Is Firebase down or is it my code?

To distinguish a Firebase outage from a code issue: (1) Check status.firebase.google.com for active incidents. (2) Test the Firebase REST API directly: GET https://firestore.googleapis.com/v1/projects/[project-id]/databases/(default)/documents — a non-5xx response means Firestore is up. (3) Try a different Firebase operation — if Firestore reads work but writes fail, it's a write-specific issue. (4) Check if the issue is region-specific by reviewing your project's region in the Firebase console. (5) Check your Firebase security rules — changes take up to 60 seconds to propagate.

What does Firebase status "service disruption" mean?

Firebase uses Google Cloud's status terminology: 'Service Disruption' means a significant portion of users are affected by degraded or unavailable service. 'Service Information' means a minor issue affecting a small percentage of users. Both warrant monitoring. During a service disruption, implement exponential backoff retries in your app code and consider falling back to cached data where possible.

Firebase / Backend-as-a-Service

Firebase Status: How to Check If Firebase Is Down Right Now (2026)

Q: Why is Firestore down but Firebase Hosting is still working?

Firebase products are independent services under the Google Cloud umbrella. Firestore (the database), Firebase Hosting (CDN/static files), Authentication, and Cloud Functions each have separate infrastructure and can fail independently. A Firestore outage will break reads/writes but your statically hosted site on Firebase Hosting will continue serving. Always check status.firebase.google.com by product to identify which service is affected.

Q: Is Firebase status the same as Google Cloud status?

Not exactly. Firebase products run on Google Cloud infrastructure, but Firebase has its own status page at status.firebase.google.com that tracks Firebase-specific products. Google Cloud has a separate status page at status.cloud.google.com. A Google Cloud incident may cascade to Firebase, but Firebase-specific issues like Firestore write failures or Auth latency spikes will appear on status.firebase.google.com first.

Q: Why are Firebase Cloud Functions returning errors?

Firebase Cloud Functions errors are caused by: (1) A Cloud Functions service incident — check status.firebase.google.com, (2) Cold start timeouts — functions can take 1-5 seconds to cold start; set minimum instances to avoid this, (3) Memory or CPU limits exceeded, (4) Missing environment variables set via firebase functions:config:set, (5) Dependency installation failures during deployment, (6) Firestore or Auth errors inside the function itself. Check the Firebase console logs for exact error messages.

Q: How do I get alerts when Firebase goes down?

Subscribe to email notifications on status.firebase.google.com by clicking 'Subscribe to Updates'. Follow @Firebase on X for incident announcements. For production apps, set up Better Stack or API Status Check monitors targeting your Firebase Hosting URL, Firestore REST endpoint, or Cloud Functions URL — you'll get faster alerts than waiting for official status updates.

Q: What is the Firebase status API endpoint?

Firebase uses Google Cloud's Statuspage infrastructure. You can check Firebase status programmatically via the Google Cloud Status API. The Firebase-specific status page at status.firebase.google.com also exposes a JSON feed. For programmatic checks, query your own Firebase project's health: make an authenticated Firestore REST API call and check the HTTP response code.

Updated June 12, 2026 · 12 min read · API Status Check

Quick Answer

Check Firebase status at status.firebase.google.com (official) or apistatuscheck.com/is-firebase-down for independent real-time monitoring.

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The Official Firebase Status Page

Firebase maintains an official status page at status.firebase.google.com. Unlike generic cloud status pages, Firebase tracks each product independently, so you can identify exactly which service is failing:

Cloud Firestore: NoSQL document database — the primary data store for most modern Firebase apps

Firebase Realtime Database: JSON-synced real-time database — older but still widely used for live-sync features

Firebase Authentication: User sign-in via email/password, OAuth providers, phone, and anonymous auth

Cloud Storage for Firebase: File uploads and downloads backed by Google Cloud Storage

Cloud Functions for Firebase: Serverless Node.js/Python/Go functions triggered by Firebase events or HTTP calls

Firebase Hosting: CDN-backed static hosting for web apps — separate from your database and functions

Firebase Remote Config: Feature flags and dynamic configuration for mobile and web apps

Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM): Push notifications for Android, iOS, and web — can fail independently of other services

Firebase App Check: Attestation service that protects your backend resources from abuse

What Each Firebase Status Level Means

Available: All Firebase systems working normally. If your app isn't working, the issue is likely in your security rules, project configuration, or client-side code.

