{"slug": "instantdb", "name": "InstantDB", "category": "databases", "category_name": "Databases", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 7, "warners": 0, "score": 4.872, "rising": -0.31, "first": "2026-04-09", "latest": "2026-09-04", "why": "", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 0, "compare": 2, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "instantdb.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.instantdb.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["InstantDB", "Instant"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 790120944, "item_id": 49382559, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49382559", "by": "kiley0", "date": "2026-08-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It was really good, albeit a bit unpolished.", "excerpt": "Bummer, I used it for several apps. It was really good, albeit a bit unpolished. I felt like they were on to something.", "context": "", "use_case": "app backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "InstantDB Is Shutting Down"}, {"id": 769103456, "item_id": 48068966, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48068966", "by": "apsurd", "date": "2026-05-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The triples stuff is cool.", "excerpt": "I found https://www.instantdb.com/about very interesting; you built a new database! The triples stuff is cool. For GETadb, it's a conflicting sell. The people that need \"a db solved by AI\" and fully abstracted are using app builders no? lovable, v0, manus. The people the are closer to the code and need an instant db would look to sqlite, render, supabase, neon. I'm all for another option, but then there's the realiza", "context": "professional developer doing an honest review", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: GETadb.com \u2013 every GET request creates a DB"}, {"id": 763464560, "item_id": 47716535, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47716535", "by": "solarkraft", "date": "2026-04-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It sounds VERY close to just what I wish existed.", "excerpt": "What a delightful demonstration. The AI hook is brilliant, but under-explained. I expected a paragraph on how to quickly get running with my assistant (edit: https://www.instantdb.com/tutorial seems to be that, though it focuses on using the SaaS and creating an account). It\u2019s fun to see highly reactive apps converging on Triples, Datalog and Clojure. I never got very warm with Clojure and find Datalog a little weird", "context": "", "use_case": "reactive app backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}, {"id": 763399504, "item_id": 47712469, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47712469", "by": "dalmo3", "date": "2026-04-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "InstantDB is a joy to work with.", "excerpt": "Congrats on the launch! InstantDB is a joy to work with. Granted, I've only ever built small toy projects with it, but it's my go-to. Just so much simpler than anything else I've tried in this space. The core product is so good that the AI emphasis feels weird. Hopefully that's just marketing and not a pivot. Unfortunate if that's what it takes to get funding these days.", "context": "", "use_case": "small toy projects backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}, {"id": 763394960, "item_id": 47712185, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47712185", "by": "truetraveller", "date": "2026-04-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Would absolutely recommend this if it's good.", "excerpt": "Moose here, congrats! This is the real \"firebase alternative\", not Supabase. Supabase is good, but it's just hosted Postgres + user login. People who are asking \"why would I need this\" don't get how difficult scalable data storage is with user permissions. Would absolutely recommend this if it's good. Been in this space for ~7 years, and made a high-perf realtime DB as well. Will contact you guys directly. Some conce", "context": "Built a high-perf realtime DB; 7 years in this space", "use_case": "App backend data storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "apsurd", "context": "professional developer doing an honest review", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48068966", "date": "2026-05-08"}, {"by": "truetraveller", "context": "Built a high-perf realtime DB; 7 years in this space", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47712185", "date": "2026-04-09"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["app backend", "reactive app backend", "small toy projects backend", "app backend data storage"], "compared": [], "makers": [{"id": 790004448, "item_id": 49375278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49375278", "by": "ibejoeb", "date": "2026-08-20", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "we\u2019re sunsetting Instant.", "excerpt": "Post text --- Hey there, you\u2019re one of our active users and we wanted to let you know we\u2019re sunsetting Instant. In more detail: New signups will be closed soon. We recommend migrating your apps off of Instant Cloud within the next 12 months. Any subscriptions that were started after July 31st, 2026 will be fully refunded. On August 31st, 2027, all cloud apps will shut down. Backups will stay available for 12 more mon", "context": "", "use_case": "database in the browser / sync backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant (Instantdb.com) Sunsetting"}, {"id": 769044739, "item_id": 