What Is PocketBase? Is It Free, How to Install It, Docker, PocketBase vs Supabase and License
You download PocketBase's prebuilt program and run it with the ./pocketbase serve command; your app gets a ready database, user login, file storage and admin panel. It is an open-source (MIT) backend; the backend is the data and login side of an app that users don't see. The software is free but there is no hosting service: it runs on your own computer or server, and the server cost is yours. It is not a company but one person's volunteer project; the official documentation does not recommend it for production-critical apps until v1.0.0. The panel works without code, but you write the login screens and the app yourself.
- What it does
- A backend with database, auth, files and panel in one program
- Software
- Free · MIT license
- Cloud version
- None; runs on your own server
- No-code?
- The panel is no-code; you write the app
- Current version
- v0.40.5 · October 8, 2026
- Production
- Pre-v1.0.0: no compatibility guarantee
- Turkish
- Documentation in English
What is PocketBase for? Can I use it without code?
If you're building an app, you need a backend to store data, sign users in and hold files. PocketBase gives you all of this in a single program: an embedded database (SQLite), user and file management, an admin panel and the API your app uses to talk to the data. You run the program on your own computer or server.
Can I use it without code? Partly. You set up data tables with the mouse in the admin panel; no code needed. But PocketBase has no cloud version and no ready-made user screens: you (or someone you hire) write the app's interface, including the login and sign-up screens. Advanced business logic requires Go or JavaScript.
Who it's for: developers and makers who want to set up a backend quickly for a small or medium-sized app. The FAQ lists SaaS, mobile app backends and company intranets as examples.
- No hosting service; it only runs on your own server.
- No cloud functions: for business logic you extend the program with Go or JavaScript.
- The database is SQLite only; others such as PostgreSQL are not supported out of the box.
- Scaling is single-server only, vertical (a more powerful server).
- This page doesn't compare the other side's features; check their own sites for those.
FAQ: PocketBase is not a startup or a company; it has no paid team and is a personal open-source project developed on a volunteer basis. No maintenance or support is promised, and donations are not accepted.
!The official documentation states that backward compatibility is not guaranteed until v1.0.0 and that PocketBase is not yet recommended for production-critical apps. Use it if you're prepared to read the release notes and occasionally apply manual migration steps.
How do you install PocketBase? Is there Docker?
- Download the zip file for your platform from the GitHub releases page (github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/releases); it is about 12 MB.
- Extract the archive and start the program in the resulting folder:
› ./pocketbase serve- On first launch, a setup link appears and opens in the browser; create the first admin (superuser) account there.
- You'll find the admin panel at http://127.0.0.1:8090/_/ and the API at http://127.0.0.1:8090/api/.
› ./pocketbase superuser create EMAIL PASSThe program writes two folders next to itself: pb_data (your data and uploaded files; back it up) and pb_migrations (your table changes; can be committed to a repository). For help, run ./pocketbase --help.
The documentation's "minimal setup": you upload the program to the server (the docs give an rsync example) and start it with a domain name; a Let's Encrypt certificate is obtained automatically.
› ./pocketbase serve yourdomain.comA non-root user needs special permission for ports 80 and 443. For automatic restarts, the documentation gives an example systemd service file. The "Going to production" page also recommends: a real SMTP mail server, a rate limiter, restricting the superuser to specific IPs, and regular backups.
The official documentation, README and FAQ don't describe a Docker setup (October 15, 2026). Google searches for "pocketbase docker" lead to community images; these are not part of the official documentation, so evaluate their source yourself before using them.
If you use Docker, since the program is a single file you can run it in your own Dockerfile; remember to keep the pb_data folder, where the data lives, on a persistent disk. If you choose a community image, check its source and how up to date it is yourself.
You can use PocketBase as a Go library and compile your own single-file program. The README requires Go 1.27 or later.
› go mod init myapp && go mod tidy
go run main.go serve
CGO_ENABLED=0 go buildTo update the prebuilt program, the release notes point to the ./pocketbase update command. The current version is v0.40.5 (October 8, 2026).
Source: pocketbase.io/docs, /docs/going-to-production, the official README and the v0.40.5 release note; October 15, 2026.
How do you use PocketBase? API, SDK, access rules and MCP
- Start the program and create the admin account (installation section).
- Create a collection (table) in the admin panel. There are three types: Base, a read-only query table (View) and a user table (Auth).
- Write the collection's API rules: who can list, view, create, update and delete records.
- Connect from your app with an official SDK: JavaScript (browser, Node.js, React Native) or Dart (web, mobile, desktop).
› import PocketBase from 'pocketbase'
const pb = new PocketBase('http://127.0.0.1:8090')
// list and search the 'example' collection
const list = await pb.collection('example').getList(1, 100, {
filter: 'title != "" && created > "2022-08-01"',
sort: '-created,title',
})
// watch changes in real time
pb.collection('example').subscribe('*', (e) => console.log(e.record))› @request.auth.id != "" && author = @request.auth.idThis rule allows a signed-in user whose own ID is in the record's "author" field. The documentation also gives examples of role-based (e.g. @request.auth.role = "staff") and combined rules.
