Appwrite is an open-source backend platform: Auth, Databases, Storage, Functions, Realtime, Messaging, and hosting for sites. You can build against Appwrite Cloud or run the same stack self-hosted.

You use it as the server side for your app: user sign-in, persisted data, file uploads, scheduled or event-driven logic, notifications, and live updates, exposed over APIs and SDKs so your client or server code stays thin. Browse products for what each service covers.

Appwrite is framework-agnostic: you call it from the browser or server with an SDK or plain HTTP. Pick a quick start for your stack (for example React or Next.js), or follow a full tutorial if you prefer a guided build.

Use Quick starts to connect a project in minutes. Use Tutorials for end-to-end apps. When you need exact request shapes and types, open the API references for your SDK and runtime.

Appwrite Cloud is the convenient option: we run the stack, ship upgrades, and you pay a predictable subscription. Self-hosting suits strict regulation, full data residency, air-gapped networks, or when you prefer to pay with engineering time instead of a managed service fee, but you operate the cluster yourself: you plan version upgrades and data migrations between releases (including backups and rollback), instead of Appwrite doing that for you. The product surface is aligned either way; see self-hosting and compare pricing with your ops cost.

Open API references for REST payloads, GraphQL, and Realtime, organized by platform (web, mobile, server). The SDKs page lists official client and server libraries.

Ask the community on Discord, check support for product help options, and use GitHub issues for reproducible bugs in the open-source server.