Top 5 Open Source Databases

December 25, 2022 By Matthew Rathbone

MySQL

Widely used: MySQL is one of the most popular open source databases and is used by a large number of websites, including many high-traffic ones. As a result, it has a large and active community of users and developers, which means that there is a wealth of documentation and support available online.
Scalable: MySQL is designed to scale well, both in terms of the amount of data it can handle and the number of users it can support. It supports a range of storage engines that can be customized for specific workloads, making it suitable for both small and large applications.

Limited functionality: While MySQL is a solid choice for many applications, it does not offer some of the more advanced features that are available in other database systems. For example, it does not support features such as materialized views and arrays, which can be found in other databases.

Feature-rich: PostgreSQL is known for its comprehensive set of features, which includes support for triggers, views, and stored procedures. It also supports a wide range of data types and has support for full-text search and advanced indexing options.
Strong community support: PostgreSQL has a large and active community of users and developers, which means that there is a wealth of documentation and support available online. In addition, the database has a long history and has a reputation for stability and reliability.

Complex to set up and manage: While PostgreSQL is a powerful and feature-rich database, it can be complex to set up and manage, especially for users who are not familiar with database administration. It may require more expertise and resources to maintain than other databases.

Document-oriented: MongoDB is a document-oriented database, which means that it stores data in the form of JSON-like documents rather than traditional rows and columns. This can make it easier to work with data that has a complex structure, as you can store nested documents and arrays within a single record.
Scalable: MongoDB is designed to scale horizontally, which means that it can easily handle a large number of users and a large amount of data. It supports a range of sharding and replication options, making it suitable for use in distributed systems.

Performance: Because MongoDB is a document-oriented database, some operations that are performant on a relational database are not performant on MongoDB. For example - analytics queries that perform collection scans to summarize data.

Scalable: Cassandra is a distributed database that is designed to scale horizontally, making it suitable for use in large and distributed systems. It is known for its ability to handle very large amounts of data and a high number of concurrent users.
High availability: Cassandra is designed with high availability in mind, and includes features such as automatic data replication and support for multiple data centers. This makes it well-suited for applications that require a high level of uptime.

Complex to set up and manage: Cassandra is a distributed database, which means that it requires a more complex setup and management than a single-node database. It can be challenging to set up and maintain, especially for users who are not familiar with distributed systems.

Lightweight: SQLite is a embedded, serverless database that does not require a separate server process to operate, you simply need the SQLite client library and you are good to go.
Simple: SQLite is easy to manage for a novice. Backing up the database is easy - simply copy the .db file, and managing user access is also easy by managing file permissions, the same as with any other file.

No horizontal scaling: SQLite is a file-based database, so you cannot access it from a remote server. This makes it impossible to scale horizontally, or even use from multiple web servers.