Over the years, database engines have evolved drastically. Today we have plenty of database engine options to choose from with each database engine offering specific solutions to meet the demands of organizations.
The simple definition of a database is that it is an orderly collection of structured data that is stored in a computer. It is taken care of by a database management system (DBMS) and is associated with the field of software development. For software developers, it is extremely crucial to identify which database they should use for particular software architecture. Since new database engines are emerging every now and then, developers have an abundance of database engines to choose from.
There are two types of central databases, namely SQL & NoSQL. SQL is a programming language used by all relational databases to manipulate queries and define data to control supply access. SQL was launched at IBM by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce in the early 1970s. On the other hand, a NoSQL database gives a medium for storing and retrieving the modeled data.
10 Best Database Engines
While having so many databases, it will be technically challenging to find the best one. Therefore, we will share some of the best and trending database engines for building top-quality projects.
1. Oracle
Oracle is one of the most popular database engines. The reason behind the widespread popularity of Oracle Database is that it is easy to use and comes with well-written documentation. Oracle is the number one commercially assisted database and of the most used relational database management system. The latest Oracle release (21.c) has added many innovative traits to make a winning option in the future.
Oracle Database 12c provides numerous features that allow customers to meet specific requirements, such as scalability, performance, high availability, and data warehousing. Oracle Database delivers excellent performance, especially when challenged with demanding tasks. You will get the ACID test, which is an additional tool used to check data integrity. Oracle offers flashback technology which provides many advantages as follows.
Flashback Database: You can restore the entire database to a particular point-in-time with Oracle optimized flashback logs.
Flashback Table: You can quickly recover tables to a precise point-in-time.
Flashback Drop: You can easily recover a suddenly dropped table. It will restore the dropped table with all of its indexes, triggers, and Recycle Bin constraints.
Flashback Transaction: You can undo the effects of a single transaction.
Flashback Query: You can easily query any data at some point-in-time in the past. This feature can be used to view and logically restore corrupted data that may have been changed accidentally.
Pros
- Oracle is based on the PL/SQL programming construct.
- It supports peer-to-peer fellowships aid to solve puzzles.
- Oracle database signifies security and guarantees that user data is not meddling with prompt updates.
- Oracle brings data through the node of the asked key.
Cons
- Needs improvement in pricing so it can be much more competitive with other RDMBS option.
- Oracle takes a lot of space.
2. MYSQL
MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS) developed by Oracle Corporation and written in C and C++ languages. Enterprises can utilize the free community server and later upgrade to the business version. Besides, it runs perfectly on Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris systems. The best part about MySQL is that it allows programmers to modify the MySQL software to apply their own ideas as MySQL is open-source and has a GPLv2 license. MySQL is easy to use, scalable comes with robust security features.
The open-source community of MySQL brings a notable voluminous bank of tutorials and useful information available for developers. Being scalable and flexible, it is fully capable of handling the requirements of deeply embedded applications. MYSQL architecture allows database professionals to configure the MySQL database for a particular application.
Pros
- MySQL has comprehensive transaction support.
- The availability of a wide range of user interfaces makes it convenient to work with MySQL.
Cons
- MySQL is not as developed as other relational database management systems.
- It takes a lot of time and consideration to develop incremental backups.
3. Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL server was introduced by Microsoft Corporation for the first time in 1989 and it is written in C and C++. Microsoft SQL Server is one of the leading commercial database systems with high-quality Tooling support from Microsoft. The installation and configuration of the server are much more accessible. You don’t need to have any unique toolkit to install the software. Most importantly, Microsoft SQL Server can reduce the risk of losing data with data recovery and restoration features. Programmers can install different versions of Microsoft SQL Server in one machine. The database management system comes in handy for generating scripts for data movement.
Microsoft SQL offers numerous advantages to its users. For instance, it provides streamlined installation, which means it can easily be installed via a setup wizard and automatically dictates the update. The SQL server has a specific policy to detect security functions.
Pros
- It reduces temporary database problems.
- Microsoft SQL Server supports SQL language and helps to maintain standby servers.
Cons
- It is ideal for only large companies due to its extended functionalities.
4. PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is an enterprise-based open-source database management system. It carries advanced data type and performance optimization features. Besides, PostgreSQL is highly scalable for object-relational databases. PostgreSQL efficiently runs on Windows, Linux, OSX, and several other operating systems. PostgreSQL is also popularly known as Postgres.
Some of the main features of PostgreSQL are, tablespaces support, stored procedures, joins, triggers, views, etc. Significant improvement in PostgreSQL 10 comes from logical replication that uses publish, declarative table partitioning, and strong password authentication. This password authentication is based on SCRAM-SHA-256.
PostgreSQL can quickly run on websites and web apps as a LAMP stack addon. Besides, you can also access the source code of PostgreSQL as it a free and open-source RDBMS.
Pros
- PostgreSQL has support for multi-version concurrency control.
- PostgreSQL has a large number of interface tools.
- It provides a point in time recovery solutions.
- PostgreSQL provides multi-version concurrency control (MVCC)
Cons
- There have been some cases where many software developers have faced less mature replication software issues.
- The actual configuration can be daunting due to its comprehensive functionalities.
