MoonDB vs Pocketbase: Managed Edge vs Self-Hosted
Pocketbase is a beautiful single-binary BaaS written in Go — drop it on a VPS and you get SQLite, auth, file storage, and an admin UI. MoonDB makes the opposite trade: no binary to host, no server to patch, no VPS to size. It runs on Cloudflare's edge across 300+ cities, scales to zero, and exposes a native MCP server so Cursor / Claude Code can provision projects programmatically.
Where they differ
| Capability | MoonDB | Pocketbase |
|---|---|---|
| Operations | Managed serverless. Nothing to install or patch. | Self-hosted single binary. You provision the server. |
| Deployment | None — your project is live the moment set_schema returns |
./pocketbase serve on a VPS, systemd unit, reverse proxy, TLS |
| Scaling | Scale-to-zero on Cloudflare edge, no cold starts | Single process per node. You pick the box and scale vertically. |
| Database | Cloudflare D1 (SQLite-backed), one D1 per project | Embedded SQLite on disk |
| Schema definition | Declarative JSON, sent in one PUT, auto-migrated | Click-through admin UI or migrations via API |
| Admin dashboard | Built-in at /dashboard |
Built-in at /_/ |
| Auth | Built-in email/password + JWKS for external IdPs | Built-in email/password + OAuth providers |
| File storage | R2 (S3-compatible), per-project | Local disk or S3 (configured separately) |
| Realtime subscriptions | Not yet (REST + cursor pagination) | WebSocket subscriptions per collection |
| Agent integration | Native MCP server, /v1/llm-context, per-project agent files |
No first-party AI tooling |
| Cost model | Free → $9 → $29 → $99/mo, no infra to size | Free + your hosting bill (VPS, S3, bandwidth) |
When Pocketbase is the right call
- You want full control — air-gapped deploys, custom Go hooks, complete data residency.
- Sub-millisecond latency from a single region matters more than edge presence.
- Realtime subscriptions are core (chat, dashboards, multiplayer).
- Open source is non-negotiable — you'd rather audit a 60KB Go binary than trust a managed service.
When MoonDB is the right call
- Zero ops. No binary, no patching, no TLS renewal, no firewall rules. The same project URL works during dev and prod.
- Global edge by default. Cloudflare's network serves the API from the user's nearest POP.
- AI agents drive the schema. Pocketbase's admin UI is great for humans; MoonDB's declarative JSON + auto-migrations is what an agent can actually emit.
- Predictable pricing with quotas instead of paying for a VPS that's idle 23 hours a day.
What looks the same
Both are SQLite-backed, both have a built-in admin UI, both support email/password auth and
file uploads. The mental model translates directly: a Pocketbase "collection" is a MoonDB
"table", a Pocketbase "field" is a MoonDB "column", access rules are similar (you get
public, authenticated, owner, admin levels).