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Azure Cosmos DB VS Realm.io

Compare Azure Cosmos DB VS Realm.io and see what are their differences

Azure Cosmos DB logo Azure Cosmos DB

NoSQL JSON database for rapid, iterative app development.

Realm.io logo Realm.io

Realm is a mobile platform and a replacement for SQLite & Core Data. Build offline-first, reactive mobile experiences using simple data sync.
  • Azure Cosmos DB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-16
  • Realm.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-04

Azure Cosmos DB features and specs

  • Global Distribution
    Azure Cosmos DB allows for the distribution of data across multiple global regions, enhancing availability and delivering low-latency access to data for users around the world.
  • Multi-Model Support
    It supports multiple data models including document, graph, key-value, and column-family APIs, making it versatile for a variety of applications and use cases.
  • Automatic Scaling
    The database automatically scales up and down to meet the demands of application traffic, helping to manage workloads efficiently without manual intervention.
  • High Throughput and Low Latency
    Cosmos DB offers high performance with single-digit millisecond read and write latencies, ensuring fast access to data for applications.
  • Comprehensive SLAs
    Azure Cosmos DB provides industry-leading SLAs covering availability, throughput, consistency, and latency, offering strong guarantees for customers.
  • Integrated Security
    It includes robust security features such as SSL/TLS encryption, role-based access control, and integration with Azure Active Directory for secure data management.

Possible disadvantages of Azure Cosmos DB

  • Cost
    Azure Cosmos DB can be expensive, especially for high-throughput workloads and global distribution scenarios. Its pricing model based on provisioned throughput (RU/s) can add up quickly.
  • Complexity
    Managing and optimizing Cosmos DB can be complex, requiring a deep understanding of its configuration settings, partitioning strategies, and indexing to achieve optimal performance.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    As a proprietary service, using Cosmos DB tightly couples your application to Azure. This can make it difficult to migrate to other database solutions or cloud providers in the future.
  • Consistency Models
    Azure Cosmos DB supports multiple consistency levels which can introduce complexity in designing applications. Developers need to understand and choose the appropriate consistency level for their specific use case.
  • Limited Native Analytics
    Cosmos DB does not have built-in advanced analytics capabilities. Integrating with other services like Azure Synapse or Databricks may be necessary for sophisticated data analytics and reporting.

Realm.io features and specs

  • Easy Integration
    Realm is designed to be easy to set up and integrate into existing projects, with straightforward APIs and comprehensive documentation.
  • Performance
    Realm provides high performance with minimal overhead. It's faster than many traditional databases for many use cases, especially with large datasets and complex queries.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Realm supports multiple platforms including iOS, Android, and React Native, allowing for easy cross-platform development.
  • Real-Time Data Sync
    Realm offers real-time synchronization of data between devices and a server, ensuring consistency and enabling collaborative features.
  • Rich Data Types
    Realm supports complex data types such as lists and objects, making it more flexible for various types of applications.

Possible disadvantages of Realm.io

  • Learning Curve
    Despite extensive documentation, there can be a learning curve for developers new to Realm, particularly if they are accustomed to traditional SQL databases.
  • Storage Size
    Realm databases can become large quickly, especially if not properly managed, potentially impacting app performance and storage costs.
  • Limited Query Language
    While powerful, Realm's query language isn't as mature or feature-rich as SQL, which might limit some advanced querying needs.
  • Tooling
    The tooling ecosystem for Realm is not as extensive as those for more established databases like SQLite or MongoDB, which could impact developer productivity.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Using Realm might lead to vendor lock-in, as migrating away from it to another database system can be complex and time-consuming.

