5 Most Preferred React Native Databases

React Native has gained immense popularity as one of the top open-source mobile app frameworks. It is created by Facebook and supports various smart devices such as Android, iOS, tvOS, macOS, Windows, and UWP. We all know React Native allows developers to create some exciting and real mobile apps with JavaScript only. This popular open-source mobile app framework gains popularity from being a cross-platform mobile app development framework. Code once, and make apps that are compatible with both — iOS and Android platforms. This helps developers save development time and clients, app development costs.

Key Features of React Native

• Open Source.
• Modular and Intuitive.
• Speeds up Development Process.
• Strong Community Support.
• Code Reuse.
• Live Reload.

The Need for React Native Databases

Since React Native become famous has attracted many developers eye, many JavaScript companies have created various technology stacks around it. While this is beneficial for mobile app developers, it can also be overwhelming and challenging to pick the best technology stacks out of the lot for their projects. Choosing the right technology stack to go with your project is very important when working on a scalable or even small-scaled app development project. The same stands true for React Native Databases.

It is essential to know the most used React Native Databases as it helps developers ensure that their app development efforts are been handled and stored in a secure and efficient space. There are many important criteria points to be noted before deciding on the ideal React Native Database.

5 Factors to Consider When Choosing the Right React Native Database

As we discussed above, there are various factors you should consider when deciding on the ideal React Native Database for your project. Here are some of the most important factors you should always consider:

1. Memory Handling Capacity

One of the primary features to test a React Native Database against is — how well it handles the data. If a database isn't efficient in handling data, your React app will crash more frequently. For this, most React Native Databases clear their cache in regular intervals to ensure they have sufficient memory left to be accessible, so their apps run smoothly.

2. Ability to Manage Conflicts

Many mobile apps require cooperation-related features, and the challenge this brings it that your app experiences more data conflicts. An excellent way to handle this challenge is to look for React Native Databases that share their conflict management rules on their repository or website.

Pro Tip: Go through these databases' documentation to understand how they manage syncing and conflicts and the impact they can create on your React app.

3. Complexity of your App Data

I believe it is always better to have a React Native Database that can handle all kinds of complex app structures and codes instead of selecting a database according to your current needs. This helps you create scalable, future-ready React apps. However, if budget constraints don't allow you to invest that much, you can always use one of the databases that match your current requirements. An efficient React Native Database will manage complicated data structures such as objects or full documents.

4. Ability to Sync Offline Data

We have ground-breaking internet speeds in today's time, and people are used for apps to load on the go. However, with this impressive speed and ease of access, we still experience downtime and speed limits after a certain point. When your app doesn't load, your users get frustrated with the app, which leads to a negative user experience. If you genuinely care about your brand identity and keep your customers happy, you need your apps to work offline mode even when there is no internet connectivity, or it is slow. For this, you need a React Native Database that can offer Offline Data Synchronization when users connect to the internet again.

5. Ease of Use

Any React Native Database should be easy to set up and combined with fewer efforts. If setting up the tool that is supposed to ease your data management process is complicated, what is the guarantee that it won't trouble you after setting it up?

5 Most Used React Native Databases

Now that we know about the factors we should look out for, let us now discuss the most used React Native Databases available for developers on the market.  

1. Amazon DynamoDB

Amazon DynamoDB is designed and developed as a fully functional and managed NoSQL database service. It runs on Amazon’s AWS Cloud and is completely decentralized with the least admiration needs. This React Native Database is cost-effective and has horizontal scaling. You only need to pay for the storage and IO throughput if you use Amazon DynamoDB.

Key Features of Amazon DynamoDB

• It performs strong, consistent reads.
• It reads and writes data fast.
• Scaling according to throughput. 
• It is a fully managed service. 
• It has support parallel screens.
• Auto-generating UUIDs.
• Global Secondary Indexes.
• Local Secondary Indexes.
• 'Push-button scaling' — the ability to scale your database up and down on the go without experiencing any downtime.

Pros of Amazon DynamoDB

• Easy to set up.
• Non-hourly billing model.
• Support for streams.
• Support for Time-to-Live (TIL) feature.

Cons of Amazon DynamoDB

• Weak querying model.
• Harder to predict costs.
• Lesser server-side updates.

Pricing

It’s complicated to give one rough estimate for Amazon DynamoDB pricing. They have a handy cost calculator tool on their website, which allows you to configure each component and make your tailored packaged services to give you a rough total cost estimation. However, if you have an app that is bound to increase with increasingly larger data volumes that you would need to store and serve, DynamoDB can become a cost-prohibitive option. 

Who uses Amazon DynamoDB?

1. Netflix
2. Lyft
3. Amazon
4. The New York Times
5. Medium.com
6. Delivery Hero

2. MongoDB

MongoDB is an open-source, server-side React Native database. It is built with scalability and complex applications in mind. MongoDB uses a combined method of using key-value stores and a relational database for storing objects in JSON documents with dynamic schemas. If your React app needs a large amount of data, you can modify the schema without disturbing your React Native application's runtime. MongoDB doesn't use domain-specific languages such as SQL. Instead, it makes use of a simple JavaScript interface for queries.

Key Features of MongoDB

• Ad-hoc queries for optimized, real-time analytics. 
• Replication feature for better stability and data availability.
• Appropriate indexing for better query executions.
• Load Balancing.
• Sharding.

Pros of MongoDB

• Flexible database.
• Sharding.
• High Availability.
• High Speed.
• Scalability.
• Ad-hoc Query Support.
• Technical Support.
• Easy Environment Support.

