8DB | The embeddable, post-quantum database
Keep control of your data as it moves from your application through infrastructure you don’t control.
Protected local storage. Recipient-protected exchange. A path for changing cryptography. Together in an embeddable, omnimodal database.
Recipient-protected messageProtection travels with the messageIllustrated with the reviewed lexical exchange profile. Explore the protection →
Choose who can open a message, across its route.
02 / ReachBring the database to your application.A common engine for different data and devices.
03 / LongevityPlan for the next cryptographic change.Connect versions, migration and recovery.
Protection is qualified by workload and deployment. The reviewed integrated exchange supports canonical lexical records. See data and device fit →
The buying decision
Your team needs the whole path to work: local data, trusted recipients, protected exchange and recoverable change. The difference is how much you have to connect and maintain.
Each component can do its job well. Your application connects their keys, permissions, data copies and change procedures.
Explore Oracle, Db2, PostgreSQL and embedded alternatives →Supported paths bring storage, exchange and cryptographic change together. Your application has fewer separate boundaries to coordinate.
Map the supported path for your application →You control enrollment, root-secret custody and deployment policy. Compare the exact workload and configuration you plan to run.
01 / Keep control along the route
A quantum-safe connection protects a link. Your application needs protection to survive forwarding, local storage and later recovery. Start by identifying every place that receives plaintext.
The node protects the message before it enters the network.
Can read its dataReceives no payload keys. Inner protection survives an outer connection ending here.
Cannot open the payloadThe node reseals its local records under independent storage keys.
Can read authorized data8DB example: reviewed lexical node profile. Secure endpoints, trusted enrollment and key custody are required. Relays can observe routing metadata and disrupt delivery.
Attackers can retain vulnerable encrypted exchanges today for decryption by a future quantum computer. Protecting the inner message lets participating 8DB nodes establish PQ protection without waiting for every network intermediary to upgrade.
NIST on the quantum threat ↗Provisioned 8DB core storage operates in process with the network disabled. Its tested local operations require no online external key-management or identity service. Your deployment still protects root secrets, enrolls endpoints and defines authority.
Read the disconnected-store evidence ↗The reviewed node exchange uses ML-KEM-1024 key establishment, ML-DSA-87 frame authentication and AES-256 payload protection. Recipients verify and open messages, then reseal local records under independent storage keys. The stored-record comparison uses AES-256-GCM-SIV. Endpoint compromise, enrollment and key custody remain part of the security model. Relays can still observe routing metadata or interrupt service.
Inspect the implementation and lexical admission profile ↗02 / Bring more of your application together
A service record, a sensor stream and a relationship can belong to the same application. A shared information architecture helps you connect them without making every data shape a separate system to govern.
Connect a service record, a sensor trend, a relationship and a similarity query through shared typed information. Supported projections can reuse its governance and provenance.
Explore data models and operations ↗iOS · watchOS · macOS · Windows · Linux · Android
Run in process on the platforms your application uses, with work sized to the device. A field team can use its provisioned local store while a connection is unavailable.
Explore embedded deployment ↗03 / Protect the useful life of your data
The cost of a cryptographic change reaches into applications, old data and restored backups. 8DB connects version awareness, controlled migration and recovery so your team can manage the transition as a lifecycle.
Inspect record versions and dataset cryptographic posture.
Select the active write version and govern supported legacy reads.
Prepare and verify a replacement generation before activation.
Resume interrupted work and apply current authority to managed recovery.
Report migration status and remaining managed-copy obligations.
8DB’s versioned ciphertext and registered implementations let supported old and new versions coexist. Applications share a dispatch path while stored information moves forward. Configured controls, managed recovery and posture reports connect the change to evidence of what happened.
Oracle offers online tablespace rekeying, with auxiliary storage and master-key coordination. SQLCipher supplies migration tools; non-default legacy settings can require manual export, and applications handle upgrade detection. Separate stores and exports still need coordinated plans.
The published vendor-run lexical test migrates 100,000 records from HKDF-SHA-256 to HKDF-SHA-384 with AES-256-GCM-SIV unchanged, including interruption and recovery. Retained runs include read-deadline failures; process outages are recorded separately. New algorithms need implemented and validated providers. Migration consumes resources and is not a zero-downtime guarantee.
04 / Make efficiency part of the design
Large public-key objects needn’t be repeated on every small record. 8DB separates key establishment, record encryption and shared integrity boundaries, so each layer pays for the work it needs.
Additional PQ ciphertext bytes per record,
before database framing and metadata.
