What is Para used for?

Para is a multitenant Java backend server for object persistence, search and authentication that can run standalone or embedded, self-hosted or hosted. It is a good fit for rapid backend for web and mobile prototypes, and shared backend serving several apps.

Yes. Para is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at Erudika/para and is written mainly in Java.

Yes. Para is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host Para?

Yes. Para can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Para an alternative to?

Para is an open-source alternative to Firebase. Other open-source alternatives to Firebase include Parse Server, Supabase and Appwrite.

Is Para actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Para was on 1 October 2026, and the latest release is 1.56.1, published on 1 October 2026. The project has 575 stars on GitHub.

Para: open-source alternative to Firebase

About Para

Para is a scalable, multitenant backend server and framework for object persistence and retrieval, aimed at helping developers build and prototype web and mobile apps faster by handling backend operations. It can be embedded in a JVM application or deployed as a standalone API server that multiple applications and clients connect to. Its name means steam in Bulgarian.

It exposes a RESTful JSON API secured with Amazon's Signature V4 algorithm and is database-agnostic, designed for scalable data stores such as DynamoDB, Cassandra and MongoDB. Features include full-text search with Lucene or Elasticsearch, distributed and local caching with Hazelcast or Caffeine, multitenancy where each app has its own table, index and cache, webhooks with signed payloads, flexible security based on Spring Security with LDAP, SAML and social login, JWT authentication, resource permissions, constraint validation, optimistic locking, metrics for monitoring, plugins and i18n utilities.

Para is written in Java, licensed under Apache-2.0, and funded and supported by Erudika, an independent bootstrapped company. It can be self-hosted, and the project also describes a hosted option.

Key features

Multitenant REST API backend
Database-agnostic storage
Full-text search with Lucene or Elasticsearch
JWT, LDAP, SAML and social login
Signed webhooks
Plugin architecture

Good fit for

→Rapid backend for web and mobile prototypes
→Shared backend serving several apps

Built with: Java
Tags: backend-as-a-service; java; rest-api; multitenant; search; self-hosted; api-server; jwt

Para: questions and answers

What is Para used for?: Para is a multitenant Java backend server for object persistence, search and authentication that can run standalone or embedded, self-hosted or hosted. It is a good fit for rapid backend for web and mobile prototypes, and shared backend serving several apps.
Is Para open source?: Yes. Para is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at Erudika/para and is written mainly in Java.
Is Para free?: Yes. Para is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host Para?: Yes. Para can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Para an alternative to?: Para is an open-source alternative to Firebase. Other open-source alternatives to Firebase include Parse Server, Supabase and Appwrite.
Is Para actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Para was on 1 October 2026, and the latest release is 1.56.1, published on 1 October 2026. The project has 575 stars on GitHub.