Couchbase Lite features and peer-to-peer sync
Couchbase Lite is an embedded NoSQL JSON document database for mobile and edge devices. Couchbase’s documentation lists SQL++ queries, full-text search, on-device vector search, local encryption, and revision control with conflict resolution. It runs on its own inside an app, or syncs bidirectionally with Couchbase Server through Sync Gateway, or with Couchbase Capella App Services.
It also syncs directly between devices, in two ways:
- Multipeer replicator. For small mesh topologies, peers in the same group discover each other and form a self-organizing mesh. If one connection fails, data can flow through other routes. Wi-Fi discovery has been available since Couchbase Lite 3.3, and Bluetooth LE since 4.1, released in June 2026. Peers authenticate with TLS certificates, and an Android device and an iOS device can replicate with each other if both run 4.1 or later with the same group ID, certificates from the same certificate authority, and matching transports. Couchbase recommends Wi-Fi as the primary transport and Bluetooth as a fallback, since Bluetooth has lower throughput and its reliability can decrease as more peers join.
- Active-passive peer-to-peer. One device runs a listener and others connect to it as clients over WebSockets, with TLS and optional client authentication. Couchbase’s API reference marks the listener class as Enterprise Edition only.
Conflict resolution works the same way for peer-to-peer sync as for Sync Gateway replication, with both automatic and custom resolvers.
Couchbase Lite editions, licensing and platforms
As of October 2026, Couchbase Lite ships as a Community Edition and an Enterprise Edition. The Couchbase Lite for iOS repository on GitHub states that its source is released under the Apache 2.0 license and offers Community and Enterprise packages. Vector search is an Enterprise-only extension, and the peer-to-peer listener is Enterprise Edition only, as above.
Couchbase lists Android (Java and Kotlin), iOS (Swift and Objective-C), .NET, C and C++, and React Native among its platforms, with Ionic and Flutter maintained by the community. The React Native plugin, version 1.1, is built on Couchbase Lite Enterprise 3.3.3 for iOS and Android, and its documentation states that a license is required to use the Enterprise edition. The same page lists peer-to-peer sync as not supported in the plugin. A React Native team that needs devices to sync with each other through Couchbase would therefore need native code of its own.
Offline Protocol mesh SDK features
Offline Protocol is a mesh SDK that runs inside the app on each device. In version 0.30.0 it is a React Native native module for iOS and Android, with a Rust core on crates.io, a Python package on PyPI, a Java package on Maven Central, a C API, early native Swift and Android packages and a preview Flutter plugin. Devices discover each other over Bluetooth LE, establish MLS-encrypted sessions and groups, and exchange messages, replicated documents and service calls. Messages are relayed across other devices, with an initial limit of 8 hops, and a hosted relay carries traffic when no local path exists.
It is not a database. Documents hold maps, lists, text and counters that merge by fixed rules, are capped at 1 MiB each in version 0.30.0, and are read as JSON rather than queried. Your application keeps its own database for everything outside the shared scope.
Couchbase Lite vs Offline Protocol differences
Couchbase Lite is an embedded document database with queries and sync, while Offline Protocol is a mesh SDK for messages, shared documents and service calls.
| Couchbase Lite | Offline Protocol | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An embedded document database with queries and sync | A mesh SDK for messages, shared documents and service calls |
| Server sync | Sync Gateway or Capella App Services | Not included; the app sends records to its own backend |
| Device to device | Multipeer replicator over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE; active-passive over WebSockets | Bluetooth LE mesh with multi-hop relay, or a hosted relay |
| Security between devices | TLS with certificate-based peer identity | MLS end-to-end encryption, with Ed25519 device identity |
| React Native (as of October 2026) | Plugin 1.1, Enterprise license, no peer-to-peer sync | @offline-protocol/mesh-sdk 0.30.0 on iOS and Android |
| Native SDKs | Swift, Objective-C, Kotlin, Java, .NET, C | Rust; Python on PyPI; Java on Maven Central as com.offlineprotocol:offline-protocol-java; C through offline_protocol.h in the desktop archives; early Swift and Android packages whose API is not settled yet; a preview Flutter plugin, used as a path dependency and not on pub.dev yet |
| Licensing (as of October 2026) | Community and Enterprise editions; Enterprise needs a license from Couchbase | AGPL-3.0-only, or a commercial license; local traffic never metered |
Best fit for Couchbase Lite
For an app that needs a full queryable database on the device, Couchbase Lite does far more than Offline Protocol. Choose it if:
- You are building native Swift or Kotlin apps and want one vendor for the local database, queries, server sync and device-to-device sync.
- Your devices share a Wi-Fi network most of the time, with Bluetooth as a fallback, and your mesh is small.
- A Couchbase Server or Capella deployment fits your backend, and you have confirmed with Couchbase which edition and license your features need.
Best fit for Offline Protocol
Offline Protocol fits React Native apps whose devices must coordinate directly, which Couchbase’s React Native plugin does not cover as of October 2026. Choose it if:
- Your app is React Native and its devices must coordinate directly, over Bluetooth LE or relayed across several devices.
- The work between devices is messages, handoffs or service calls as much as shared data.
- You want MLS end-to-end encryption between devices and your existing database left as it is.
The day-to-day benefit is the same one either product’s peer-to-peer mode offers: crews working side by side share state without routing every change through a server. With Offline Protocol that local traffic is never metered on any plan. The mesh SDK is free under AGPL-3.0-only when the app meets its obligations, and closed-source or App Store apps need the commercial license, which is annual with no published price.
Using Couchbase Lite with Offline Protocol
An app can keep Couchbase Lite as its local database and its sync to Couchbase servers, and use Offline Protocol for messages and service calls between nearby devices. Avoid having both replicate the same records between peers: two peer-to-peer paths for one record mean two sets of conflict rules to reconcile. Give each its own job and let the app write the results of local coordination into Couchbase Lite.