Bi-directional Offline-First Data Sync with MongoDB and ObjectBox

Bi-directional Offline-First Data Sync with MongoDB and ObjectBox

In today’s fast-paced, decentralized world valuable data is generated by everything, everywhere, and all at once. To harness the vast opportunities offered by this data for data-driven organizations and AI applications, you need to be able to access the data and seamlessly distribute it to when and where it’s needed.

The key to achieving this lies in efficient, offline-first on-device data storage, reliable bi-directional data sync, and a scalable data management backend in the cloud. In other words, you need the infrastructure to manage data flows bi-directionally to tap into fresh data throughout your organization, processes, and applications at the right time.

Together, MongoDB and ObjectBox provide developers with a robust solution to empower seamless workload and data flows on the edge and from the edge to the cloud. ObjectBox seamlessly syncs data bi-directionally across devices even without Internet and syncs back to the cloud and MongoDB when connected. With ObjectBox devices stay in sync also in environments with intermittent connectivity, high latency, or flaky networks. Capture and unlock the value of all your data, anytime, anywhere, without relying on a constant Internet connection, with MongoDB + ObjectBox.

Seamless Offline-First Data Sync for Edge Devices

Maintaining service continuity is essential, even when devices are offline. Your customers, users, operations, and employees need to be able to rely on essential data at all times. That’s where ObjectBox comes in. It comprises of two key components: the ObjectBox Database and ObjectBox Data Sync.

The ObjectBox Database is a lightweight, on-device solution that is highly resource-efficient and fast on restricted hardware like mobile, IoT, and embedded devices, and even in the cloud. 

ObjectBox Data Sync enables seamless bi-directional data synchronization between devices. By handling only incremental changes in a compressed binary format, ObjectBox Sync ensures minimal data transfer, automatic conflict resolution, and a seamless user experience even in fluctuating network conditions. This approach effectively simplifies the development process by offering complex sync logic via easy native-language APIs, allowing developers to focus on core app functionality.

MongoDB Realm Device Sync Replacment

Once a connection is available, ObjectBox Data Sync instantly synchronizes changes with MongoDB, providing real-time, bi-directional data sync between edge devices and MongoDB’s robust cloud backend.

The Benefits of Offline-First and Real-Time Data Sync with MongoDB and ObjectBox:

  • Resource-efficiency & Highspeed: ObjectBox excels at consuming minimal computational resources (CPU, power, memory, …) while delivering data persistence speed that is typically on-par with in-memory caches for read operations.
  • Offline-First Operation: Ensure continuous app performance, even with no internet connection. ObjectBox stores and syncs data bi-directionally on the edge and additionally with MongoDB once connected.
  • Real-Time Data Sync: Get reliable, bi-directional data synchronization across devices and MongoDB, enabling real-time updates and data consistency.
  • Scalable Edge: Easily handle 100k operations / second on a single device. Host the Sync server on any edge device (like a phone) and easily handle 3M clients with a three-node cluster.  
  • Scalable Cloud Backend: With MongoDB, businesses can scale their applications to handle growing data and performance demands, seamlessly syncing data between millions of devices and the cloud.

Flexible Setup Scenarios: Tailor Data Sync to Your Needs

ObjectBox and MongoDB offer flexible setup scenarios to meet different application needs. The two main setup options are the central sync and the edge sync setup.

The Central Sync Setup syncs data between edge devices and MongoDB in the cloud, providing centralized data management while retaining offline-first functionality. The ObjectBox Sync Server runs in the cloud or on-premise.

MongoDB Edge Sync ObjectBox

The Edge Sync Setup allows devices to operate and sync data efficiently offline between ObjectBox instances within an edge, e.g. within one location, or within a car. When reconnected, changes are synchronized back to MongoDB making it ideal for environments with intermittent connectivity or distributed devices that need to function independently while syncing back to the cloud when possible.

MongoDB Sync Cluster Edge ObjectBox

This structure offers a flexible approach to integrating edge and cloud systems, empowering organizations to choose the setup that best fits their specific use case. More details.

