bbolt vs ObjectBox

bbolt is a maintained fork of Bolt, providing Go applications with an embedded key-value store instead of a full database server. It keeps the database in one file, representing a consistent snapshot of its data. Key/value pairs are arranged in buckets, which can be nested, and bucket keys are stored in byte-sorted order. The library supports serializable ACID transactions: one read-write transaction at a time, alongside multiple concurrent read-only transactions.

A read-only transaction can create a consistent hot backup without blocking other database reads and writes. bbolt exposes operation statistics that can be logged or sent to a service such as statsd. The project describes it as a fit for read-intensive workloads and range scans, while warning that random writes can be slow. The database file has an exclusive write lock, so multiple processes cannot share it for writing; read-only mode permits multiple readers. The project documents gomobile bindings for iOS and Android, as well as Windows, macOS and Linux support. It is free under the MIT license, with no paid support plan listed.

ObjectBox is an embedded, object-oriented NoSQL database for mobile applications and IoT devices. Its database provides native object APIs, relationships, reactive observers, ACID transactions and automatic schema migration. ObjectBox Sync can move data between devices and a backend or server, including for offline-first use cases. Listed language APIs include Java, Kotlin, Swift, Flutter/Dart, Go, Python and C/C++. The product supports vector search, with no embedding-column dimension limit stated in its FAQ. ObjectBox says it supports direct synchronization to MongoDB; connectors for other backend databases may require custom development. Its Sync Server can be self-hosted on POSIX systems and cloud providers, though ObjectBox does not currently provide cloud hosting. The core database plan is free; Sync pricing is quoted per project based on needs. The company describes its focus as mobile and IoT development, particularly decentralized systems with restricted devices and offline scenarios. Mesh Sync is available for Android Java/Kotlin and Flutter/Dart starting with version 6.0.0-beta, with APIs that may change before final release.