💰 How We Saved $2000/Month on Firebase Costs for Our Clients

(Without Downgrading Performance)

If you're using Firebase, chances are you've felt the sting of surprise billing -- especially when your app scales.

At Dezoko, we've helped multiple startups and SaaS platforms cut their Firebase costs by up to $2,000/month, all without sacrificing performance or user experience.

Here's exactly how we did it -- and how you can do the same.

🔍 Step 1: Audit Firestore Read Patterns

The #1 hidden cost in Firebase is excessive Firestore document reads.

❌ Before Optimization:

One client was using Firestore like a SQL database -- querying nested documents without pagination or projections.

• Reads per user session: ~250
• Monthly bill (Firestore only): $1,050+

✅ After Optimization:

• We denormalized data for fast access
• Used composite indexes for targeted queries
• Introduced shallow reads + pagination
• Reduced reads per session to ~30
• New monthly cost: ~$320

📊 Savings: Over $700/month from Firestore alone.

🔄 Step 2: Replace Realtime Triggers with Pub/Sub

Firebase Cloud Functions triggered on Firestore writes are convenient but costly.

• They auto-scale too aggressively
• Execute on every tiny data change
• Hard to batch or debounce

💡 Our Solution:

We rewired event flow to use Pub/Sub + Cloud Run, which gave:

• Fine control over batching & retries
• Scheduled workers (Cloud Tasks)
• Lower cold start times

📉 Result: ~$500/month saved by moving just 3 critical workflows.

🧠 Step 3: Move Heavy Tasks Off Firebase Functions

One client ran image processing and PDF generation inside Firebase Functions -- causing:

• Long execution times
• High billing due to memory use
• Cold starts on every user action

🚀 Fix:

We containerized the logic and deployed it to Cloud Run:

• Auto-scaled on demand
• Cached with Cloud Storage
• Used concurrency to handle batch jobs

⚡ Performance improved

💵 Saved $350+/month

🔐 Step 4: Optimize Firebase Authentication Usage

Firebase Auth is mostly free -- but we've seen costs climb due to:

• Email link sign-ins triggering multiple calls
• Unused anonymous accounts piling up

What we did:

• Disabled anonymous sign-ins
• Cleaned up unused accounts monthly
• Debounced Auth trigger-based workflows

Result: $100/month saved and tighter user management.

🧾 Final Results

📉 Before & After Breakdown

Here's the cost breakdown chart you can embed in your blog:

📊 Firebase Monthly Cost Optimization Breakdown

The optimization resulted in significant savings across all Firebase services while maintaining or improving performance.

✅ Final CTA

> 💡 Worried about Firebase or GCP costs eating your margins?

> We specialize in optimizing infrastructure and cutting costs without slowing you down.