Use Cases for MongoDB + ObjectBox :

  1. Data-Driven Organizations: In a data-driven organization, every decision relies on access to relevant, up-to-date data. ObjectBox enables real-time data collection and synchronization from edge devices, ensuring access to critical data, even when devices are intermittently connected. This streamlines operations, improves decision-making, and enhances analysis across distributed teams and IoT systems. With MongoDB’s scalable cloud infrastructure, decentralized data integrates seamlessly with the cloud backend for efficient management.
  2. Point-of-Sale (PoS) & Retail Edge Computing: A seamless customer experience and the ability to keep selling and never lose a transaction, even during internet outages, are essential for PoS systems / in retail. ObjectBox enables offline-first data storage and syncing for PoS systems, allowing transactions to be processed locally, even without internet connectivity. When connectivity returns, ObjectBox syncs transaction data back to MongoDB in real time, ensuring data consistency across multiple locations. Retailers can then leverage MongoDB’s analytics to gain insights into customer behavior and optimize inventory management.
  3. Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) & Connected Cars: Modern vehicles generate vast amounts of data from sensors and onboard systems. ObjectBox enables efficient on-device storage and processing, providing real-time access to data for navigation, diagnostics, and infotainment systems. ObjectBox Data Sync ensures that local data is synced back to MongoDB when connectivity is available, supporting centralized analytics, fleet management, and predictive maintenance, optimizing performance and safety while enhancing the user experience.
  4. Manufacturing & Smart Shopfloor Apps: In smart factories, machines and sensors continuously generate data that must be analyzed and processed in real time. ObjectBox enables local data storage and fast data sync on-premise without the necessity for an Internet connection, ensuring that critical systems that are not connected to the Internet can run smoothly on-site. With a connected instance, ObjectBox takes care of synchronizing this data with the cloud and MongoDB for further analysis and central dashboards.
  5. AI-Applications with On-device Vector Search: ObjectBox is the first and only on-device vector database, empowering developers to run AI locally on mobile, IoT, embedded, and other commodity devices (Edge AI). In combination with a Small Language Model (SLM), this allows developers to build local AI applications (e.g. RAG, genAI) that run directly on the device—without needing a cloud connection. By syncing with MongoDB, businesses can combine the power of on-device AI with centralized cloud data for even greater insights and performance. This is especially beneficial in scenarios requiring real-time decision-making, such as personalized customer experiences and predictive maintenance.

In today’s data-driven world, a data-first strategy requires seamless integration between edge and cloud data management. The combination of MongoDB and ObjectBox unlocks the full potential of your data. MongoDB’s powerful cloud platform, together with ObjectBox’s efficient on-device database and offline-first capabilities, is ideal for capturing the value of your data from anywhere, including distributed edge devices where valuable data is generated all the time. This partnership empowers businesses to seamlessly handle decentralized data, enabling fast and reliable operations at the edge while syncing back to the cloud for centralized management. Whether on IoT devices, mobile, embedded systems, or commodity hardware, ObjectBox and MongoDB ensure optimal performance everywhere. From remote areas to bad networks, our joint solution keeps data flowing reliably between the edge and the MongoDB backend, even when connectivity or nodes are lost.

The rise of small language models (“small LLMs”)

The rise of small language models (“small LLMs”)

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, companies, researchers, and developers are recognizing that bigger isn’t always better. Therefore, the era of ever-expanding model sizes is giving way to more efficient, compact models, so-called Small Language Models (SLMs). SLMs offer several key advantages that address both the growing complexity of AI and the practical challenges of deploying large-scale models. In this article, we’ll explore why the race for larger models is slowing down and how SLMs are emerging as the sustainable solution for the future of AI.

 

 

From Bigger to Better: The End of the Large Model Race

Up until 2023, the focus was on expanding models to unprecedented scales. But the era of creating ever-larger models appears to be coming to an end. Many newer models like Grok or Llama 3 are smaller in size yet maintain or even improve performance compared to models from just a year ago. The drive now is to reduce model size, optimize resources, and maintain power.

