MongoDB Alternatives

Updated August 7, 2023

Introduction to MongoDB Alternatives

MongoDB is a database management system. It uses a document-oriented database model and supports various forms of data. It is a non-relational database technology used for big data applications where the data is in an unstructured format. Instead of tables and rows, the architecture uses collections and documents. Hence the data in MongoDB is essential ‘schema-less’, which makes MongoDB a very fast and scalable application. MongoDB is written in C++ which makes it faster than most of the other competitors. MongoDB is very efficient in cases where significant scalability and caching for real-time analytics on unstructured data are required. MongoDB is very much suitable for Mobile apps, content management, real-time analytics, and applications involving IoT. Like everything else, MongoDB has its pros and cons. Let’s dive in further to analyze the limitations of MongoDB and other alternatives that are suitable for various requirements.

Pros and Cons of MongoDB

Following are the different pros and cons of Mongodb:

Pros of MongoDB:

• MongoDB can be used to store unstructured data.
• In a way that is relatively straightforward to update.
• It offers a high insert rate which is useful in a situation where the write load is high.

Cons of MongoDB:

• It is not built for transactional data.
• There is no function or stored procedure where the logic can be bound.
• All NoSQL, most solutions are not ACID-compliant.
• MongoDB does not provide durability as a function of the tool, it does let you tune the configuration of a replica set but that means one should be willing to sacrifice enough performance.

Alternatives of MongoDB

Below are the top 8 MongoDB Alternatives:

1. RethinkDB

RethinkDB is a real-time, distributed NoSQL database that focuses on providing a seamless experience for building real-time applications. It offers a unique feature called “change feeds,” which enables applications to subscribe to changes happening in the database. This makes RethinkDB particularly well-suited for applications that require constant updates and notifications.

Key Features and Advantages of RethinkDB:

1. Real-time Push Architecture: RethinkDB’s change feeds allow applications to receive real-time updates when data changes. This is highly beneficial for applications like collaborative tools, messaging apps, or any scenario where real-time updates are critical.
2. Flexible Data Modeling: RethinkDB supports JSON-like documents and allows developers to change the schema on the fly. This flexibility can be helpful during the early stages of development when requirements may evolve.
3. Horizontally Scalable: RethinkDB supports automatic sharding and replication, making it capable of handling large-scale applications and ensuring high availability.
4. Ease of Use: RethinkDB provides a simple and intuitive query language that supports complex queries, joins, and aggregations. This can prove to be beneficial for developers who are unfamiliar with NoSQL databases.
5. Built-in Administration and Monitoring: RethinkDB has a web-based admin console allowing you to manage and monitor your database clusters easily.
6. Active Community: While RethinkDB experienced some uncertainty in the past, its community remains active, and the database is being developed and maintained.

Use Cases for RethinkDB:

1. Real-time Applications: If you’re looking for a database system that can handle real-time updates, then RethinkDB is an excellent option. It’s particularly useful for applications that need to display live information, like social media feeds, collaborative tools, and live dashboards.
2. Gaming: Online multiplayer games that need to provide real-time interaction and updates can benefit from RethinkDB’s real-time push architecture.
3. Monitoring and Analytics: Applications requiring real-time monitoring and analyzing data, such as IoT platforms or financial systems, can leverage RethinkDB’s change feeds.
4. Messaging Platforms: Chat applications and messaging platforms can take advantage of RethinkDB’s ability to propagate new messages to users instantly.
5. Prototyping and Rapid Development: RethinkDB’s flexible schema and easy-to-use query language make it a good choice for quickly building and iterating on prototypes.

2. OrientDB

OrientDB is another alternative to MongoDB, but it differentiates itself by being a multi-model NoSQL database. It combines the features of a document database, graph database, and object-oriented database, allowing developers to model data in different ways and allowing for complex relationships and traversals.