PQ key establishment prepares the key. The record still uses AES-256-GCM-SIV, keeping large public-key operations outside this encryption step.
Key establishment, envelopes and signatures retain their separate costs.
Four historical host pairs recorded encryption medians within 0.55%, with keys already established. Later paired measurements used 2,000 samples per arm on x86_64 and ARM. These vendor-run component observations exclude setup and do not measure a complete database write or transfer.
Latest paired results and methodology ↗Historical host results ↗PostgreSQL and MongoDB applications can also amortize key establishment and signatures. 8DB provides an integrated implementation; these component results establish the record-path behavior, not a whole-system speed or storage ranking.
Explore the measurements and full cost accounting ↗05 / Compare the complete application
Oracle, Db2, PostgreSQL, MongoDB and embedded databases give teams useful building blocks. Look at what each approach provides, then at the work needed to deliver your complete application.
Protect database connections and encrypt stored data, with local or centralized keystores depending on configuration.
Identify every endpoint that sees plaintext. Add inner payload protection where a gateway or service must forward data without reading it. Coordinate separate device stores and their recovery policies.
8DB combines recipient-protected exchange, local admission and resealing inside the embedded node. Your relay can carry the message without its payload keys.
PostgreSQL 18 exposes TLS groups supplied by its OpenSSL build. A compatible OpenSSL 3.5 configuration and client can enable hybrid PQ key establishment; successful negotiation must be verified.
Compose endpoint storage, identity, recipient protection, sharing and recovery around the server. Check the negotiated profile and authentication separately from key exchange.
8DB brings protected local storage and authenticated PQ message exchange into the engine's supported node path, reducing the interfaces the application has to assemble.
Encrypt selected fields in the client before the server receives them. This already addresses a real trust boundary.
Select fields and query behavior, provision keys, and connect protection to any local device database, sharing protocol and recovery workflow. Validate the complete cryptographic profile.
8DB is a fit to examine when the application also needs a protected local database, recipient exchange and a common lifecycle for multiple data shapes.
SQLCipher encrypts an embedded SQLite database. Couchbase Lite provides peer replication, conflict management and resilient synchronization. These are distinct products with different roles.
For a SQLCipher design, supply sharing and identity. For a Couchbase Lite design, check required PQ algorithms and intermediary trust. In either case, map migration and restored copies across the complete application.
8DB's proposition combines protected storage, local authority and PQ exchange within one engine's supported paths. Compare the integration work and measured behavior of the actual deployment.
Combines multiple data models and an embedded deployment option. Model breadth and embeddability are established buying options.
Check which useful operations share the required protection, authority, exchange and recovery behavior in the chosen configuration.
8DB connects its omnimodal architecture to its protected data lifecycle. The useful comparison is the supported workload your team can keep within that common foundation.
Architectural comparisons, reviewed September 2026. Capabilities depend on versions and configuration. This is a comparison of documented approaches, not an exhaustive PQC market ranking or matched performance benchmark.
06 / Follow the claim to its evidence
Use the published work to choose a starting point. Then measure your data, devices and required guarantees together.
Recipient protection, authentication, lexical admission and local resealing.
Component measurementsSame-cipher storage and timing, with separate setup and transfer costs.
Cryptographic lifecycleVersions, key epochs, signatures, migration and managed-copy evidence.
Current scopeTested paths, retained results and remaining deployment gates.
Questions that change the decision
Recipient-protected messages add protection inside the transport. TLS still has a useful role for the outer connection. A fair evaluation counts actual handshakes, connection reuse, encapsulation, signatures, payload bytes and durable receipt on both sides.
The measured same-cipher record has zero additional PQ ciphertext bytes before framing and metadata. Key establishment, signatures, envelopes and complete transfers have costs. Same-cipher timing observations do not establish zero overhead for an entire database or device.
8DB publishes broad data representations and six operating-system targets. Qualification depends on the combination of operation, data schema, resource budget and protection profile. The reviewed integrated exchange currently admits canonical lexical records. Start an application evaluation with the actual workflow.
Compare energy per completed job, peak memory, total stored and transmitted bytes, cold-start latency and sustained throughput under the same guarantees. Reducing separate services and copies can reduce operating work; no universal battery-life or total-cost saving is established by the current component measurements.
Dataset reports make cryptographic versions and managed-copy obligations inspectable. They support assessment. Certification, application controls and unmanaged historical copies require their own evidence.
From architecture to your application
Bring a workflow you need to protect. We’ll map a supported starting point and propose the tests that matter to your team.
Discuss your evaluation ↗Start with a non-sensitive description. No production data needed.