The Plateau of Large Language Models (LLMs)

 

2024_12_16_SLMs_2

Why Bigger No Longer Equals Better

As models become larger, developers are realizing that the performance improvements aren’t always worth the additional computational cost. Breakthroughs in knowledge distillation and fine-tuning enable smaller models to compete with and even outperform their larger predecessors in specific tasks. For example, medium-sized models like Llama with 70B parameters and Gemma-2 with 27B parameters are among the top 30 models in the chatbot arena, outperforming even much larger models like GPT-3.5 with 175B parameters.

 

The Shift Towards Small Language Models (SLMs)

In parallel with the optimization of LLMs, the rise of SLMs presents a new trend (see Figure). These models require fewer computational resources, offer faster inference times, and have the potential to run directly on devices. In combination with an on-device database, this enables powerful local GenAI and on-device RAG apps on all kinds of embedded devices, like on mobile phones, Raspberry Pis, commodity laptops, IoT, and robotics.

 

Advantages of SLMs

Despite the growing complexity of AI systems, SLMs offer several key advantages that make them essential in today’s AI landscape:

 

speed-icon

Efficiency and Speed
SLMs are significantly more efficient, needing less computational power to operate. This makes them perfect for resource-constrained environments like edge computing, mobile phones, and IoT systems. This enables quicker response times and more real-time applications. For example, studies show that small models like DistilBERT can retain over 95% of the performance of larger models in some tasks while being 60% smaller and faster to execute.

Accessibility
As SLMs are less resource-hungry (less hardware requirements, less CPU, memory, power needs), they are more accessible for companies and developers with smaller budgets. Because the model and data can be used locally, on-device / on-premise, there is no need for cloud infatstructure and they are also usable for use cases with high privacy requirements. All in all, SLMs democratize AI development and empower smaller teams and individual developers to deploy advanced models on more affordable hardware.

Cost Reduction and Sustainability
Training and deploying large models require immense computational and financial resources, and comes with high operational costs. SLMs drastically reduce the cost of training, deployment, and operation as well as the carbon footprint, making AI more financially and environmentally sustainable.

Gear

Specialization and Fine-tuning
SLMs can be fine-tuned more efficiently for specific applications. They excel in domain-specific tasks because their smaller size allows for faster and more efficient retraining. It makes them ideal for sectors like healthcare, legal document analysis, or customer service automation. For instance, using the ‘distilling step-by-step’ mechanism, a 770M parameter T5 model outperformed a 540B parameter PaLM model using 80% of the benchmark dataset, showcasing the power of specialized training techniques with a much smaller model size

Gear

On-Device AI for Privacy and Security
SLMs are becoming compact enough for deployment on edge devices like smartphones, IoT sensors, and wearable tech. This reduces the need for sensitive data to be sent to external servers, ensuring that user data stays local. With the rise of on-device vector databases, SLMs can now handle use-case-specific, personal, and private data directly on the device. This allows more advanced AI apps, like those using RAG, to interact with personal documents and perform tasks without sending data to the cloud. With a local, on-device  vector database users get personalized, secure AI experiences while keeping their data private.

 The Future: Fit-for-Purpose Models: From Tiny to Small to Large Language models

 The future of AI will likely see the rise of models that are neither massive nor minimal but fit-for-purpose. This “right-sizing” reflects a broader shift toward models that balance scale with practicality. SLMs are becoming the go-to choice for environments where specialization is key and resources are limited. Medium-sized models (20-70 billion parameters) are becoming the standard choice for balancing computational efficiency and performance on general AI tasks. At the same time, SLMs are proving their worth in areas that require low latency and high privacy.

Innovations in model compression, parameter-efficient fine-tuning, and new architecture designs are enabling these smaller models to match or even outperform their predecessors. The focus on optimization rather than expansion will continue to be the driving force behind AI development in the coming years.

 

 Conclusion: Scaling Smart is the New Paradigm

 

As the field of AI moves beyond the era of “bigger is better,” SLMs and medium-sized models are becoming more important than ever. These models represent the future of scalable and efficient AI. They serve as the workhorses of an industry that is looking to balance performance with sustainability and efficiency. The focus on smaller, more optimized models demonstrates that innovation in AI isn’t just about scaling up; it’s about scaling smart.

