Overview

Firebase

Stacks42.2K

Followers36.0K

Votes2.0K

Realm

Stacks269

Followers441

Votes16

Firebase vs Realm: What are the differences?

Introduction

Firebase and Realm are both popular tools for building and managing databases in mobile and web applications. While they serve similar purposes, there are key differences between the two.

Integrations and Data Sources: Firebase supports a wide range of integrations with other Google products, as well as various data sources such as Cloud Firestore and Realtime Database. On the other hand, Realm primarily focuses on mobile platforms and offers easy integration with mobile operating systems like iOS and Android, with support for offline capabilities.
Data Synchronization: Firebase provides real-time data synchronization out of the box, allowing multiple users to simultaneously access and update the same data. Realm also offers real-time synchronization, but it utilizes its own synchronization protocol called Realm Sync, which provides a more seamless and efficient experience, especially with large datasets.
Query Capabilities: Firebase offers a flexible and powerful querying system with its Firestore, allowing developers to filter, sort, and paginate data effortlessly. Realm, on the other hand, provides efficient query capabilities, particularly when working with large amounts of data on mobile devices. Its queries are based on its own query language called Realm Query Language (RQL), which is easy to use and highly performant.
Data Modeling and Schema: Firebase provides a schema-less structure, allowing developers to store and retrieve data without predefined schemas. This provides more flexibility but may also result in less control over data consistency and validation. Realm, on the other hand, utilizes an object-oriented approach and enforces a predefined schema, allowing for stronger data consistency and integrity.
Deployment and Pricing: Firebase offers a robust infrastructure and easy deployment options through Google Cloud Platform. It provides both free and paid plans, with pricing based on usage and additional features. Realm, on the other hand, can be deployed on-premises or on any cloud provider. It offers a Community Edition for free, as well as a paid Enterprise Edition with additional features and support.
Developer Community and Ecosystem: Firebase has a large and active developer community, offering extensive documentation, tutorials, and support resources. It integrates well with other Google services and has a wide range of third-party libraries and tools. Realm also has a growing developer community, with comprehensive documentation and support resources. It offers a rich ecosystem of open-source libraries and frameworks for various platforms.

In summary, Firebase provides extensive integrations, real-time synchronization, powerful querying capabilities, flexible data modeling, easy deployment options, and a large developer community. Realm, on the other hand, focuses on mobile platforms, offers efficient synchronization and querying, enforces a predefined schema, provides flexible deployment options, and has a growing developer community.

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Advice on Firebase, Realm

Jared

Contractor at Insight Global

Aug 9, 2019

Reviewon

Firebase

I started using Firebase over 5 years ago because of the 'real-time' nature. I originally used to use Real Time Database, but now I use Cloud Firestore. I recommend using the Google Firebase PaaS to quickly develop or prototype small to enterprise level web/mobile applications. Since Google purchased Firebase, it has exploded and it growing rapidly. I also find some level of comfort that it is Backed by Google.

271k views271k

Comments

Noam

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceon

Node.js

ExpressJS

React

We are starting to work on a web-based platform aiming to connect artists (clients) and professional freelancers (service providers). In-app, timeline-based, real-time communication between users (& storing it), file transfers, and push notifications are essential core features. We are considering using Node.js, ExpressJS, React, MongoDB stack with Socket.IO & Apollo, or maybe using Real-Time Database and functionalities of Firebase.

1.15M views1.15M

Comments

Pawel

Jul 17, 2020

Needs adviceon

Mailchimp

Mixpanel

Firebase

Hi,

I am in the process of building a mobile application and releasing it to the AppStore. Currently, we're in a TestFlight Beta with ~ 1500 users with a front-end only native iOS app. Before releasing it to production, we would like to add the following functionalities:

User email authentication
Being able to store and synchronise individual user's data ( generated while interacting with the app each day -> "user session" ) between various devices
Having user session data ( anonymized ) available for an admin via a visual interface for querying, generating insights
Simple crud interface for remote configs
a/b testing
GDPR requirements ( e.g. workflows for removing or exporting user data, ideally a way to keep the anonymized data too )
Integration with 3rd party services like Mailchimp or Mixpanel ( which we already use, data is sent directly from the app )

Would appreciate any help with finding the right solution for this case given:

Costs (we don't expect large media files storage)
Flexibility to add new features related to the backend in the future
Infra setup and maintenance

What I've been thinking so far was one of: 1. BaaS AWS/Firebase 2. Custom backend with PostgreSQL 3. PaaS of a Realm type (mobile app already uses Realm for local persistence)

Thanks!

241k views241k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Firebase	Realm
Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications. Simply add the Firebase library to your application to gain access to a shared data structure; any changes you make to that data are automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients within milliseconds.	The Realm Mobile Platform is a next-generation data layer for applications. Realm is reactive, concurrent, and lightweight, allowing you to work with live, native objects.
Add the Firebase library to your app and get access to a shared data structure. Any changes made to that data are automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients within milliseconds.;Firebase apps can be written entirely with client-side code, update in real-time out-of-the-box, interoperate well with existing services, scale automatically, and provide strong data security.;Data Accessibility- Data is stored as JSON in Firebase. Every piece of data has its own URL which can be used in Firebase's client libraries and as a REST endpoint. These URLs can also be entered into a browser to view the data and watch it update in real-time.;Real-time Synchronization- Firebase takes a new approach to the way data is moved around an app. Rather than using a traditional request & response model, it works by synchronizing data between devices. Whenever your data changes, all clients are immediately notified within milliseconds. The synchronized data is also persisted, allowing new clients to be immediately updated.;First-class Data Security- Traditional applications intermix security code with application code, whereas Firebase treats security as a first-class feature. You define your security policies in one place using a flexible rules language, and Firebase ensures that they are consistently enforced across all parts of your application. Having all your security logic in one place allows for easy auditing and helps you avoid security mistakes. The safety and security of your data is our top priority.;Automatic Scaling- The Firebase API is built from the ground up for performance and scale. Whenever your data changes, Firebase calculates the minimum set of updates required to keep all your clients in sync. In addition, all Firebase API functions are designed to scale linearly with the size of the data being synchronized. More importantly, Firebase handles all of the scaling and operations for you. Your app will scale from its first user to its first million without any code changes.;Servers are Optional- Firebase can provide all of the data storage, control, and transmission needs of most apps. In many cases, Firebase can completely replace your server and server-side code. This means you no longer need to build complicated backend software and can instead focus on your application logic and your customers.	Feels like Home - Realm’s data structures look like the Objects and Arrays of your language, but provide additional features such as: querying, relationships & graphs, thread safety, and more.;Memory-Efficient - Realm is not built on SQLite. Instead, a custom C++ core is used to provide memory-efficient access to your data by using Realm objects, which usually consume less RAM than native objects.;F-F-Fast! - Realm offers extraordinary performance compared to SQLite and other persistence solutions.
Statistics
Stacks 42.2K	Stacks 269
Followers 36.0K	Followers 441
Votes 2.0K	Votes 16
Pros & Cons
Pros 371 Realtime backend made easy 270 Fast and responsive 242 Easy setup 215 Real-time 191 JSON Cons 31 Can become expensive 16 No open source, you depend on external company 15 Scalability is not infinite 9 Not Flexible Enough 7 Cant filter queries	Pros 7 Good 3 Elegant API 3 Cloud Syncing 2 React Native Support 1 Strong Adoption Growth Cons 1 No offline support for web till now
Integrations
Trigger.io Famo.us Backbone.js Ember.js AngularJS React	No integrations available

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NATS

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SocketCluster

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deepstream.io

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8base

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