Here is the fifth edition of our Weekly Office 2.0 Roundup. Today, we will review 9 online databases, from Caspio to Zoho Creator. We will identify some unique features that might help your own selection processâ€"if youre not already set, and you will get a chance to cast your vote for the best online database.

With the help of many contributors, we completed the Database section of the Office 2.0 Database. From the 9 players we identified, 8 can be used for storing both public and private data, while one (Google Base) is for public data only. 8 applications are actively developed and supported by legitimate companies, while one is a personal project (Lazybase, developed by Toby Segaran).

Functionality
From a functionality standpoint, the range of solutions currently available is fairly broad, from the simplest record keeping applications, to the most advanced application development environments. Some applications, such as QuickBase for example, also provide complete business solutions for project management, issue management, and sales management. Nevertheless, we will focus this article on core database features. Users interested by business solutions should consider the use of a CRM application as an alternative to an online database. When comparing online databases to their offline counterparts, such as Microsoft Access or FileMaker, the most significant feature gap is around development tools for building highly-customized forms and reports. This is an area where some progress needs to be made, even through Zoho Creator, with its proprietary scripting language, or QuickBase, with its advanced reporting capabilities, are demonstrating some very impressive capabilities.

Ease of Migration
Migration from an offline database to an online one can either be trivial, or close to impossible if data schemas are complex and a lot of custom business logic has been developed. In the simpler cases, an export to a CSV file followed by an import into the online database will be all it takes to get you going really. Some applications, such as Dabble DB, even allow you to copy data from a spreadsheet editor and paste it directly into a form, then creating data schemas automatically based on the content of the first row. In more complex cases where multiple relational tables needs to be imported while preserving all relationships, some manual work is required, but is usually a matter of hours or days. Down the road, I would expect the leaders in the space to automate such a process, and provide import capabilities for the most popular offline database tools, including Microsoft Access, Microsoft FoxPro, FileMaker, and 4D.

Price
Four out of the nine applications we reviewed are entirely free, which makes their long-term survival questionable, at the exception of Google Base and Zoho Creator, which are backed by larger, profitable companies. The commercial ones all offer free evaluation versions, but none offer a free edition. Pricing ranges from $10 a month to $5,000 a month for a large number of users. When considering hardware, bandwidth, and administration costs usually involved in the maintenance of a database management system, online alternatives should end up being significantly more cost effective than offline counterparts, while providing additional value in terms of collaboration and online publishing. Nevertheless, their limited development tools might require the use of separate technologies for the development of custom applications, which could significantly offset any cost savings originally expected.

Alternatives
As mentioned above, a CRM application can be a good alternative to an online database, especially in the case where business solutions such as project management or issue management are needed. Nevertheless, not all CRM applications reviewed in last weeks CRM roundup support the development of custom objects, and when they do, they tend to be more complex to use than online databases. An other interesting alternative can be found with some Development Tools, especially Coghead, which brings together databases and workflow into a very attractive platform for developing custom applications. The tool is still in private beta today, but I managed to get preview accounts for a couple of folks, so feel free to drop me an email if youre interested.

Top Players
Several online databases do make use of HTTPS, therefore the Alexa ranking is not as reliable as we would like it to be. Nevertheless, and according to this ranking, we can extrapolate a list of top players in the space, which is somehow corroborated by their respective Google PageRanks. Exceptionally, we excluded Google Base, for it cannot be used to manage private data.

Editor's note: Alexa only ranks primary domains, not subdomains. Therefore, traffic generated by Zoho Creator is merged with the traffic generated by all applications provided by Zoho. Nevertheless, Zoho Creator accounts for 7% of Zohos overall traffic, making it a credible top player on the list.

Quick Reviews
There are only 9 applications in our database, so all of them got a review.

Caspio Bridge: Caspio is one of the older players in the field, and the only one with QuickBase to focus on larger customers. Caspio provides a very complete list of features, and is very much akin to an application development platform. On the back-end, it is powered by Microsoft SQL Server. On the front-end, it provides highly customizable user interfaces that can address the needs of the most demanding enterprise customers. Caspio puts a strong emphasis on security, and provides fine-grain access control to data. It also exposes a lot of the more advanced features provided by Microsoft SQL Server in terms of querying and reporting, while making administration an order of magnitude simpler. Finally, it is one of the very few online databases to provide a complete web service API, making it suitable for integration with third-party transactional applications. If youre looking for an enterprise-grade solution, make sure to check them out.