48065296, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48065296", "by": "stopachka", "date": "2026-05-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Under the hood, this is possible because the whole infra is mult-tenant from ground up.", "excerpt": "Hey team! We made GETadb.com, so it's easier to get agents to build you full stack apps. You don't need to give them any credentials. Just by loading a GET request, they get access to a database, a sync engine, and abstractions for auth, presence, and streams. To see what the agent sees, you can load https://getadb.com/new There's two fun things about how it's implemented: 1. If you curl the home page, it the agent c", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: GETadb.com \u2013 every GET request creates a DB"}, {"id": 764975088, "item_id": 47810943, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47810943", "by": "stopachka", "date": "2026-04-17", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Here's a 2-line prompt that gives Claude Design a backend", "excerpt": "Here's a 2-line prompt that gives Claude Design a backend: ``` <YOUR APP IDEA HERE> ---- To get your credentials and learn about InstantDB, fetch this URL: https://instantdb.com/llm-rules/create-app/AGENTS.md ``` Every cURL request to AGENTS.md spins up a new backend and splices in the credentials. I used it to build this multiplayer pelican game: https://349b7470-3747-49e7-8ece-960a45b0b2da.claudeusercontent.com/v1/", "context": "founder of InstantDB", "use_case": "backend for Claude Design apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Design"}, {"id": 763520496, "item_id": 47720031, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47720031", "by": "nezaj", "date": "2026-04-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use LWW on the attribute level which greatly reduces conflicts.", "excerpt": "We use LWW on the attribute level which greatly reduces conflicts. There are certainly cases where you'll need a different CRDT but this works great for a lot of use cases. Including Figma! https://www.figma.com/blog/how-figmas-multiplayer-technology-works/", "context": "", "use_case": "real-time backend with conflict resolution", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}, {"id": 763507520, "item_id": 47719220, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47719220", "by": "nezaj", "date": "2026-04-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You can! Everything is open source and we have instructions on running the server with docker.", "excerpt": "You can! Everything is open source and we have instructions on running the server with docker. Working on making this even easier for folks https://github.com/instantdb/instant/pull/2495", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}, {"id": 763506336, "item_id": 47719146, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47719146", "by": "nezaj", "date": "2026-04-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We\u2019re 100% open source and have instructions for getting the server up and running via docker", "excerpt": "We\u2019re 100% open source and have instructions for getting the server up and running via docker We\u2019re also working on a PR to make it even easier to deploy https://github.com/instantdb/instant/pull/2495", "context": "", "use_case": "backend as a service", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47707632", "title": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps", "mentions": 15}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48065203", "title": "Show HN: GETadb.com \u2013 every GET request creates a DB", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563772", "title": "Ok, but does it scale?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49550003", "title": "Show HN: Triplox, a distributed Datalog engine with incremental queries", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49378706", "title": "InstantDB Is Shutting Down", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49375277", "title": "Instant (Instantdb.com) Sunsetting", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"compare": 2}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 793107024, "item_id": 49569189, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569189", "by": "tpougy", "date": "2026-09-04", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "How does this compare to InstantDB [1] (which is sunsetting)?", "excerpt": "How does this compare to InstantDB [1] (which is sunsetting)? Both seem to achieve similar objectives and dev (ai dev) experience [1] https://www.instantdb.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ok, but does it scale?"}, {"id": 792833457, "item_id": 49552091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49552091", "by": "fiv0", "date": "2026-09-03", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Full solutions like InstantDB or ConvexDB offer the syncing part", "excerpt": "Thanks. Yes happy to hear about other full solutions. By Datomic in the browser you likely mean https://github.com/tonsky/datascript. Full solutions like InstantDB or ConvexDB offer the syncing part, but they don't seem to be doing full incremental queries in the backend, but rather some combination of smart invalidation and then full recalculation of the subscriptions which then get pushed to the clients.