React Native Desktop VS Realm React Native

React Native Desktop

Build OS X desktop apps using React Native

Realm React Native

The fastest database for cross platform mobile apps

Landing page //
2023-09-30

Landing page //
2023-05-23

React Native Desktop features and specs

Cross-Platform Code Sharing
React Native Desktop allows for code sharing between mobile and desktop platforms, reducing development time and effort. This promotes a unified codebase across iOS, Android, and macOS platforms.
React Ecosystem
Developers can leverage the extensive ecosystem of React and React Native, including libraries, tools, and community support, thus simplifying development and benefiting from existing solutions.
Hot Reloading
React Native Desktop supports hot reloading, which allows developers to see changes immediately without rebuilding the whole application. This greatly enhances development speed and productivity.
Native Performance
React Native Desktop aims to deliver a performance close to native applications on macOS, allowing for smooth user experience and efficient utilization of the system's resources.

Possible disadvantages of React Native Desktop

Immature Project
React Native Desktop is still a relatively young project compared to its mobile counterpart. It may lack some stability, advanced features, and support that are available in more mature frameworks.
Learning Curve
Developers familiar with only web development might find it challenging to adapt to React Native's paradigms and native coding patterns required for desktop applications.
Limited macOS-Specific Components
There might be fewer out-of-the-box components and libraries tailored for macOS when compared to those available for mobile, requiring more custom implementation work.
No Official Support
As an open-source project, React Native Desktop doesn't have official support from Facebook or a large organization, which might lead to slower updates and a greater reliance on community contributions.

Realm React Native features and specs

Offline First
Realm React Native enables offline-first experiences, allowing applications to function without network connectivity by storing data locally on the device.
Data Synchronization
Built-in synchronization with MongoDB Atlas ensures that local data is automatically synchronized with the server, reducing the need for custom sync logic in the app.
Performance
Realm offers high-performance data handling by using a custom database engine that is optimized for mobile devices, allowing quick access to and manipulation of data.
Ease of Use
The API is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, making it accessible for developers to implement database operations without excessive complexity.
Real-time Updates
Provides real-time data updates, ensuring that any changes in the database are immediately reflected in the application UI.

Possible disadvantages of Realm React Native

Learning Curve
Developers new to Realm may face a learning curve compared to more traditional databases, as it introduces unique data models and patterns.
Limited Support for Complex Queries
While Realm supports basic queries efficiently, handling complex queries may be less straightforward than with a traditional relational database.
Dependency on Specific Ecosystem
Using Realm tightly integrates an application with MongoDB's ecosystem, potentially complicating migration to other databases or systems.
File Size
Realm's file size can grow significantly, especially with large datasets, which may be a concern for apps with limited storage space.
Open Source Limitations
Realm is open-source but certain advanced features are tied to MongoDB Atlas, requiring consideration of potential costs and limitations in free-tier usage.

Analysis of React Native Desktop

Overall verdict

React Native Desktop can be a good choice if you are already invested in the React Native ecosystem and are looking for a way to expand your application's reach to desktop platforms without starting from scratch. It benefits from the familiar JavaScript and React syntax, as well as a large community of developers who contribute to its growth. However, depending on the project's specific needs and the level of maturity expected, it might lack some features or optimizations available in native desktop application frameworks.

Why this product is good

React Native Desktop is designed to allow developers to use React Native for creating desktop applications. It leverages the existing React Native ecosystem, which means that developers familiar with React Native can transition to desktop app development more easily. By allowing code sharing between mobile and desktop platforms, it can significantly reduce the development time and effort required to maintain consistency across platforms.

Recommended for

This framework is recommended for JavaScript developers who are already comfortable with React Native and want to leverage their existing skills to develop cross-platform applications that include desktop environments. It is suitable for projects that require rapid prototyping and consistent user experiences across mobile and desktop devices.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to React Native Desktop and Realm React Native)

React Native Desktop

Realm React Native

Developer Tools

87 87%

Developer Tools

13% 13

Tech

100 100%

Tech

0% 0

Development Tools

75 75%

Development Tools

25% 25

JavaScript Framework

0 0%

JavaScript Framework

100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using React Native Desktop and Realm React Native. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Realm React Native seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 5 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.

React Native Desktop mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of React Native Desktop yet. Tracking of React Native Desktop recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Realm React Native mentions (5)

Using Expo and Realm with expo-dev-client
The Realm React Native SDK has a hermes branch that is indeed compatible with Hermes. So, it'll work with react-native-reanimated v2 but not with Expo, due to the React Native version the Expo SDK is pinned to. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago
Getting started with Realm for React Native Using Expo Template, Enhanced
Simple Expo React Native application to quickly get started with React Native RealmDb API, based on the starter template that is provided by Realm. I added a few things, specifically working with relationships in RealmDB since it was really what I was looking for before I started to create the video. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago
Build an Offline-First React Native Mobile App with Expo and Realm
To add our Realm library to the project we’ll type in the Terminal:. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago
Local database for RN
Realm maybe the thing you’re looking for, https://docs.mongodb.com/realm/sdk/react-native/. Source: almost 5 years ago
Observing Realm database transactions with React Native
Realm’s React Native SDK is an incredibly powerful tool that takes advantage of the NoSQL database developed by MongoDB. Realm can be used for offline first mobile apps or as a general purpose database for traditional mobile applications. One of the biggest advantages of using Realm for data storage is that it’s Objects are “live” by default; meaning that transactions and the state associated with a given Object... - Source: dev.to / about 5 years ago