Azure Cosmos DB videos

Azure Cosmos DB: Comprehensive Overview

More videos:

  • Review - Azure Friday | Azure Cosmos DB with Scott Hanselman
  • Tutorial - Azure Cosmos DB Tutorial | Globally distributed NoSQL database

Realm.io videos

No Realm.io videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Azure Cosmos DB and Realm.io)
Databases
63 63%
37% 37
NoSQL Databases
60 60%
40% 40
Graph Databases
100 100%
0% 0
Data Integration
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Realm.io should be more popular than Azure Cosmos DB. It has been mentiond 25 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Azure Cosmos DB mentions (9)

  • Blazor server app, deployment options
    If you are writing the code maybe consider learning Cosmos DB it’s pretty easy to work with and there is a free tier. Also in my experience it’s much faster than a SQL database. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Infrastructure as code (IaC) for Java-based apps on Azure
    Sometimes you don’t need an entire Java-based microservice. You can build serverless APIs with the help of Azure Functions. For example, Azure functions have a bunch of built-in connectors like Azure Event Hubs to process event-driven Java code and send the data to Azure Cosmos DB in real-time. FedEx and UBS projects are great examples of real-time, event-driven Java. I also recommend you to go through 👉 Code,... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Deploying a Mostly Serverless Website on GCP
    When debating the database solution for our application we were really seeking for a scalable serverless database that wouldn’t bill us for idle time. Options like AWS Athena, AWS Aurora Serverless, and Azure Cosmos DB immediately came to mind. We believed that GCP would have a comparable service, yet we could not find one. Even after consulting the GCP cloud service comparison documentation we were still unable... - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • Which DB to use for API published on Azure?
    If you are looking for one to start with; you can try Cosmos: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cosmos-db/. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Basic Setup for Azure Cosmos DB and Example Node App
    I have had an opportunity to work on a project that uses Azure Cosmos DB with the MongDB API as the backend database. I wanted to spend a little more time on my own understanding how to perform basic setup and a simple set of CRUD operations from a Node application, as well as construct an easy-to-follow procedure for other developers. - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
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Realm.io mentions (25)

  • Release Radar · September 2024: Major updates from the open source community
    From the team at MongoDB comes Realm, a mobile database that runs directly inside phones, tablets, or wearables. It's built for mobile, and designed for offline use. The latest release comes with built-in Swift 6 language mode, and Xcode 16 support. Some breaking changes include removal of Atlas App Services and Atlas Device Sync functionality, Strings and Data now considered different types and thus queries won't... - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • I built a WebComponents-based framework
    Looks really cool, I like to make very minimalistic dependency choices for the web apps I work on. Web Components look interesting and it's great to see frameworks that build upon it and provide features that are currently missing from it. When I landed on the page I remembered another Realm framework I used a lot long time ago. https://realm.io has the same name and the logo looks very similar too. Not sure if... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Realm Database, Expo SDK 49 and Expo Router Getting Started
    Realm is a fast, scalable alternative to SQLite with mobile to cloud data sync that makes building real-time, reactive mobile apps easy. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Looking for android java developer mentor
    I would focus on Kotlin instead of Java, there's really no point in sticking to Java at this point. And when it comes to databases, some local ones that are pretty easy to get into are Realm and ObjectBox, SQLite can definitely be a bit overwhelming at the beginning. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Want to build a simple database app....Where do I start
    Just to add to this, there's also Realm and ObjectBox as alternatives. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Azure Cosmos DB and Realm.io, you can also consider the following products

Redis - Redis is an open source in-memory data structure project implementing a distributed, in-memory key-value database with optional durability.

ObjectBox - ObjectBox empower edge computing with an edge device database and synchronization solution for Mobile & IoT. Store and sync data from edge to cloud.

ArangoDB - A distributed open-source database with a flexible data model for documents, graphs, and key-values.

Microsoft SQL Server Compact - Bring Microsoft SQL Server 2017 to the platform of your choice. Use SQL Server 2017 on Windows, Linux, and Docker containers.

MongoDB - MongoDB (from "humongous") is a scalable, high-performance NoSQL database.

CompactView - Viewer for Microsoft® SQL Server® CE database files (sdf)