Explore Formbricks' journey, an open-source survey platform, as they effectively tackled scalability challenges with Prisma Accelerate. Learn how they strategically integrated it to manage growing user demands and maintained high performance.
The genesis of Formbricks
Formbricks began with a clear vision: to provide a free, open-source surveying platform that empowers businesses to gather feedback seamlessly at every point in the user journey. From in-app and website surveys to link and email questionnaires, Formbricks offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed for beautiful, effective user engagement.
Formbricks isn't just about collecting data; it's about crafting exceptional user experiences. With its privacy-first approach, Formbricks stands as both a survey platform and an experience management powerhouse. Users can leverage the Formbricks Insight Platform for prebuilt data analysis capabilities or build upon it to create tailored solutions.
Addressing Formbricks' scalability needs
Formbricks' decision to use Prisma Accelerate was driven by a critical need to manage their growing user base efficiently. Deploying their cloud version on Vercel with a serverless backend, they soon encountered scalability issues, notably exceeding their connection pool size and facing performance bottlenecks. This led them to explore solutions that could handle their expanding scale.
Prisma's blog post about their connection pool solution with serverless functions caught their attention. While similar services were available, like AWS's RDS Proxy, the cost for these were determined to be prohibitively high. Prisma Accelerate, in contrast, offered an accessible and cost-effective solution. Its low entry barrier made it an attractive option for a platform like Formbricks, operating in a serverless environment.
Implementing Prisma Accelerate
The implementation of Prisma Accelerate came at a crucial time. Formbricks had just experienced a significant spike in usage, leading to a database failure and a high load on their servers. This incident highlighted the need for a more robust solution.
The transition to Prisma Accelerate happened during a night of intense work, set against the backdrop of trying to fix a failing database at 3 a.m. in South Korea. Despite the challenging circumstances, setting up Accelerate was straightforward.
It's also possible to set up Accelerate when you're totally tired at 3 a.m. in the morning. The process was pretty straightforward – created an account, replaced the connection string, and connected the database on the Prisma Accelerate website. It was easy and worked out, even under those high-pressure circumstances.
The impact of Prisma Accelerate
Integrating Prisma Accelerate has been a game-changer for Formbricks, particularly in enhancing their serverless backend architecture. This integration has effectively resolved the scalability challenges associated with their growing user base. The scalable connection pool feature of Prisma Accelerate is especially beneficial in the serverless environment, where it ensures efficient management of numerous database connections, maintaining high performance even during traffic surges.
For Formbricks, a platform where real-time user feedback is crucial, the ability to handle large volumes of data smoothly is key. While they don’t yet utilise the global edge caching feature, Prisma Accelerate’s connection pooling has been instrumental in providing a reliable and responsive service. This has enabled Formbricks to focus on their primary objective: delivering a seamless user experience in their feedback and survey platform.
Looking ahead
Formbricks' journey with Prisma Accelerate is a clear example of how the right technological partnership alongside solving immediate problems, can set a foundation for future growth and stability. As they continue to evolve and expand, the scalability and efficiency provided by Prisma Accelerate will remain a key component of their success.
Interested in trying Prisma Accelerate for yourself? Head over to our Platform Console to get started!
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