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title: Optimize your Firebase Remote Config usage | daily.dev
description: Firebase Remote Config moves to usage-based billing on September 1, 2026, with a no-cost tier covering 100,000 daily fetch requests and a 3-5 month grace...
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# Optimize your Firebase Remote Config usage

**[Firebase](https://daily.dev/sources/firebase-blog)** · 11 min read · 1 upvotes · 1 comments

## Summary

Firebase Remote Config moves to usage-based billing on September 1, 2026, with a no-cost tier covering 100,000 daily fetch requests and a 3-5 month grace period for existing customers exceeding limits. Three optimization strategies are outlined: shifting to a 'fetch for next session' pattern (activate cached values instantly, fetch new ones in the background with a 12-24 hour minimum interval), implementing conditional 'smart' fetching tied to specific user actions rather than broad UI lifecycle events, and pairing longer fetch windows with Realtime Remote Config used strategically for features needing instant updates. Code samples are given for Android, iOS, and Web, plus a sample prompt for auditing a codebase with a coding agent against these practices.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://firebase.blog/posts/2026/08/optimize-remote-config-usage>

## Questions this post answers

### When does Firebase Remote Config switch to usage-based billing and what is the free fetch limit?

Firebase Remote Config adopts usage-based billing on September 1, 2026. The no-cost tier includes 100,000 daily fetch requests and access to all features; projects exceeding this limit move to pay-as-you-go pricing, and existing customers get a 3 to 5-month grace period before charges apply.

_Teams tracking Firebase pricing shifts like this one can follow the details on daily.dev._

### How do I reduce Firebase Remote Config fetch requests using the fetch-for-next-session pattern?

Call activate() immediately on app launch to apply values cached from the previous session with zero network delay, then call fetch() separately in the background with a minimum fetch interval of 12-24+ hours to refresh the cache for the next session. This avoids the fetchAndActivate() anti-pattern of short cache windows causing repeated network calls, cutting a user's 10 daily opens down to a single fetch.

_Developers tuning Firebase Remote Config fetch patterns can keep learning through daily.dev._

### What are the battery and fetch-limit tradeoffs of using Realtime Remote Config listeners?

Realtime Remote Config keeps an open HTTP connection to push instant updates, which increases battery consumption, and every parameter update in the console sends an invalidation signal that triggers a fetch counted against usage limits. Multiple listeners in an app still share a single HTTP connection, but each must be explicitly removed via remove() to close the connection and stop draining battery.

_Engineers weighing realtime config against battery cost can dig deeper via daily.dev._

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@mark\_kazakov** · 0 upvotes

> Great approaches, real time remote config is huge for feature flags and force updates.

## Similar posts on daily.dev

- [Medium](https://daily.dev/posts/medium-jvobby0wg) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

---

Tags: [#mobile](https://daily.dev/tags/mobile), [#firebase](https://daily.dev/tags/firebase)

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