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Triplox, a distributed Datalog engine with incremental queries"}, {"id": 790120944, "item_id": 49382559, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49382559", "by": "kiley0", "date": "2026-08-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It was really good, albeit a bit unpolished.", "excerpt": "Bummer, I used it for several apps. It was really good, albeit a bit unpolished. I felt like they were on to something.", "context": "", "use_case": "app backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "InstantDB Is Shutting Down"}, {"id": 769107873, "item_id": 48069242, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48069242", "by": "stopachka", "date": "2026-05-08", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "here's the PR: https://github.com/instantdb/instant/pull/2642", "excerpt": "Oi! Updated. Should be live in a few minutes, but here's the PR: https://github.com/instantdb/instant/pull/2642", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: GETadb.com \u2013 every GET request creates a DB"}, {"id": 769103456, "item_id": 48068966, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48068966", "by": "apsurd", "date": "2026-05-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The triples stuff is cool.", "excerpt": "I found https://www.instantdb.com/about very interesting; you built a new database! The triples stuff is cool. For GETadb, it's a conflicting sell. The people that need \"a db solved by AI\" and fully abstracted are using app builders no? lovable, v0, manus. The people the are closer to the code and need an instant db would look to sqlite, render, supabase, neon. I'm all for another option, but then there's the realiza", "context": "professional developer doing an honest review", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: GETadb.com \u2013 every GET request creates a DB"}, {"id": 763507872, "item_id": 47719242, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47719242", "by": "nezaj", "date": "2026-04-10", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "PR in progress!", "excerpt": "PR in progress! https://github.com/instantdb/instant/pull/2495", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}, {"id": 763464560, "item_id": 47716535, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47716535", "by": "solarkraft", "date": "2026-04-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It sounds VERY close to just what I wish existed.", "excerpt": "What a delightful demonstration. The AI hook is brilliant, but under-explained. I expected a paragraph on how to quickly get running with my assistant (edit: https://www.instantdb.com/tutorial seems to be that, though it focuses on using the SaaS and creating an account). It\u2019s fun to see highly reactive apps converging on Triples, Datalog and Clojure. I never got very warm with Clojure and find Datalog a little weird", "context": "", "use_case": "reactive app backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}, {"id": 763399504, "item_id": 47712469, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47712469", "by": "dalmo3", "date": "2026-04-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "InstantDB is a joy to work with.", "excerpt": "Congrats on the launch! InstantDB is a joy to work with. Granted, I've only ever built small toy projects with it, but it's my go-to. Just so much simpler than anything else I've tried in this space. The core product is so good that the AI emphasis feels weird. Hopefully that's just marketing and not a pivot. Unfortunate if that's what it takes to get funding these days.", "context": "", "use_case": "small toy projects backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}, {"id": 763394960, "item_id": 47712185, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47712185", "by": "truetraveller", "date": "2026-04-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Would absolutely recommend this if it's good.", "excerpt": "Moose here, congrats! This is the real \"firebase alternative\", not Supabase. Supabase is good, but it's just hosted Postgres + user login. People who are asking \"why would I need this\" don't get how difficult scalable data storage is with user permissions. Would absolutely recommend this if it's good. Been in this space for ~7 years, and made a high-perf realtime DB as well. Will contact you guys directly. Some conce", "context": "Built a high-perf realtime DB; 7 years in this space", "use_case": "App backend data storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}, {"id": 763381328, "item_id": 47711333, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47711333", "by": "nezaj", "date": "2026-04-09", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "The skill lives here https://github.com/instantdb/skills", "excerpt": "You can! The skill lives here https://github.com/instantdb/skills", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}, {"id": 763378176, "item_id": 47711136, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47711136", "by": "nezaj", "date": "2026-04-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Instant is 100% open source!", "excerpt": "For what it's worth, Instant is 100% open source! https://github.com/instantdb/instant", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instant 1.0, a backend for AI-coded apps"}, {"id": 737460752, "item_id": 46091297, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46091297", "by": "stopachka", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Added the PR for it here:", "excerpt": "Good idea! Added the PR for it here: https://github.com/instantdb/instant/pull/2010 Once this lands lightbox should be up. Thank you!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Codex, Opus, Gemini try to build Counter Strike"}]}