CouchDB is possibly a better example, as you actually can have single-page applications connecting directly to the DB for streaming updates. That being said, I

CouchDB is possibly a better example, as you actually can have single-page applications connecting directly to the DB for streaming updates. That being said, I think you're right: Whatever DB, server, or client tech you use, the real-time synchronization stuff seems like a minor add on. Meteor seems predicated on the idea that you can't do synchronization with whatever random stack you want, but need to use Mongo as the DB, Meteor as the server, and Meteor as the client. This is kinda nuts; you can trivially do it with any tech stack. Postges, Express, and Knockout.JS? Sure, will work great. Firebase and React? Super. MySQL, PHP, and some jQuery soup? Yep. (Hint: Don't do that. But it'll work.) And with all due respect to the Meteor team, I think React or Mithril are much better frameworks than what they're developing. Honestly, I feel like the Meteor guys have such a bad case of NIH syndrome that I'm always slightly surprisd they're using Mongo, and didn't write their own DB too.