Service Information: A minor issue affecting a small percentage of users. Your app may be fine, but watch for intermittent errors on Firestore reads or Auth delays.

Service Disruption: A significant portion of users are experiencing degraded or unavailable service. Implement retries with exponential backoff and serve cached data where possible.

Service Outage: The Firebase product is down for most or all users. This is rare — Google's infrastructure provides high redundancy. Check for region-specific vs global scope.

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Firebase Services: What Can Fail Independently

Firebase is a collection of Google Cloud services under a single SDK. Each product runs on independent infrastructure and can fail in isolation. Knowing which component is broken determines how to respond:

Cloud Firestore

What it is: The primary NoSQL database for Firebase apps. Most modern Firebase projects depend entirely on Firestore for reads and writes.

Signs of issues: PERMISSION_DENIED on previously-working queries, write operations timing out, snapshot listeners not receiving updates, quota exceeded errors.

Workaround: Cache Firestore data locally using offline persistence (enablePersistence()). During outages, the client SDK serves the local cache automatically for reads.

Firebase Authentication

What it is: The identity service for sign-in flows. Handles JWTs, OAuth providers, magic links, phone auth, and anonymous auth.

Signs of issues: signInWithEmailAndPassword() throwing errors, OAuth redirects failing, onAuthStateChanged() not firing, ID token refresh failures.

Workaround: Cache the current user session locally. Existing authenticated sessions continue working if ID tokens haven't expired — only new logins fail during Auth outages.

Firebase Realtime Database

What it is: The original Firebase JSON sync database. Legacy but still used for presence systems, live chat, and high-frequency updates.

Signs of issues: Database.ref().on() callbacks stop firing, write operations returning errors, connection state stuck on "connecting".

Workaround: Fall back to polling the REST API endpoint or use Firestore with real-time listeners as an alternative data source.

Cloud Functions for Firebase

What it is: Serverless functions deployed to Google Cloud. Triggered by Firestore events, Auth events, HTTP calls, and Pub/Sub.

Signs of issues: HTTP-triggered functions returning 5xx errors, Firestore triggers not running, function invocations queuing without executing.

Workaround: Implement client-side retry logic. For critical functions, consider an alternative serverless provider (Cloudflare Workers, Vercel) as a fallback.

Firebase Hosting

What it is: CDN-backed static file hosting. Fully independent from your database and functions.

Signs of issues: Your deployed web app returns 5xx errors or fails to load static assets. Functions deployed to Hosting rewrites also stop responding.

Workaround: Point your domain temporarily to a backup CDN (Cloudflare Pages, Netlify). Your app code and data are unaffected.

Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM)

What it is: Push notification service for mobile and web. FCM issues rarely affect core app functionality.

Signs of issues: Push notifications not delivered, registration tokens expiring faster than expected, FCM API returning 5xx errors.

Workaround: Queue notifications for retry. Use Pub/Sub or a third-party push service (OneSignal, Pusher) as a backup.

5 Ways to Check Firebase Status Right Now

Official Firebase Status Page

Visit status.firebase.google.com for product-level real-time status. Subscribe to email updates for incident notifications. Look for the specific product (Firestore, Auth, Functions) that matches your error.

status.firebase.google.com →

API Status Check (Independent Monitor)

APIStatusCheck independently monitors Firebase endpoints and shows real uptime data. Useful for catching incidents the official status page hasn't yet acknowledged.

Check live Firebase status →

Google Cloud Status (For Deeper Issues)

Firebase runs on Google Cloud. If Firebase's own status page shows green but issues persist, check status.cloud.google.com — the underlying infrastructure may have a problem affecting Firebase services.

status.cloud.google.com →

Firebase Community & Social

The Firebase Google Group, Stack Overflow (tag: firebase), and X are often first to surface outage reports. Search "firebase down" on X to see real-time reports from other developers.

firebase-talk Google Group →

Direct Firestore Health Check

Query your Firestore REST endpoint directly to verify the database is responding.