Dabble DB: Dabble DB is developed by a small company from Vancouver, BC, and can be considered as a pioneer in the area of AJAX-based online databases. The founders have taken a radical approach to solving the problem of managing data online through simple metaphors, and came up with what I believe to be the simplest user interface out there. They were also the first to introduce a variety of feeds for your data, in multiple formats including CSV, JSON, PDF, RSS, and Text. More recently, they added support for charts and maps, giving us a good preview for what online Business Intelligence (BI) might look like down the road. Developers tip: the default JSON feed has a .json extension, but if you replace it by a .js extension, the resulting feed might be easier to parse in JavaScript.

eUnifyDB: eUnifyDB does not have the mindshare of a Dabble DB or Zoho Creator, but it provides one of the most complete feature sets out there, as demonstrated by this comparison with QuickBase. With fine-grain access control, support for advanced views, and a full-fledged API, it is a good alternative to Caspio Bridge or QuickBase, for a fraction of the price. Definitely worth considering if budget is an issue.

Google Base: Google Base is quite different from the other applications we reviewed, for it makes all data available publicly. Nevertheless, its API is quite interesting, and the idea of being able to mesh data from multiple sources extremely attractive. Along these lines, it will be interesting to see mashups combining Google Base and Swivel for displaying complex charts pulling data from multiple public data-sets.

Lazybase: Lazybase could be described as a good free alternative to Dabble DB. It does not have the polish of its Canadian counterpart, but it shares a lot of its features in terms of feeds and support for charts and maps. It also adds some intriguing ones, such as the ability to edit the database through a secret URL without the need for logins. It also provides support for custom data types, which I have not found with many other applications out there.

MyOwnDB: MyOwnDB might be the most lightweight from all the applications we reviewed, but it is entirely free, even for multiple users. Its user interface is unencumbered, and should do the trick for simple applications. Nevertheless, developers looking for a free solution that might support longer-term projects might want to consider Lazybase or Zoho Creator as an alternative, for they offer a significantly more advanced feature set, also for free.

QuickBase: QuickBase is the absolute pioneer in the field. Its been around for many years and is owned by Intuit, making it a very safe bet. At $249 per month, its not exactly cheap, but its feature set is one of the most complete weve seen. Thanks to Intuits unique ability to gain insight from extensive focus group studies, QuickBase sports a very intuitive user interface. It also provides a wide range of business solutions, from project management, to issue management, and sales management, making it a credible competitor to many CRM solutions. If you have some of the most complex needs, and are looking for a solution that could support thousands of users, QuickBase, alongside Caspio Bridge, is what you should end up with.

Trackvia: Trackvia is not the most feature-rich of the lot, but it has a unique differentiator, as being the only player focusing on blue-colar users. For this purpose, it sports a streamlined user interface that could be used on a factory floor, or from a shipping dock. Its a brand new player in the field, so its too early to tell whether it will have traction with customers, but industry verticalization might be a good way to develop a nice franchise within a fairly crowded market.

Zoho Creator: Zoho Creator is as much a development tool as it is a database, hence the name. On the surface, the application looks similar to something like Dabble DB, but as you drill down, you quickly realize that youre dealing with a different beast altogether. Indeed, Zoho Creator was architected around a proprietary scripting engine developed by AdventNet, Zohos parent company, that allows developers to build custom business logic using simple procedural code. What makes Zoho Creator particularly appealing is that in developing its engine, AdventNet took an approach similar to Microsofts regarding .Net, and developed a generic virtual machine that can support multiple syntaxes, from Basic, to PHP, and JavaScript. Because of this, Zoho Creator is closer to a traditional database development tool than any other application we reviewed, and should be considered if your project requires the development of custom business logic. Also, Zoho Creator provides direct integration with Zoho Sheet, allowing mass editing of data from a spreadsheet user interface.

Personal Favorite
I have built applications with both Dabble DB and Zoho Creator, but Dabble DB is the one I use on a daily basis, mainly because of its ultra-slick user interface. Dabble DB is the database engine that powers the Office 2.0 Database, My Office 2.0 Setup, the Intalio website, my flight log, and a handful of other applications. My only request for Andrew and Avi at Smallthought, the maker of Dabble DB, would be to add an easy way to create data entry forms that could be added to any web page through a simple JavaScript badge, without having to write any code. I know theyve been working on this for quite some time, and I cant wait to see what they will come up with.

Whats Missing
Online databases are really starting to match the capabilities offered by their offline counterparts, but some more work remains to be done in order to support the development of full-fledged applications. For most of the applications we reviewed, better support for the publishing of data entry forms, the WYSIWYG creation of reporting forms, and the ability to support more sophisticated user workflows would be welcome. Also, simple ways of granting access at the record level would make it a lot easier to create a broad range of applications, as described in this earlier article.

Insiders Tips
Keep an eye on Zoho, for theyll soon release an amazing product in this space.

Best Online Database
Now that we know whats out there, its time for a vote:

Note: if you cannot see the voting form, please follow this link.

Final results will be announced next week as an update to this post. In the meantime, please help me build next weeks roundup on Desktop. You can use this form courtesy of Wufoo for suggesting new applications, or providing additional information about existing ones. I would also welcome ideas for domain-specific criteria that could be used for evaluating the players on our list.

See you next week!