InstantDB
Data
client-side database
SHOW HN2024
1,145points
297comments
#4of 3,515 in 2024
Top 1%of 2024 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
34 positive, 137 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 17 critical, out of 189 comments about the project. Thread score +0.12.
Idea: 14 for, 7 againstDesign: 5 for, 1 againstExecution: 5 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 4 againstPrivacy: 1 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Offline, real-time and relational queries combined is valuable
From 2 comments
[Firebase founder] The thing I'm excited about w/Instant is the quad-fecta of offline + real-time + relational queries + open source. The amount of requests we had for relational…
jamest on HNI've been using Instant for about 6 months and have been very happy. Realtime, relational, and offline were the most important things for us, building out a relatively simple…
antidnan on HN
Feels like a sync engine that is not just a toy
From 1 comment
(1) This is awesome. Feels like this wraps enough complexity that it won't just be a toy / for prototyping. (2) When a schema is provided, is it fully enforced? Is there a way to…
RoboTeddy on HN
Objections
Schema evolution and migrations are a maintenance concern
From 3 comments
I'm wary of stuff like this, probably really useful to rapidly iterate.... but what a maintence nightmare after 10 years and your schema has evolved 100 times, but you have…
swalsh on HN(1) This is awesome. Feels like this wraps enough complexity that it won't just be a toy / for prototyping. (2) When a schema is provided, is it fully enforced? Is there a way to…
RoboTeddy on HNLooks great! How is the migration story when schema changes are needed? How do you deal with old clients?
manx on HN
Triple stores may perform poorly on full-object queries
From 1 comment
I've found triple stores to have pretty poor performance when most of your queries fetch full objects, or many fields of the same object, which in the real world seems to be very…
the_duke on HN
Unclear how permissions are enforced and whether the app ID alone is protected
From 2 comments
What's the short summary of how the authorization system works for this? One of the things I find quite nice about firebase is the quite powerful separation between the logic of…
breatheoften on HNI saw the mention of Google's CEL for authorisation and permission, however would like to know a little about security. Apart from the appId, can I restrict call to db by domain…
p2hari on HN
Requests
Flutter SDK
From 1 comment
Please make a flutter SDK
ripped_britches on HN
Support for syncing existing Postgres databases
From 1 comment
Is it correct to assume that if your existing application has lots of data stored in standard PostgreSQL tables, you can't have InstantDB sync with it? In other words it…
cheema33 on HN
Complete code examples in docs
From 1 comment
One bit of feedback: Its always appreciated when code examples on websites are complete. Your example isn't complete -- where's the `transact` import coming from, or `useQuery`?…
sibeliuss on HN
Questions
How is it different from Supabase and Firebase
From 3 comments
what would you say are pros/cons vs. supabase?
legohorizons on HNVery cool! How does this compare to Supabase?
sgonz on HNHow is it better than firebase or Superbase ?
android521 on HN
How does it compare with ElectricSQL and Zero
From 2 comments
Sounds conceptually similar to Zero: https://zerosync.dev/ I haven't looked in detail yet — what are the main differences relative to Zero?
ochiba on HNI have been eyeing Electric SQL lately for developing a local-first app. How does InstantDB compare with Electric SQL? Side note: Electric SQL is currently going through a…
cheema33 on HN
How are migrations handled
From 2 comments
Looks great! How is the migration story when schema changes are needed? How do you deal with old clients?
manx on HN(1) This is awesome. Feels like this wraps enough complexity that it won't just be a toy / for prototyping. (2) When a schema is provided, is it fully enforced? Is there a way to…
RoboTeddy on HN
Alternatives named
Supabase
From 2 comments
what would you say are pros/cons vs. supabase?
legohorizons on HNVery cool! How does this compare to Supabase?
sgonz on HN
Firebase
From 1 comment
What isn’t modern about Firebase and what makes this modern in comparison?
DandyDev on HN
PowerSync
From 1 comment
For those looking for alternatives to the offline first model, I settled on PowerSync. Runner up was WatermelonDB (don't let the name fool you.) ElectricSQL is still too…
codersfocus on HN
ElectricSQL
From 2 comments
For those looking for alternatives to the offline first model, I settled on PowerSync. Runner up was WatermelonDB (don't let the name fool you.) ElectricSQL is still too…
codersfocus on HNI have been eyeing Electric SQL lately for developing a local-first app. How does InstantDB compare with Electric SQL? Side note: Electric SQL is currently going through a…
cheema33 on HN
PocketBase
From 1 comment
Seems comparable to https://pocketbase.io/
xnx on HN
Convex
From 1 comment
I‘m wondering how this compares to convex (https://www.convex.dev/)
Chipshuffle on HN