MongoDB Realm & Device Sync alternatives – ObjectBox

MongoDB Realm & Device Sync alternatives – ObjectBox

With the recent deprecation of MongoDB Realm’s Device Sync feature, many developers need a reliable alternative for data synchronization in their applications. MongoDB announced that end-of-life for Atlas Data API, Custom HTTPS Endpoints, Atlas Device Sync (Realm Device Sync), Atlas Device SDKs (Realm), Atlas Data Lake (Preview) is only on the 30th of Sep 2025. And there are alternatives. For one, there is ObjectBox, a powerful and highly efficient Edge database with out-of-the-box Data Sync. We’re working on delivering all the functionalities and features you need and make ObjectBox a drop-in replacement for Mongo Device Sync asap. Please help us prioritize the most important things by filling out our questionnaire.

Now, let’s have a look at what ObjectBox can offer:

High-performance on-device database

ObjectBox is designed from the ground up for resource-efficiency and performance. It offers superfast database operations (CRUD: Create, Read, Update, Delete), often outperforming other database solutions, including Mongo Realm. However, we all know benchmarking is hard and it depends on the use case. So, check out our open-source benchmarks and make up your mind yourself. 

Migration with native language APIs

While we do hope that our intuitive native-language APIs (Swift, Java/Kotlin, C/C++, Flutter / Dart, Python) and setup are straightforward and quick for anyone to adapt, we are also listening to you and willing to invest in making the migration easier. Reach out to us with your feedback.

2024 CRUD performance ObjectBox Android

Cross-Platform Support

Like Mongo Realm, ObjectBox supports any POSIX system, including Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, and MacOS. This cross-platform compatibility ensures that you can maintain a consistent data layer across all your applications.

Efficient Sync Solution

ObjectBox offers its own Data Sync (ObjectBox Sync), which provides reliable and efficient data syncing between devices and servers. This feature is the one you are looking for if you relied on Realm’s Device Sync capabilities. ObjectBox was built with Data Sync in mind. We do have a cluster-mode that has been heavily tested for efficiency and reliability by industrial customers. We can handle millions of concurrent connections while providing realtime synchronization.

Offline-First Approach

ObjectBox embraces an offline-first architecture, allowing your apps to work seamlessly without an internet connection. Data is stored locally and can be synced between devices when offline or synced back to, e.g., a cloud once a connection becomes available again, ensuring a smooth user experience in various network conditions.

Active Development and Support

Unlike MongoDB Realm Device Sync (Atlas Device Sync), which is now deprecated, ObjectBox is actively developed and supported. This means you’ll benefit from regular updates, bug fixes, and new features, ensuring your data management solution remains robust and up-to-date.

Vector Search

We recently extended our database to become the very first on-device vector database enabling on-device AI (e.g. RAG, genAI, more efficient AI) on Mobile, IoT, and other embedded devices, see the vector search docs here. While extending our offering to serve MongoDB Realm customers wanting to migrate is the priority now, we’ll be extending Data Sync to synchronize vector embeddings next year too.

Conclusion

As MongoDB Realm’s Device Sync reaches its end of life, now is the perfect time to explore alternatives that cannot only replace but potentially enhance your app’s data management capabilities. To learn more about how ObjectBox can help you transition from Realm, visit the ObjectBox docs or schedule a call.

Local AI Explained: Fast, Private, and On Your Device

Local AI Explained: Fast, Private, and On Your Device

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of our daily lives in recent years. However, it has been tied to running in huge, centralized cloud data centers. This year, “local AI”, also known as “on-device AI” or “Edge AI”, is gaining momentum. Local vector databases, efficient language models (so-called Small Language Models (SLMs)), and AI algorithms are becoming smaller, more efficient, and better. As a result, they can now run on a wide variety of devices, locally.

Figure 1. Evolution of language model’s size with time. Large language models (LLMs) are marked as celadon circles, and small language models (SLMs) as blue ones.

What is Local AI (on-device AI, Edge AI)?