Key Features and Advantages of OrientDB:

1. Multi-Model Flexibility: OrientDB’s ability to handle multiple data models allows you to choose the best approach for your data without using multiple databases.
2. Graph Capabilities: OrientDB’s graph database features make it well-suited for applications that involve complex relationships and require efficient traversals.
3. Document Storage: Like MongoDB, OrientDB supports JSON-like documents, making it convenient to work with semi-structured data.
4. ACID Transactions: OrientDB supports ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) transactions, ensuring data integrity and reliability.
5. Scalability: OrientDB supports horizontal scalability through sharding and replication, enabling you to handle growing datasets and high traffic.
6. Full-Text Search: OrientDB includes full-text search capabilities, making it suitable for applications that require advanced search functionality.
7. Geospatial Capabilities: If your application involves geospatial data and location-based queries, OrientDB offers geospatial indexing and querying.
8. Native SQL Queries: OrientDB allows you to use SQL-like queries for data retrieval and manipulation, which can be familiar to developers with relational database experience.
9. In-Memory and Disk Storage: OrientDB supports both in-memory and disk-based storage options, providing performance optimization based on your use case.

Use Cases for OrientDB:

1. Social Networks: OrientDB’s graph capabilities are well-suited for building social networking platforms, where relationships between users, posts, and other entities are crucial.
2. Recommendation Systems: Applications that require personalized recommendations based on user behavior and preferences can benefit from OrientDB’s graph and document capabilities.
3. Content Management Systems: OrientDB’s ability to handle structured and semi-structured data makes it suitable for content-rich applications where data types vary.
4. Fraud Detection: OrientDB’s support for complex data models and fast traversals can be useful for detecting patterns and anomalies in large datasets, such as in fraud detection systems.
5. Knowledge Graphs: Organizations that need to build knowledge graphs or store interconnected information can leverage OrientDB’s graph features.
6. IoT Applications: OrientDB’s multi-model support is advantageous for IoT applications that involve diverse data types, such as sensor readings, geospatial data, and device metadata.

3. CouchDB

CouchDB is a NoSQL database that focuses on providing a consistent and reliable way to store and manage structured data. It features a decentralized architecture and supports a schema-free JSON document model, making it suitable for applications that require easy data synchronization and offline access.

Key Features and Advantages of CouchDB:

1. Distributed Architecture: CouchDB uses a peer-to-peer replication model, allowing multiple instances of the database to synchronize with each other. This feature makes it ideal for situations where information needs to be easily accessible from various devices and locations.
2. Incremental Replication: CouchDB supports incremental replication, meaning only changes since the last replication are transferred. This can significantly reduce bandwidth and improve synchronization efficiency.
3. Multi-Master Replication: CouchDB’s replication model allows for multi-master setups, enabling concurrent updates on different instances while ensuring eventual consistency.
4. Conflict Resolution: CouchDB provides mechanisms for resolving conflicts that may arise when multiple instances update the same document concurrently.
5. RESTful API: CouchDB exposes a RESTful HTTP API, which makes it easy to interact with the database using standard web technologies.
6. ACID Compliance: CouchDB offers ACID properties for single-document updates, ensuring data integrity and consistency.
7. Schema-Free: Similar to MongoDB, CouchDB’s JSON document model allows you to change the schema without affecting existing data.

Use Cases for CouchDB:

1. Mobile and Offline-First Applications: CouchDB’s ability to synchronize data across devices and handle offline access makes it an excellent choice for mobile apps and applications that need to function without a constant internet connection.
2. Collaborative and Remote Work: Applications that involve collaboration among remote team members can benefit from CouchDB’s distributed architecture and real-time synchronization capabilities.
3. Content Sharing and Versioning: CouchDB’s support for multi-master replication can be useful for applications that require content sharing and versioning, such as wikis or content management systems.
4. Data Synchronization: Any application that requires data to be synchronized across different instances or locations, such as retail point-of-sale systems or distributed sensor networks, can leverage CouchDB’s replication features.
5. Personal Information Management: CouchDB’s decentralized nature can be utilized for personal information management applications where users want to manage their data across various devices and platforms.
6. Log and Event Storage: Applications that need to store and manage large volumes of event data or logs can benefit from CouchDB’s ability to handle time-series data and distributed storage.

