Firebase

Pros

• Maybe try firebase, they have a free tier as well.
• The next challenges for you will be cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Firebase, Cloudflare, Azure)
• Go React/Next.js with Supabase or Firebase for auth, storage, and feeds.
• Supabase might work for you, maybe even Firebase if you are not opposed to BasS. It would deal with a lot of the heavy lifting for you.
• You don't really need to build all this yourself, you should learn about graphql and subscriptions to data, similar subscription to data available in firebase. There is no more need to do this manually using socket io

Cons

• also try adding some analytics like firebase for tracking what users actually do
• Firebase feels like handcuffs after a while.
• I am using Firebase currently. But it’s a nightmare to deal with syncing client/server sessions and is clunky. Also, massive vendor lock in. I’d like to move away.
• Using Firebase with emulator works OK, but: * Social auth (Google, GitHub) with popups/redirects is problematic
• I didn’t want to set up a whole CMS or hook it up to Firebase/Supabase/Mongodb — it felt like massive overkill.