Local AI refers to running AI applications directly on a device, locally, instead of relying on (distant) cloud servers. On-device AI works directly on commodity hardware (e.g. old PCs), consumer devices (e.g. smartphones, wearables), and other types of embedded devices (e.g. robots and point-of-sale (POS) systems used in shops and restaurants). As we see in Figure 2, interest in local Artificial Intelligence (terms: Edge AI, Local AI, on-device AI, and tiny ML) and in Vector Databases is surging.
And for good reason.

Local AI, Edge AI, on-device AI, mobile AI on Google Trends (until Sep 2025)

Why use Local AI: Benefits

Local AI addresses many of the concerns and challenges of current cloud-based AI applications. Benefits of local AI are: 

  • Privacy / Data SecurityData stays on the device and under one’s control
  • Accessibility – SLM trainings and model use are way more affordable, they can work on all kinds of hardware, and independently from an internet connection (offline), making AI truly accessible for everyone
  • Sustainability – AI consumes significantly less energy compared to cloud setups

On top, local AI reduces:

  • Latency, enabling real-time apps
  • data transmission and cloud costs, enabling commodity business cases
Why use Local AI - infographic
Why use Local AI infographic

In short: By leveraging the power of Edge Computing and on-device processing, local AI can unlock new possibilities for a wide range of applications, from consumer applications to industrial automation to healthcare.

Local AI for Privacy: Keep Data Secure and Compliant with GDPR & HIPAA

In a world where data privacy concerns are increasing, local AI offers a solution. Since data is processed directly on the device, sensitive information remains local, minimizing the risk of breaches or misuse of personal data. No need for data sharing and data ownership is clear. This is the key to using AI responsibly in industries like healthcare, where sensitive data needs to be processed and used without being sent to external servers. For example, medical data analysis or diagnostic tools can run locally on a doctor’s device and be synchronized to other on-premise, local devices (like e.g. PCs, on-premise servers, specific medical equipment) as needed. This ensures that patient data never leaves the clinic, and data processing is compliant with strict privacy regulations like GDPR or HIPAA.

Local AI for Accessibility: AI for Anyone, Anytime

One of the most significant advantages of local AI is its ability to function without an internet connection. This opens up a world of opportunities for users in remote locations or those with unreliable connectivity. Imagine having access to language translation, image recognition, or predictive text tools on your phone without needing to connect to the internet. Or a point-of-sale (POS) system in a retail store that operates seamlessly, even when there’s no internet. These AI-powered systems can still analyze customer buying habits, manage inventory, or suggest product recommendations offline, ensuring businesses don’t lose operational efficiency due to connectivity issues. Local AI makes this a reality. In combination with little hardware requirements, it makes AI accessible to anyone, anytime. Therefore, local AI is an integral ingredient in making AI more inclusive and to democratize AI.

Local AI for Sustainability: Energy Efficiency

Cloud-based AI requires massive server farms that consume enormous amounts of energy. Despite strong efficiency improvements, in 2022, data centers globally consumed between 240 and 340 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity. To put this in perspective, data centers now use more electricity than entire countries like Argentina or Egypt. This growing energy demand places considerable pressure on global energy resources and contributes to around 1% of energy-related CO2 emissions.

The rise of AI has amplified these trends. According to McKinsey, the demand for data center capacity is projected to grow by over 20% annually, reaching approximately 300GW by 2030, with 70% of this capacity dedicated to hosting AI workloads. Gartner even predicts that by 2025, “AI will consume more energy than the human workforce”. AI workloads alone could drive a 160% increase in data center energy demand by 2030, with some estimates suggesting that AI could consume 500% more energy in the UK than it does today. By that time, data centers may account for up to 8% of total energy consumption in the United States.

In contrast, local AI presents a more sustainable alternative, e.g. by leveraging Small Language Models, which require less power to train and run. Since computations happen directly on the device, local AI significantly reduces the need for constant data transmission and large-scale server infrastructure. This not only lowers energy use but also helps decrease the overall carbon footprint. Additionally, integrating a local vector database can further enhance efficiency by minimizing reliance on power-hungry data centers, contributing to more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technology solutions.

When to use Local AI / Edge AI: Use case examples

Local AI enables an infinite number of new use cases. Thanks to advancements in AI models and vector databases, AI apps can be run cost-effectively on less capable hardware, e.g. commodity PCs, without the need for an internet connection and data sharing. This opens up the opportunity for offline AI, real-time AI, and private AI applications on a wide variety of devices.