curl 'https://firestore.googleapis.com/v1/projects/[PROJECT-ID]/databases/(default)/documents' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer [ACCESS-TOKEN]'

Firebase Error Codes During Outages

When Firebase is having issues, your app will surface specific error codes:

unavailableFirestore UnavailableThe Firestore service is temporarily unavailable. Enable offline persistence to serve cached data automatically.

deadline-exceededTimeoutOperation took too long — indicates degraded Firestore performance. Retry with exponential backoff.

resource-exhaustedQuota ExceededYou've hit Firestore read/write limits, or the service is throttling due to load. Check your quota in the Firebase console.

internalInternal ErrorFirebase internal server error. Retry 2-3 times. If persistent, check status.firebase.google.com.

auth/network-request-failedAuth Network ErrorFirebase Auth API is unreachable. Check Firebase Auth status on the status page.

503HTTP 503 (Functions)Cloud Function is unavailable. Could be a cold start timeout or a Cloud Functions service incident.

permission-deniedSecurity RulesUsually a rules issue, not an outage. But during Auth incidents, token verification fails and rules deny all requests.

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What to Do When Firebase Is Down

Immediate Triage

Check status.firebase.google.com for the affected product
Identify: Firestore? Auth? Functions? Hosting? FCM?
Check if it's product-specific vs Google Cloud-wide
Review error codes in your app logs for clues
Search “firebase down” on X to corroborate with other devs

Engineering Response

Enable Firestore offline persistence to auto-serve cached reads
Implement exponential backoff retries for all Firebase operations
Show a maintenance banner — don't let users think it's their fault
Cache Auth tokens to keep existing sessions alive
Consider multi-provider strategy for critical write paths

Firebase Offline Persistence: Your Best Defense During Outages

Firebase's most powerful outage defense is built in: offline persistence. When enabled, the Firestore SDK caches your app's data locally and serves it automatically when the network or Firestore service is unavailable.

// Web: Enable Firestore offline persistence (v9+ modular SDK)

import { initializeFirestore, persistentLocalCache } from 'firebase/firestore';
const db = initializeFirestore(app, { localCache: persistentLocalCache()});

// With this enabled, reads serve from cache during outages automatically

// Writes are queued locally and sync when Firebase comes back online

Offline Persistence: What It Covers (and Doesn't)

✓Firestore reads during outageServed from local cache automatically

✓Firestore writes during outageQueued locally, synced when service recovers

~Real-time listener updates during outageListeners continue serving cached data; live updates resume on recovery

✗Firebase Auth during outageNew logins fail; existing sessions remain active if token is still valid

✗Cloud Functions during outageNo caching — implement client-side retry logic

✓Firebase Realtime Database offlineHas separate offline support via goOffline()/goOnline()

Firebase Status History: Common Outage Patterns

Firebase has a strong reliability track record on Google infrastructure, but specific products see recurring incident types:

Firestore Write Availability

Periodic

Firestore write operations become slow or fail while reads continue normally. Caused by database backend reconfigurations or zone-level incidents in us-central1. Symptoms: write promises hanging without resolution, eventually timing out with DEADLINE_EXCEEDED.

Firebase Auth JWT Verification Delays

Infrequent

Auth token verification latency spikes cause security rules to deny requests that should be allowed. Appears as PERMISSION_DENIED on authenticated operations even when security rules are correct.

Cloud Functions Cold Start Cascades

Load-dependent

Under sudden high traffic, Cloud Functions scale up slowly. Cold starts take 2-10 seconds, causing HTTP timeout responses. Not technically an outage but indistinguishable from one. Set minimum instances (min_instances) on critical functions.

Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) Delays

Occasional

Push notifications are delivered late or not at all. FCM incidents rarely affect app core functionality but surface in user complaints. FCM has less granular status reporting than Firestore.

Firestore Index Build Queuing

Project-specific

After deploying new Firestore indexes, queries using those indexes fail until the index finishes building. Not a Firebase outage — the Firestore console shows index build progress. Can take minutes to hours for large collections.

