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Riyana Patel for PullFlow

Posted on • Edited on • Originally published at youtu.be

Project of the Week: Appwrite

The secure open source backend that's built for speed and efficiency

Introduction

Appwrite has carved out its niche as the secure, self-hosted backend-as-a-service platform that developers trust for building modern applications. With over 43,000 GitHub stars and a growing ecosystem of SDKs spanning multiple platforms, Appwrite represents a compelling alternative to proprietary backend solutions. The project emphasizes security, developer experience, and the flexibility that comes with self-hosting.

We analyzed Appwrite's development patterns on collab.dev and discovered some fascinating insights about how they've optimized for rapid development while maintaining quality standards.

Key Highlights

  • Lightning-fast review turnaround: 4.7 minute median review time shows incredible efficiency

  • Rapid overall processing: 28m 2s overall wait time demonstrates streamlined workflows

  • Core team focused: 65% of contributions come from the core team, enabling tight coordination

  • Perfect automation balance: 0% bot-generated PRs with minimal bot overhead (10.9%)

Appwrite vs. Supabase: Speed vs. Community

Since developers frequently compare Appwrite and Supabase when choosing open source backend solutions, their collaboration metrics reveal fundamentally different approaches:

Metric Appwrite Supabase Key Difference
Review Turnaround 5m 52s 2h 57m Appwrite reviews 30× faster
Overall Wait Time 28m 2s 1d 20h 37m Appwrite processes 100× quicker
Community Contributions 35% 53% Supabase has 50% more community involvement
Core Team Focus 65% 46% Appwrite more centrally coordinated
Review Coverage 97% 100% Both maintain excellent standards

The Strategic Trade-offs:

  • Appwrite optimizes for velocity with concentrated expertise and rapid decision-making
  • Supabase prioritizes community engagement with distributed ownership and longer cycles
  • Both achieve high quality through different mechanisms: speed vs. thoroughness

The Appwrite Advantage: Efficiency at Scale

What stands out in Appwrite's metrics is their ability to maintain startup-like agility even as they've grown. Their 28-minute overall wait time combined with 97% review coverage suggests a team that's mastered the art of fast, quality-focused development.

The 65% core team contribution rate isn't a limitation, it's a feature. This concentration allows for rapid iteration, consistent architectural decisions, and the kind of coordinated development that complex backend platforms require.

Conclusion

Appwrite demonstrates that open source projects can achieve remarkable efficiency without sacrificing quality. Their metrics reveal a development culture optimized for speed and precision.

  • Explore Appwrite's collaboration metrics: collab.dev
  • Check out the Appwrite project: GitHub
  • Learn more about collaboration insights: PullFlow

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