--- title: Easier scaling with multi-database support! | daily.dev description: Firebase Realtime Database now supports multiple database instances within a single project, making it easier to scale by sharding data without managing... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/easier-scaling-with-multi-database-support--56tywiigu twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Easier scaling with multi-database support! | daily.dev og:description: Firebase Realtime Database now supports multiple database instances within a single project, making it easier to scale by sharding data without managing... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/easier-scaling-with-multi-database-support--56tywiigu og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/56tYwiIGU.png og:image:alt: Easier scaling with multi-database support! og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Easier scaling with multi-database support! **[Firebase](https://daily.dev/sources/firebase-blog)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Firebase Realtime Database now supports multiple database instances within a single project, making it easier to scale by sharding data without managing separate projects or custom authentication. Databases within the same project share the same authentication session, each has its own security rules, and Cloud Functions can trigger off specific database instances. Existing apps need to upgrade SDKs (Node admin 5.5.0+, firebase-functions 0.7.3+) to use the feature. The post outlines sharding strategies such as master shard mapping, bucketing by data type, and per-customer databases, and requires the Blaze plan to get started. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I access a secondary Firebase Realtime Database instance from a single project? Create additional database instances within the same Firebase project using the console's triple-dot icon, then reference them with an absolute URL when calling app.database(), for example app.database("https://multi-db501c7.firebaseio.com/"). This requires the Blaze plan and lets you shard data without creating separate projects or managing separate authentication. _Developers scaling Firebase apps can track platform changes like this on daily.dev._ ### What SDK version do I need to use Firebase multi-database support with Cloud Functions? You need at least version 5.5.0 of the Node admin SDK and at least version 0.7.3 of firebase-functions for multi-database support to work in Cloud Functions. Existing apps built before this feature launched must upgrade to these versions, otherwise referencing a secondary database instance will fail. _daily.dev helps developers stay ahead of SDK version bumps before they break production._ ### What strategies can I use to shard a Firebase Realtime Database? Three common approaches exist: a master shard that maps keys to the database where their data lives, bucketing where data types like users, messages, and receipts each get their own database, and per-customer databases for multi-tenant apps so an outage or heavy load on one customer's database doesn't affect others. Each shard has independent security rules and cannot read another shard's data during rule evaluation. _Teams evaluating database scaling strategies can follow architecture discussions like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How to Use Dart Cloud Functions and the Firebase Admin SDK: A Handbook for Developers](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-dart-cloud-functions-and-the-firebase-admin-sdk-a-handbook-for-developers-ailkvowjb) · freeCodeCamp · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#infrastructure](https://daily.dev/tags/infrastructure), [#firebase](https://daily.dev/tags/firebase), [#gcp-cloud-functions](https://daily.dev/tags/gcp-cloud-functions) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/easier-scaling-with-multi-database-support--56tywiigu) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Easier scaling with multi-database support!","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/easier-scaling-with-multi-database-support--56tywiigu","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/easier-scaling-with-multi-database-support--56tywiigu"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T12:18:22.977Z","dateModified":"2026-08-23T12:28:25.659Z","description":"Firebase Realtime Database now supports multiple database instances within a single project, making it easier to scale by sharding data without managing...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7ed721de96163685d26ab7e314be3ebc?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7ed721de96163685d26ab7e314be3ebc?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Firebase","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Firebase","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--i395oqZH--/f_auto,q_auto/v1787487448/logos/firebase-blog?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/firebase-blog"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/easier-scaling-with-multi-database-support--56tywiigu","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"infrastructure,firebase,gcp-cloud-functions","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Firebase","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/firebase-blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Easier scaling with multi-database support!"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/easier-scaling-with-multi-database-support--56tywiigu#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I access a secondary Firebase Realtime Database instance from a single project?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Create additional database instances within the same Firebase project using the console's triple-dot icon, then reference them with an absolute URL when calling app.database(), for example app.database(\"https://multi-db501c7.firebaseio.com/\"). This requires the Blaze plan and lets you shard data without creating separate projects or managing separate authentication. Developers scaling Firebase apps can track platform changes like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What SDK version do I need to use Firebase multi-database support with Cloud Functions?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"You need at least version 5.5.0 of the Node admin SDK and at least version 0.7.3 of firebase-functions for multi-database support to work in Cloud Functions. 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