From smartphones and smartwatches to industrial equipment and even cars, local AI is becoming accessible to a broad range of users. 

  • Consumer Use Cases (B2C): Everyday apps like photo editors, voice assistants, and fitness trackers can integrate AI to offer faster and more personalized services (local RAG), or integrate generative AI capabilities. 
  • Business Use Cases (B2B): Retailers, manufacturers, and service providers can use local AI for data analysis, process automation, and real-time decision-making, even in offline environments. This improves efficiency and user experience without needing constant cloud connectivity.
Local AI / Edge AI B2B and B2C Use Cases
Local AI / Edge AI B2B and B2C Use Cases

Conclusion

Local AI is a powerful alternative to cloud-based solutions, making AI more accessible, private, and sustainable. With Small Language Models and on-device vector databases like ObjectBox, it is now possible to bring AI onto everyday devices. From the individual user who is looking for convenient, always-available tools to large businesses seeking to improve operations and create new services without relying on the cloud – local AI is transforming how we interact with technology everywhere.

SQLite and SQLite alternatives – a comprehensive overview

SQLite and SQLite alternatives – a comprehensive overview

SQLite and SQLite alternatives - databases for the Mobile and IoT edge

Overview of SQLite and SQLite alternatives as part of the mobile / edge database market with a comprehensive comparison matrix (last updated autumn 2024)

Digitalization is still on the rise, as is the number of connected devices (from 13 billion connected IoT devices + 15 billion mobile devices operating in 2021 already). Data volumes are growing accordingly ( 3.5 quintillion bytes of data is produced daily in 2023), and centralised (typically cloud-based) computing canbot support all the current needs. This has led to a shift from the cloud to the edge

Therefore, there is a renewed need for on-device databases like SQLite and SQLite alternatives to persist and manage data on edge devices. On top, due to the distributed nature of the edge, there is a need to manage data flows to / from and between edge devices. This can be done with Edge Databases that provide a Data Sync functionality (SQLite alternatives only, as SQLite doesn’t support this).  Below, we’ll take a close look at SQLite and its alternatives with consideration of today’s needs.

Databases for the Edge

While being quite an established market with many players, the database market is still growing consistently and significantly. The reason is that databases are at the core of almost any digital solution, and directly impact business value and therefore never going out of fashion. With the rapid evolvements in the tech industry, however, databases evolve too. This, in turn, yields new database types and categories. We have seen the rise of NoSQL databases in the last 20 years, and more recently some novel database technologies, like graph databases and time-series databases, and vector databases.

With AI and accordingly vector databases being all the hype since 2022/2023, the database market is indeed experiencing fresh attention. Due to the speed with which AI is evolving, we’re however already leaving the “mainframe era of AI” and entering the distributed Edge AI space. With SQLite not supporting vector search and related vector database functions, this adds a new dimension to this ever-present topic. There is a need for local, on-device vector databases to support on-device AI that’s independent of an Internet connection, reliably fast, and keeps data on the device (100% private). 

We’re expecting vector databases that run locally on a wide variety of devices (aka Edge Vector Databases) to become the next big thing, surpassing even what we have seen happening in the server vector database space. And we wouldn’t be astonished if the synchronizing of vector data is a game changer for Edge AI. Time will tell 😉


Both, the shift back from a centralised towards a decentralised paradigm, and the growing number of restricted devices call for a “new type” of an established database paradigm. SQLite has been around for more than 20 years and for good reason, but the current market shift back to decentralized computing happens in a new environment with new requirements. Hence, the need for a “new” database type, based on a well-established database type: “Edge databases”. Accordingly, a need for SQLite alternatives that consider the need for decentralized data flows and AI functionalities (depending on the use case of course; after all SQLite is a great database).

database-evolution-towards-edge-vector-databases
What is an Edge Database?

Edge databases are a type of databases that are optimised for local data storage on restricted devices, like embedded devices, Mobile, and IoT. Because they run on-device, they need to be especially resource-efficient (e.g. with regards to battery use, CPU consumption, memory, and footprint). The term “edge database” is becoming more widely-used every year, especially in the IoT industry. In IoT, the difference between cloud-based databases and ones that run locally (and therefore support Edge Computing) is crucial.

