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DBMS > Firebase Realtime Database vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Realm

System Properties Comparison Firebase Realtime Database vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Realm

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameFirebase Realtime Database  Xexclude from comparisonMicrosoft Azure Cosmos DB infoformer name was Azure DocumentDB  Xexclude from comparisonRealm  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionCloud-hosted realtime document store. iOS, Android, and JavaScript clients share one Realtime Database instance and automatically receive updates with the newest data.Globally distributed, horizontally scalable, multi-model database serviceA DBMS built for use on mobile devices that’s a fast, easy to use alternative to SQLite and Core Data
Primary database modelDocument storeDocument store
Graph DBMS
Key-value store
Wide column store
Document store
Secondary database modelsSpatial DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score13.43
Rank#39  Overall
#6  Document stores
Score22.94
Rank#26  Overall
#4  Document stores
#2  Graph DBMS
#3  Key-value stores
#2  Wide column stores
Score6.80
Rank#51  Overall
#8  Document stores
Websitefirebase.google.com/­products/­realtime-databaseazure.microsoft.com/­services/­cosmos-dbrealm.io
Technical documentationfirebase.google.com/­docs/­databaselearn.microsoft.com/­azure/­cosmos-dbrealm.io/­docs
DeveloperGoogle infoacquired by Google 2014MicrosoftRealm, acquired by MongoDB in May 2019
Initial release201220142014
License infoCommercial or Open SourcecommercialcommercialOpen Source
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud serviceyesyesno
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

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Server operating systemshostedhostedAndroid
Backend: server-less
iOS
Windows
Data schemeschema-freeschema-freeyes
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyes infoJSON typesyes
XML support infoSome form of processing data in XML format, e.g. support for XML data structures, and/or support for XPath, XQuery or XSLT.nono
Secondary indexesyesyes infoAll properties auto-indexed by defaultyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLnoSQL-like query languageno
APIs and other access methodsAndroid
iOS
JavaScript API
RESTful HTTP API
DocumentDB API
Graph API (Gremlin)
MongoDB API
RESTful HTTP API
Table API
Supported programming languagesJava
JavaScript
Objective-C
.Net
C#
Java
JavaScript
JavaScript (Node.js)
MongoDB client drivers written for various programming languages
Python
.Net
Java infowith Android only
Objective-C
React Native
Swift
Server-side scripts infoStored procedureslimited functionality with using 'rules'JavaScriptno inforuns within the applications so server-side scripts are unnecessary
TriggersCallbacks are triggered when data changesJavaScriptyes infoChange Listeners
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesSharding infoImplicit feature of the cloud servicenone
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesyes infoImplicit feature of the cloud servicenone
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnowith Hadoop integration infoIntegration with Hadoop/HDInsight on Azure*no
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemEventual Consistency infoif the client is offline
Immediate Consistency infoif the client is online
Bounded Staleness
Consistent Prefix
Eventual Consistency
Immediate Consistency infoConsistency level configurable on request level
Session Consistency
Immediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integritynonono
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of datayesMulti-item ACID transactions with snapshot isolation within a partitionACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.yes infoIn-Memory realm
User concepts infoAccess controlyes, based on authentication and database rulesAccess rights can be defined down to the item levelyes

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More resources
Firebase Realtime DatabaseMicrosoft Azure Cosmos DB infoformer name was Azure DocumentDBRealm
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