Cons of MongoDB

• High Memory Usage.
• Joins are not supported.
• Limited Nesting.
• Limited Data Size.

Pricing

MongoDB has three different pricing schemes — Shared Cluster, Dedicated Clusters and Dedicated Multi-Region Clusters.

• Price
  1. Shared Clusters — Free.
  2. Dedicated Clusters — $57/month.
  3. Dedicated Multi-Region Clusters — $95/month.
• Storage
  1. Shared Clusters — 512 MB to 5 GB.
  2. Dedicated Clusters — 10 GB to 4 TB.
  3. Dedicated Multi-Region Clusters — 10 GB to 4 TB.
• RAM
  1. Shared Clusters — Shared.
  2. Dedicated Clusters — 2 GB to 768 GB.
  3. Dedicated Multi-Region Clusters —2 GB to 768 GB.

(MongoDB Pricing)

Who Uses MongoDB?

1. Uber
2. Lyft
3. Alibaba Travels
4. Accenture
5. Delivery Hero
6. Trello

3. Firebase

Firebase is a useful platform created by Google for creating mobile and web applications. It was initially an independent company founded in 2011. Google acquired it in 2014, and it is one of their flagship offering for app development requirements. Firebase supports a NoSQL database for React Native. It is ideal for your data synchronization requirements and offline data modifications. Firebase can very well handle the 'M' (Model) and 'C' (Controller) models of the MVC- Model View Controller architecture in React Native applications.

Key Features of Firebase

• Unlimited Reporting.
• Integration with Other Services.
• Audience Segmentation.
• Database Management.
• File Storage.
• Cloud Code.
• Scalable Hosting.
• Machine Learning.

Pros of Firebase

• It Makes Real-time Backend Easier.
• Fast and Responsive.
• Great Documentation.
• Rapid Prototyping.
• Real-Time Synchronization.
• Easy Setup.
• Great Security.

Cons of Firebase

• Limited iOS Features Support.
• Unpredictable Pricing.
• Limited Querying Capabilities.
• Vendor Lock-In.
• Data Migration Issues.
• It won't work in countries that don’t allow Google.

Pricing

Firebase has two pricing plans — Spark and Blaze. Spark is its free tier that has a generous allocation offering. It is ideal for startups and developers looking for creating MVPs.

• Spark Plan: The free version allows you to set up an entire website/app with database, messaging, authentication, custom domains with SSL, cloud functions, and have a decent number of users for free.
• Blaze Plan: Their blaze plan is based on the ‘pay-as-you-go’ model. It is made for large-scale applications. You get charged as per the storage and usage of Firebase, so you only pay for what you use. However, there are some daily charges involved. One intuitive and appreciated feature Firebase provides is setting up limits and budget alerts so you don’t exceed your budget accidentally.

(Firebase Pricing)

Who Uses Firebase?

1. Atlassian
2. Wishlist
3. Athelas
4. Studemy

4. SQLite

SQLite is a C- language library. This platform was initially built for providing users with the ability to create a local storage database for mobile apps. The 'lite' in the name denotes lightweight nature, which describes this platform's minimal setup feature. It executes most SQL policies with added tools that help with data management. What attracts most developers to this platform is that it is free and available in the public domain.

Key Features of SQLite

• Requires Zero Configuration.
• It is ServerLess.
• Uses Single Database File.
• Stable Cross-Platform Database File.
• Readable Source Code.
• SQL Language Extensions.

Pros of SQLite

• Lightweight.
• Portable.
• Free.
• Simple.
• TCL Integration.
• Preinstalled on iOS and Android.

Cons of SQLite

• Size restriction to 2GB in most cases.
• It doesn't support multi-client concurrency access.
• Maximum database size — 140 TB.
• Maximum attached database — 125.

Pricing

Free in the public domain. However, if you or your organization wants to obtain a copyright infringement license, you can pay a one-time fee of $6000.

(SQLite Pricing)

Who uses SQLite?

1. Alibaba Travels
2. Accenture
3. Adidas Runtastic
4. Typeform

5. Realm

Realm is an object-oriented open-source database. It operates ten times faster than most relational databases. As a developer, you can use Realm for your React Native projects as it can handle complicated data types for both — real-time and offline apps. It doesn't require any key-value stores or even object-related mapping. It has its search engine. Realm is a high-performing database and has proven to fix queries than most available React Native Databases in the market. It is an ideal choice for large React Native apps.

Key Features of Realm

• Create Reactive Mobile Apps.
• Concurrency Control.
• Object-Oriented Data Model.
• Log Component for Synchronization.
• Query Interface.
• Storage Architecture.

Pros of Realm

• Designed for Offline Use.
• Built for Mobile.
• Intuitive to Developers.
• Fully Encrypted.
• Open Source.
• Cross-Platform.
• Data Sync.

Cons of Realm

• Bigger APK size.
• Utilizes more RAM.
• No Auto-increment.
• Restrictions on Model Class.

Pricing

Though Realm is 100 percent open-source and free, it costs $1750 for their pro version. If you wish to use their React Native Database platform, you will have to pay $1750 per month. They also have a couple of other packages that you can look up.

Who Uses Realm?

1. Discontinuity
2. Patreon
3. Araclx
4. Kargo Client Dashboard

Wrapping It Up!

These are some of the most used React Native Databases that you can make use of for your next React Native App development project. Before looking for your ideal React Native Database, please go through the guidelines we provided at the beginning of this blog to understand better what you should look for. Each database has certain strengths and limitations; you need to identify which strengths match your project requires more and select one accordingly. Feel free to give suggestions, add databases that you think are worth mentioning. I hope this blog helped you!