What is a Mobile Database?

We look at mobile databases as a subset of edge databases that run on mobile devices. The difference between the two terms lies mainly in the supported operating systems / types of devices. Unless Android and iOS are supported, an edge database is not really suited for the mobile device / smartphone market. In this article, we will use the term “mobile database” only as “database that runs locally on a mobile (edge) device and stores data on the device”. Therefore, we also refer to it as an “on-device” database.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of working with SQLite?

SQLite is a relational database that is clearly the most established database suitable to run on edge devices. Moreover, it is probably the only “established” mobile database. It was designed in 2000 by Richard Hipp and has been embedded with iOS and Android since the beginning. Now let’s have a quick look at its main advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages  Disadvantages
  • 20+ years old (should be stable ;))
  • Toolchain, e.g. DB browser
  • No dependencies, is included with Android and iOS
  • Developers can define exactly the data schema they want
  • Full control, e.g. handwritten SQL queries
  • SQL is a powerful and established query language, and SQLite supports most of it
  • Debuggable data: developers can grab the database file and analyse it
  • 20+ years old ( less state-of-the-art tech)
  • Using SQLite means a lot of boilerplate code and thus inefficiencies ( maintaining long running apps can be quite painful)
  • No compile time checks (e.g. SQL queries)
  • SQL is another language to master, and can impact your app’s efficiency / performance significantly…
  • The performance of SQLite is unreliable
  • SQL queries can get long and complicated
  • Testability (how to mock a database?)
  • Especially when database views are involved, maintainability may suffer with SQLite

 

What are the SQLite alternatives?

There are a bunch of options for making your life easier, if you want to use SQLite. You can use an object abstraction on top of it, an object-Relational-Mapper (ORM), for instance greenDAO, to avoid writing lots of SQL. However, you will typically still need to learn SQL and SQLite at some point. So what you really want is a full blown database alternative, like any of these: Couchbase Lite, Interbase, LevelDB, ObjectBox, Oracle Berkeley DB, Mongo Realm, SnappyDB, SQL Anywhere, or UnQLite.

While SQLite really is designed for small devices, people do run it on the server / cloud too. Actually, any database that runs efficiently locally, will be highly efficient on big servers too, making them a sustainable lightweight choice for some scenarios. However, for server / cloud databases, there are a lot of alternatives you can use as a replacement like e.g. MySQL, MongoDB, or Cloud Firestore.

Bear in mind that, if you are looking to host your database in the cloud with apps running on small distributed devices (e.g. mobile apps, IoT apps, any apps on embedded devices etc.), there are some difficulties. Firstly, this will result in higher latency, i.e. slow response-rates. Secondly, the offline capabilities will be highly limited or absent. As a result, you might have to deal with increased networking costs, which is not only reflected in dollars, but also CO2 emissions. On top, it means all the data from all the different app users is stored in one central place. This means that any kind of data breach will affect all your and your users’ data. Most importantly, you will likely be giving your cloud / database provider rights to that data. (Consider reading the general terms diligently). If you care about privacy and data ownership, you might therefore want to consider a local database option, as in an Edge Database. This way you can decide, possibly limit, what data you sync to a central instance (like the cloud or an on-premise server).

SQLite alternatives Comparison Matrix

To give you an overview, we have compiled a comparison table including SQLite and SQLite alternatives. In this matrix we look at databases that we believe are apt to run on edge devices. Our rule of thumb is the databases’ ability to run on Raspberry Pi type size devices. If you’re reading this on mobile, click here to view the full matrix.