Check Firebase Status Programmatically

For automated monitoring, you can check Firebase and Firestore health via the REST API:

# Check Firebase status page for disruptions

curl https://status.firebase.google.com/

# Direct Firestore health check (replace PROJECT_ID and TOKEN)

curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" \ 'https://firestore.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/databases/(default)/documents' \ -H 'Authorization: Bearer TOKEN'

# Check Firebase Auth (no token needed for this endpoint)

curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" \ 'https://identitytoolkit.googleapis.com/v1/accounts:signUp?key=API_KEY' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{}'

For production monitoring, integrate these checks into your uptime monitoring system. A non-200 response from the Firestore REST API is a reliable signal that Firebase is degraded.

Firebase vs Supabase Status: Reliability Comparison

Firebase and Supabase are the two most popular BaaS platforms. Both have strong reliability, but their status transparency differs:

Firebase Status Transparency

✓ Per-product status at status.firebase.google.com
✓ Backed by Google SRE and Google Cloud SLA
✓ Email subscription for incident updates
✓ 99.999% uptime SLA for Firestore on paid plans
✗ Status page updates sometimes lag actual incidents
✗ Less community corroboration (proprietary stack)

Supabase Status Transparency

✓ Component-level status at status.supabase.com
✓ Region-specific incident reporting
✓ Open source — incidents corroborated on GitHub
✓ Slack webhook support for team alerts
✗ No per-project health dashboard on free tier
✗ Connection pool exhaustion is a common user-side issue

For current Supabase status, check our Supabase status guide or apistatuscheck.com/is-supabase-down.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the official Firebase status page?

Firebase's official status page is at status.firebase.google.com. It shows per-product status for Firestore, Realtime Database, Authentication, Cloud Functions, Firebase Hosting, Cloud Storage, FCM, and Remote Config. Subscribe to email updates by clicking 'Subscribe to Updates' on the status page.

Why is Firestore down but Firebase Hosting is still working?

Firebase products are independent services. Firebase Hosting (CDN/static files) and Firestore (database) have completely separate infrastructure and can fail independently. A Firestore database outage has no effect on your hosted static files. Always check status.firebase.google.com to identify which specific Firebase product is affected.

Is Firebase status the same as Google Cloud status?

Not exactly. Firebase runs on Google Cloud, but Firebase has its own status page (status.firebase.google.com) tracking Firebase-specific products. Google Cloud has a broader status page (status.cloud.google.com). A Firebase Firestore outage will appear on the Firebase status page. A Cloud Storage outage affecting Firebase Storage will appear on both.

Why are Firebase Cloud Functions returning errors?

Cloud Functions errors have multiple causes: (1) Check status.firebase.google.com for a Cloud Functions incident. (2) Check your function logs in the Firebase console for code errors. (3) Cold starts — set min_instances on critical functions to prevent cold start timeouts. (4) Memory limit exceeded — increase function memory in firebase.json. (5) Missing environment variables — set via Firebase Secret Manager or environment config.

How do I get alerts when Firebase goes down?

Subscribe to email alerts at status.firebase.google.com. Follow @Firebase on X. For production apps, set up synthetic monitors with Better Stack or API Status Check targeting your Firebase Hosting URL and Cloud Functions endpoints — these will detect outages faster than the official status page.

What is the Firebase status API endpoint?

Firebase doesn't expose a simple machine-readable status JSON like some providers. For automated monitoring, check your own Firebase project endpoints directly: the Firestore REST API, Cloud Functions HTTP endpoints, and Firebase Hosting URL. A health monitoring service like Better Stack or API Status Check does this automatically and notifies you of failures.

Is Firebase down or is it my security rules?

Security rules misconfiguration is the most common cause of 'Firebase is down' reports. To distinguish: (1) Check status.firebase.google.com for active incidents. (2) Test with Firebase emulators locally — if the same operation works in the emulator, it's a rules or configuration issue. (3) Try a simple read on a public document (no auth required). (4) Check the Firebase console Rules Playground to test your security rules. Most 'Firebase outages' are actually PERMISSION_DENIED from rules changes.

What does Firebase "service disruption" mean for my app?

A Firebase service disruption means a significant portion of users are experiencing degraded or unavailable service for that product. During a Firestore disruption, reads may return stale data or fail entirely; writes may queue up. Enable offline persistence to serve cached Firestore data automatically during disruptions. For Auth disruptions, existing sessions using cached tokens continue working but new logins fail.

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