Building a language learning app meant I needed a backend that could handle realtime sync, multilingual support, and type-safe code. I didn’t start with Convex—I evaluated Firebase, PlanetScale, Supabase, Neon, and others first. Each had tradeoffs: Firebase felt disjointed and buggy; PlanetScale lacked international support; Supabase leaned too hard into SQL; and Neon made realtime too complicated.