5. MongoDB
MongoDB was developed by MongoDB Inc. in 2007. MongoDB is a document database that comes with numerous features. It makes software development easier with its scalable and flexible nature. It presents a simple model for developers to learn and use. The great thing about MongoDB is that it comes with significant abilities required to meet the most complex requirements in software development.
MongoDB is considered to be the best dynamic query along with defining indexes. It uses a flexible structure that can be quickly modified and extended. Programmers will be able to write without downtime issues.
MongoDB fortifies OSX, Linux, and Windows, although the DB size is restricted to 2.5 GB on a 32bit system. However, it’s essential to have eyeballs on MongoDB’s advantages. It facilitates faster access of the data due to its feature of internal memory for storage. It is a NoSQL database that is 100% secure because of no SQL injection. Besides, MongoDB supports the search by regex and fields.
Pros
- MongoDB provides high performance along with auto-sharding.
- It is easier to set up on any device as compared with other complex databases.
- It supports ad-hoc queries.
Cons
- Data size is reasonably larger as compared to many other databases.
- Nesting of documents is limited.
6. DB2
DB2 is a database server developed by IBM in 1987. It is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). DB2 helps to store, retrieve, and analyze data efficiently. Another great thing about DB2 is that it comes with object-oriented features and supports a non-relational structure with XML.
This database program is written in C, C++, and Java. DB2 is currently available for Linux and Windows operating systems. Also, it is ideal for IBM host environments.
Pros
- Programmers can benefit from this database because it runs multiple jobs using a task scheduler.
- It supports both SQL and NoSQL data models.
- DB2 provides a single application developer who can design, build and prototype the application for deployment from any server.
Cons
- Developers will get the necessary support which is only available for three years.
- It is not ideal for small organizations due to its high cost.
7. Redis
Redis is an open-source and fastest in-memory database. It has a BSD license and the program is written in C that is well optimized for speed. Redis also means Remote Dictionary Server. Many times Redis is considered as a data structure server because of its code data types. These data types are similar to those found in programming languages like lists, dictionaries, hashes, sets, strings, and sorted sets.
Redis also delivers many kinds of data structures and features for approximate counting, geolocation, and stream processing. The operation of Redis is atomic. It is commonly deployed on IaaS or PaaS platforms like Rackspace and Amazon Web, and Heroku.
Pros
- Redis is easy to install
- The most significant advantage of Redis is its 10000 SETs per second, about 81000 GETs per second speed.
- It uses multi-utility tools that are pretty rare.
Cons
- The main drawback is the dataset has to fit conveniently in memory.
- Programmers will need to understand the fundamentals of Lua for stored procedures.
8. Elasticsearch
Elasticsearch is an open-source analytics search engine. Besides, it is readily-scalable, broadly-distributable, enterprise-grade, and has many analytical engine features. These features are textual, numerical, geospatial, structured, and unstructured. However, Elasticseach is accessible through an extensive and elaborate API. Elasticsearch, another name is Elastic, developed by Elastic NV and built on the Apache Lucene platform in 2010. It is famous among the developers due to its REST APIs, speed, scalability, and distributed nature.
This database includes business analytics, security analytics, and geospatial data analysis and visualization. Some of the main features are the support of multi-tenancy and scalable search with near real-time search abilities. Aside from this, it is scalable up to petabytes of structured and unstructured data.
Pros
- Elasticsearch is schema-free and document-oriented.
- It has powerful full-text search capabilities.
- Elasticsearch supports multi-tenancy.
Cons
- There have been many cases where developers have faced the split-brain problem.
9. SQLite
SQLite is a relational database management system implemented as a C library. SQLite is lightweight in terms of database administration, setup, and required resources. The main highlights of SQLite are that it is self-contained, zero-configuration, and transactional. It provides a serverless architecture that helps to moderate applications.
Unlike other database management systems, SQLite does not attribute to only the client-server database engine. SQLite is developed by Dwayne Richard Hipp and written in the C language. Most importantly, it supports MapReduce with Apache Hadoop. SQLite is highly scalable and supports linear scalability.
Pros
- It has a quicker response time as compared to other databases.
- It has a robust multi-DC replication.
- SQLite is easy to install and does not require any additional configuration.
Cons
- Lack of built-in data encryption.
- It provides limited scope to tune performance in challenging scenarios.
10. Microsoft Access
Microsoft Access is a complete database management system that joins the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with graphical user interface tools. It can be used to create application software and is commonly used by data architects and software developers.
Besides, it can also be used to manage bills, accounts, invoices and keep an eye on debits and credits, etc. it has three major components, including tables, queries, and relationships. It is also a segment of the Microsoft 365 suite of applications. One of MS Access’s great features is that it provides space to use VBA to write rich solutions with advanced data manipulation control.
Pros
- Microsoft Access is very easy to install compared to many other database management systems.
- It is easy to integrate and has a Jet Database format.
- It can import and export data to many formats such as Excel, Outlook, ASCll, dBase, FoxPro, and SQL server.
Cons
- The time-critical transactions are complicated.
- Many programmers say it’s challenging to incorporate multimedia data.
Conclusion
We have discussed 10 of the best database management engines along with their core advantages and disadvantages. Each database comes with specific features that tend to fulfill the particular requirements of developers.
Before choosing a database engine, one most critical question that every enterprise should ask themselves is – what kind of project they are trying to build? Once they gain complete clarity about their requirements, it would be quite easy to choose the perfect database management system.
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