Side by side
Drift vs FMDB
Both stand on mobile databases. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan AndroidExtensioniPhone+4
Drift combines relational persistence with generated code and reactive queries for Dart and Flutter projects. Developers should account for required schema migrations and the documented PostgreSQL and browser limitations.
Visit Drift Free plan iPhoneMac
FMDB offers a focused SQLite wrapper with database, query, transaction, and concurrency helpers. Developers should account for its blocking queue behavior and community-based support.
Visit FMDBThe facts
| Drift | FMDB | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Android, Extension, iPhone, Linux, Mac, Web, Windows | iPhone, Mac |
| Lowest paid plan | Not published | Free or on request |
| Plans published | None | 1 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | drift.simonbinder.eu | github.com |
| On mobile databases | #7 of 26 | #11 of 26 |
Drift: what it does well
- Type-safe queries and reactive watched-query streams
- Compile-time SQL validation and Dart row generation
- Documented support for six platform families
- SQLite, PostgreSQL, and libSQL connections
What to know first
- Developers must write schema-change migrations
- Some APIs are SQLite-only with PostgreSQL
- Some browsers need COOP/COEP headers for full web support
FMDB: what it does well
- Free plan costs nothing
- Supports Objective-C and Swift
- Provides typed query result accessors
- Coordinates multithreaded database access
- Offers SQLCipher compilation options
What to know first
- No data synchronization is provided
- Queue operations are blocking
- Community support is voluntary
- One database instance should not serve multiple threads