Edge Database Short description License / business model Android / iOS* Type of data stored Central Data Sync P2P Data Sync Offline Sync (Edge) Data level encryption Flutter / Dart support Vector Database (AI support) Minimum Footprint size Company
SQLite C programming library; probably still 90% market share in the small devices space (personal assumption) Public domain embedded on iOS and Android Relational No No No No, but option to use SQLCipher to encrypt SQLite Flutter plugins (ORMs) for SQLite, but nothing from Hwaci No, but various early & unofficial extensions are available < 1 MB Hwaci
Couchbase Mobile / Lite Embedded / portable database with P2P and central synchronization (sync) support; pricing upon request; some restrictions apply for the free version. Secure SSL. Partly proprietary, partly open-source, Couchbase Lite is BSL 1.1 Android / iOS JSON Documents / NoSQL db Yes Yes No Database encryption with SQLCipher (256-bit AES) Unofficial Flutter plugin for Couchbase Lite Community Edition No < 3,5 MB Couchbase
InterBase ToGo / IBLite Embeddable SQL database. Proprietary Android / iOS Relational No No No 256 bit AES strength encryption No No < 1 MB Embarcadero
LevelDB Portable lightweight key-value store, NoSQL, no index support; benchmarks from 2011 have been removed unfortunately New BSD Android / iOS Key-value pairs / NoSQL db No No No No Unofficial client that is very badly rated No < 1 MB LevelDB Team
LiteDB A .Net embedded NoSQL database MIT license Android / iOS (with Xamarin only) NoSQL document store, fully wirtten in .Net No No No Salted AES No No < 1 MB LiteDB team
Realm DB  Embedded object database  Apache 2.0 Android / iOS Object Database deprecated No deprecated Yes Yes No 5 MB+ Acquired by MongoDB in 2019, Data Sync deprecated in 2024; DB still available as open source, not maintained
ObjectBox NoSQL Edge Vector Database with out-of-the-box Data Sync for Mobile and IoT; fully ACID compliant; benchmarks available as open source. Open Core (plus Apache 2.0 bindings) Android / iOS / Linux / Windows / any POSIX Object-oriented NoSQL edge database for high-performance on edge devices in Mobile and IoT Yes WIP Yes transport encryption; additional encryption upon request Yes First local vector database fo on-device Edge AI released May 2024 < 1 MB ObjectBox
Oracle Database Lite Portable with P2P and central sync support as well as support for sync with SQLite Proprietary Android / iOS Relational Yes Yes No 128-bit AES Standard encrytion No No < 1 MB Oracle Corporation
SQL Anywhere Embedded / portable database with central snyc support with a stationary database, pricing now available here Proprietary Android / iOS Relational Yes, tied to using other SAP tech though (we believe) No No AES-FIPS cipher encryption for full database or selected tables No No   SAP (originally Sybase)
UnQLite Portable lightweight embedded db; self-contained C library without dependency. 2-Clause BSD Android / iOS Key-value pairs / JSON store / NoSQL db No No No 128-bit or 256-bit AES standard encryption not yet; might be coming though; there was a 0.0.1 released some time ago No ~ 1.5 MB Symisc systems
extremeDB Embedded relational database Proprietary iOS In-memory relational DB, hybrid persistence No No No AES encryption No No < 1 MB McObject LLC
redis DB High-performance in-memory Key Value store with optional durability Three clause BSD license, RSAL and Proprietary No K/V in-memory store, typically used as cache No No No TLS/SSL-based encryption can be enabled for data in motion. Unofficial redis Dart client available No on-device vector database, but cloud vector support An empty instance uses ~ 3MB of memory redislabs (the original author of redis left in 2020)
Azure SQL Edge  Designed as a SQL database for the IoT edge; however, due to the footprint it is no Edge Database Proprietary No Relational DB for IoT No No No will provide encryption No Not on-device 500 MB+ Microsoft

If you are interested in an indication of the diffusion rate of databases, check out the following database popularity ranking: http://db-engines.com/en/ran. If you are interested to learn more about SQLite, there is a great Podcast interview with Richard Hipp that is worthwhile listening to.

Is there anything we’ve missed? What do you agree and disagree with? Please share your thoughts with us via Twitter or email us on contact[at]objectbox.io. 

Make sure to check out the ObjectBox Database & try out ObjectBox Sync. You can get started in minutes and it’s perfect if you are using an object-oriented programming language, as it empowers you to work with your objects within the database. More than 1,000,000 developers already use this Edge Database designed specifically for high performance on small, connected, embedded devices.