PocketBase only provides SDKs; you write the login and sign-up screens. Default pages are included only for email verification and password reset links.
For tasks such as payment notifications (webhooks) or extra validation, the documentation suggests two routes: extending PocketBase with Go or JavaScript, or writing a separate small server action that writes data as a superuser.
The official site, documentation and README don't mention a PocketBase MCP server. Searches for "pocketbase mcp server" lead to third-party projects. If one asks for admin (superuser) credentials, read what it does before handing them over.
Is PocketBase free? Hosting and real cost
MIT license: no fee, no paid plan, no price in any currency. The README says you can do whatever you want with it, including offering it as a paid service.
FAQ: PocketBase doesn't offer hosting; it only runs self-hosted. For small trials, the FAQ cites some cloud providers' free tiers (Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud) and cheap VPS providers (e.g. Hetzner, Vultr) as examples; check their terms there.
The software is free; server rent, backups, security updates and monitoring are yours. No official minimum hardware is stated. The author's example in the FAQ: more than 10,000 persistent realtime connections on a $4 server (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM); this is the author's own measurement.
No paid support. For help: the public Discussions board, GitHub issues or email (support at pocketbase.io).
!Donations are not accepted; sponsorship is only considered if it comes with no conditions, by writing to the support email (FAQ).
PocketBase license, security advisories and Turkish
- Use, copy, modify, merge, publish and distribute
- Sublicense and sell; offer it as a paid service (README)
- Use it in a commercial project
- Removing the copyright and permission notice from copies: both must remain
- Expecting a warranty or compensation from the authors: the software is provided "as is"
Everything is stored on your server, in the pb_data folder. Settings (including the SMTP password and S3 key) are stored in plain text in the database by default; you can turn on the encryption setting described in the docs. The official pages don't say whether PocketBase sends data to any other server.
Documentation: use a real SMTP server, enable the rate limiter (v0.23.0 and later), restrict the admin account to specific IPs (v0.38.0 and later) and take regular backups.
The official GitHub repository has 3 security advisories. All three are patched in the current version: v0.40.5 is newer than the patch versions below.
- July 16, 2026, high: an uncaught error in internal goroutines could shut down the server (GHSA-84vh-m24q-wjjx). Patched in v0.39.7.
- April 27, 2026, moderate: account pre-hijacking via OAuth2 (GHSA-pq7p-mc74-g65w). Patched in v0.37.4.
- June 18, 2024, moderate: binding an unverified email (GHSA-m93w-4fxv-r35v). Patched in v0.22.14.
The v0.40.5 release note recommends updating because of a denial-of-service (DoS) fix in Go's net/http component. This does not mean "secure"; it is only the number of published advisories.
| Documentation and siteNo | The official documentation pages are in English; no Turkish version is shown. |
|---|---|
| Admin panel languageUnclear | Whether the panel is available in Turkish is not stated in the official documentation; check after installing. |
Source: official LICENSE.md and README, GitHub security advisories, pocketbase.io FAQ and documentation; October 15, 2026. This is not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
What is PocketBase and what is it for?
An open-source backend that provides a database (SQLite), user login, file storage and an admin panel in a single program. You download and run the prebuilt program or extend it with Go.
How is PocketBase different from Supabase and Firebase?
It has no hosting service or cloud functions, uses only SQLite and scales only on a single server. For business logic you extend the program with Go or JavaScript.
How do you install PocketBase with Docker?
The official documentation, README and FAQ don't describe a Docker setup. The official route is to download the program and run it with ./pocketbase serve; if you want Docker, you can run it in your own Dockerfile or use community images at your own risk.
Is PocketBase free?
The software is free (MIT license), with no paid plan or cloud version. Hosting is not offered; the server cost is yours.
Is there an MCP server for PocketBase?
The official sources don't mention an MCP server. The ones that show up in search results are third-party projects.
Can PocketBase be used in production?
The official documentation states that there is no backward compatibility guarantee before v1.0.0 and that it is not yet recommended for production-critical apps. It says it is suitable for small and medium-sized apps.
Related guides
Sources
- PocketBase homepage
- Documentation: Introduction
- FAQ
- Documentation: Going to production
- GitHub repository and README
- MIT license
- Release v0.40.5
- Security advisories
Not clear in the official sources: Docker setup (not in the official documentation) · MCP server (not in the official sources) · a Turkish version of the admin panel and documentation · whether PocketBase sends data to its own servers · official minimum hardware requirements · data import and export (no built-in helper; the FAQ points to a discussion page) · whether the project will move somewhere other than GitHub (the README mentions this possibility). Each is covered in the relevant section along with what you can do.