Parse

Parse.com was a startup designed to make the backend administration for mobile apps as simple as possible. The service launched as a way to build scalable web apps without having to worry about where you'll store the data to handle log-ins and push notifications. The company was founded in 2011 and raised over $5.5 million in venture capital funding. Shortly after being acquired by Facebook in 2013, the company announced that it powered more than 500,000 mobile app backends on both iOS and Android. It didn't take Facebook long to decide to shutter the service, as the company announced in January 2016 that Parse would be retired in January 2017. Before the project was abandoned, it was open sourced. That means it is now possible to download the code and run it on your own hosted solution such as Stamplay or Amazon Web Services (AWS). Microsoft has even made it possible to migrate your Parse installation to Microsoft Azure, which serves much the same function as Parse but has more widespread applications. The company produced a Parse Server for Azure Managed Services in 2016 to help people migrate from the defunct Parse service before the service went offline. For anyone developing a mobile app that needs a simple back-end solution that doesn't require a ton of coding knowledge, Parse is still a pretty good choice. It requires your hosting space with a service like Microsoft Azure or AWS, but the service still provides a functional backend for services like push notifications and login requests for mobile apps across the globe.