets folded into something else or switched off, often with a year or more of notice. Apps that kept their data in standard formats, and their logic in their own code, moved in weeks. Apps that leaned on vendor-only features had to be rebuilt.

The 2026 options compared

Two notes on that table. Parse Server is very much alive: the Parse community shipped version 9.10.5 on October 16, 2026, and it runs on Node.js 20.19 or later, 22 and 24 (Node 20 reached end of life in April 2026, so plan on 22 or 24). PocketBase is still pre-1.0 (v0.40.5, released October 8, 2026), so expect breaking changes between versions.

How to choose

1. You have an old Parse app. Run Parse Server. Your client SDK calls keep working with few code changes, which was the whole point of the open-source release. Self-host it if you have someone to run MongoDB or PostgreSQL. Otherwise use a hosted Parse provider.
2. You are starting a new mobile app and want the least operations work. Firebase or Supabase. Choose Firebase for NoSQL documents, Firebase Cloud Messaging and offline persistence. Choose Supabase if your data is relational, if you want SQL, or if you might self-host later. From October 30, 2026, new tables in existing Supabase projects need an explicit grant before the Data API can see them; my free Supabase grants checker lists the ones that do.
3. You are leaving Realm Device Sync. Keep the open-source on-device database if you only needed local storage. If you needed sync, move to a backend that syncs, then test offline edits, conflict handling and reconnects on real devices before you switch users over. For the on-device options, see which mobile database to use now that Realm is deprecated.
4. You must keep data on your own servers. Appwrite or Parse Server for a full backend, PocketBase for a small one.
5. You were burned by a shutdown before. Prefer open source, standard databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB) and your own domain for every URL your app depends on. Firebase Dynamic Links showed that links on a vendor’s domain die with the vendor’s product.

Migrating off a dead or dying backend

A backend migration is usually smaller than it looks, if you do it in this order:

1. List what the old backend actually did. Sign-in methods, database tables or collections, file storage, push notifications, scheduled jobs, server-side code (Parse called it Cloud Code) and any webhooks. This list is your scope.
2. Export the data first. Move the records into a database you control, then point the old API at it if you still can. Parse’s own migration tool worked this way, with no downtime.
3. Move files separately. File storage is often not part of a database export. Copy the files and rewrite their URLs.
4. Plan sign-in carefully. Find out whether password hashes can be exported and imported. If they can’t, users will have to reset their passwords, so tell them in advance.
5. Rebuild server-side code as functions. Cloud Functions on Firebase, Edge Functions on Supabase, Cloud Code on Parse Server.
6. Ship an app update that talks to the new backend, then switch off the old one. Keep the old endpoints read-only for one release cycle, because some users update late.

Need a hand?

App369 is Simon Dziak’s studio. He builds and runs Workspace369, a production Flutter and Firebase SaaS, so this advice comes from running a live backend, not from a vendor brochure.

• An app that broke when its backend changed: the App Fix Ticket diagnoses one issue for $450 and fixes it for $1,200, both fixed price.
• Moving data or connecting a new backend to Stripe, a CRM or another system: API Integration, $1,200 fixed price, 5 business days.
• Already on Firebase and the bill is climbing: the Firebase Cost-Cut Audit, $750 fixed price, 5 business days.