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Comment by m_mueller | Hacker News Reader

Did you also consider Couchbase Lite? I'd be interested in your decision making.

I've used pouch on a few projects and also attempted to use cb lite. I found pouch dramatically easier to get up and running with.

Cb lite was complicated since it needs a native plugin rather than being just js. That wasn't too bad.

The thing that put the nail in it for me was all the setup on the server side with sync gateways, multiple databases that then sync with one another, etc etc.

CBL has worked OK so far for us with just plain CouchDB serverside, no sync gateways. But I can see where you're coming from, if your stack is centered around JS I think pouchDB makes more sense. We have potentially large DBs (depends on usecase) where browser context isn't enough and/or provides a bad user experience.

Oh so you're using CBL with a couchdb backend? I didn't even realise that was possible. I thought it only synced with Couchbase which is where all the complexity came in.

Yes it's possible. Here and there there might be a quirk but so far nothing that set us back too much. I'm not a fan of Couchbase's Syncgateways either, I'm not sure the problem they're solving is a very common one.

sync_gateway is basically a couchdb protocol proxy, for couchbase-lite to use, that sits in front of couchbase.

couchbase-lite apparently also works with couchdb (protocol compliant) and cloudant.

I am currently working at a gig where the use of couchbase-lite with sync gateway and couchbase are required for a project.

Couchbase Lite was not something that we considered. Once we got PouchDB up and running it seemed to fit our needs well enough that we stopped considering alternatives.

I've upvoted davidbanham's comment because that seems like a more insightful answer to your question.

Thanks for responding! These kinds of discussions are exactly why I like HN so much.

I explored using Couchbase Lite in an app and realized that PouchDB was still the best client library for it, and at least in my testing of Couchbase Lite's Cordova plugin I saw a bunch of bugs (the Windows version of Couchbase Lite still isn't included in the Cordova plugin; the Cordova plugin is still called a PhoneGap plugin and seems to be lagging behind by several major Cordova versions last I tried to install it), and didn't see much in the way of a performance benefit on even iOS/Android over PouchDB's performance with IndexedDB and/or SQLite.

+1 for a great community with CBL, too! Whenever we've had some trouble or a question, we've had helpful, friendly advice. I'm a big fan of CouchDb, Pouch, and CBL, all of which my team uses. Note that we use CBL with our native mobile apps.

Is CBL able to sync with CouchDB 2.0? Couldn't tell from looking quickly at their website.

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