Hey everyone,
I’m evaluating Directus 11 for a large-scale, enterprise-style project that involves both a web admin and a React Native mobile app with offline sync capabilities.
We’ve used traditional CMS platforms before (like Sitefinity), but ran into challenges like upgrade complexity, database dependency, slow API response under load, and limited control over data.
Before we fully commit to Directus, I’d love to validate whether it’s the right long-term choice — both technically and strategically.
Here’s what I’m trying to understand from anyone who’s used Directus in real production:
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Architecture & Scalability: How well does Directus scale for enterprise-grade, data-heavy systems?
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Performance: Can it efficiently handle milliions of records and large relational datasets with low latency?
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Offline Mobile Sync: For mobile apps (React Native + WatermelonDB), how practical is it to use Directus APIs for large initial syncs (10k+ product records within 2 minutes with pagination) and incremental updates?
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Real-Time Support: Has anyone implemented real-time updates via Directus WebSockets, and how stable is it?
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Data Control: Since Directus connects directly to an SQL database (no ORM), is this safe and reliable for long-term enterprise use?
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Licensing: Any concerns with the BSL model (especially for future commercial scaling)?
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Enterprise Readiness: Is it proven in production at enterprise scale, or still better suited for mid-size deployments?
Also open to comparisons — how does Directus stack up against Strapi or a custom Node.js CMS in terms of:
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API speed under high load
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Real-time updates
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Offline sync handling
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Long-term maintenance and extensibility
Would love to hear real-world experiences, good or bad. Thanks in advance — your insights will really help in making a confident, future-proof decision.
Jonathan answered it well!
I am biased of course, but yes Directus is in production with a number of very large enterprise projects that include millions of records, 100s of millions of monthly API calls, etc. Infrastructure and devops are key to successful deployments and performance for these use cases, but Directus has been architected as cloud native with vertical and horizontal scaling support. Our team will be happy to chat with you about your project and help you with your evaluation. https://directus.io/contact
– jonathanwagnerHi Jonathan, We’re evaluating Directus for a mobile-first offline app. How well does it scale horizontally, and are there any known issues? Can it handle syncing ~10k records in under 2 mins on first install? Does it support delta sync via REST/WebSocket out of the box? Also, is there a React Native SDK or client library? Lastly, does Directus support read replica scaling natively or do we need AWS RDS Proxy?
– Desh_NaikHello :) Directus scales horizontally very well - it's stateless by design, so you can run multiple instances behind a load balancer without special configuration. No known major issues with horizontal scaling. Offline Sync & Performance Initial sync of 10k records: Achievable under 2 minutes depending on record complexity and network conditions. Use pagination (limit and offset) and the fields parameter to optimize payload size.
– jonathanwagnerDelta sync: Directus doesn't provide built-in delta sync, but you could implement it using either: - Timestamp-based queries with filter[date_updated][_gte]=<last_sync_timestamp> OR - WebSockets via the Directus Realtime API for live updates (subscription-based, not automatic delta sync) No official React Native SDK, but the Directus JavaScript SDK (@directus/sdk) works in React Native environments since it's framework-agnostic and uses standard fetch API.
– jonathanwagnerDirectus doesn't have native read replica awareness - if you connect with our team we can discuss possible options for this to find a workable solution. Directus uses Redis for multi-node deployments and supports CDN as well.
– jonathanwagner