4. ArangoDB

ArangoDB is a versatile NoSQL database that uniquely combines key-value, document, and graph data models within a single, integrated database engine. This unique multi-model approach allows developers to work seamlessly with diverse data types and relationships, providing flexibility and efficiency for various use cases.

Key Features and Advantages of ArangoDB:

1. Multi-Model Support: ArangoDB’s unique feature is its ability to handle multiple data models within a single database, including documents and graphs. This versatility allows you to model and query complex relationships more effectively.
2. Native Graph Database: ArangoDB’s graph capabilities are ideal for applications that involve analyzing and traversing complex and interconnected data. Examples of such applications include social networks, recommendation engines, and fraud detection.
3. Joins and Transactions: ArangoDB supports ACID transactions across different data models. This enables complex queries and ensures data integrity, even when working with diverse types of data.
4. AQL (ArangoDB Query Language): ArangoDB’s query language, AQL, is designed to work seamlessly with documents, graphs, and key-value pairs. This unified approach simplifies querying and data manipulation.
5. Horizontal Scaling: ArangoDB can be deployed in a cluster for horizontal scalability and high availability. It supports automatic sharding and replication, ensuring efficient distribution of data.
6. Full-Text Search: ArangoDB includes a powerful full-text search engine, which is helpful for applications requiring efficient text-based document searches.
7. Geo-Spatial Indexing: ArangoDB offers geo-spatial indexing and querying capabilities, making it suitable for location-based services and geographic data applications.

Use Cases for ArangoDB:

1. Complex Relationships: ArangoDB is an excellent choice when your application requires modeling and querying complex relationships between entities, which can only be represented in a traditional relational database.
2. Graph-Centric Applications: Applications that heavily rely on analyzing and traversing graph data, such as social networks, recommendation systems, and knowledge graphs, can benefit from ArangoDB’s native graph capabilities.
3. Multi-Model Scenarios: When your application needs to work with multiple data models simultaneously, such as storing documents and relationships between them, ArangoDB’s ability to handle different types of data within a single database is advantageous.
4. Content Management and Search: Applications involving content management, search, and full-text indexing can leverage ArangoDB’s capabilities to handle structured and unstructured data efficiently.
5. Location-Based Services: ArangoDB’s geo-spatial indexing can be valuable for applications dealing with geographic data, such as mapping, geolocation, and geospatial analytics.
6. Analytics and Reporting: The ability to perform complex queries across different data models makes ArangoDB suitable for analytics and reporting scenarios that require diverse data sources.

5. PostgreSQL

While PostgreSQL (often referred to as Postgres) is not a NoSQL database like MongoDB or ArangoDB, it is worth mentioning as an alternative for certain use cases. PostgreSQL is a powerful open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) known for its robustness, extensibility, and support for advanced features.

Key Features and Advantages of PostgreSQL:

1. Relational Data Model: PostgreSQL adheres to a traditional relational data model, making it suitable for applications that require structured and normalized data storage.
2. Advanced SQL Support: PostgreSQL provides an extensive set of SQL features, including support for complex queries, joins, transactions, and ACID compliance. This makes it a strong choice for applications that rely heavily on SQL-based operations.
3. JSON and JSONB Data Types: PostgreSQL offers native support for JSON data types (JSON and JSONB), allowing you to store and query semi-structured data similar to a document database.
4. Extensions: PostgreSQL supports various extensions that enable features such as full-text search, geographic information systems (GIS), time-series data handling, and more. This extensibility allows you to tailor the database to your application’s specific requirements.
5. Indexing and Optimization: PostgreSQL includes advanced indexing mechanisms, query optimization, and performance tuning options, making it suitable for applications with complex data retrieval needs.
6. Concurrent Processing: PostgreSQL has robust support for concurrent access and parallel processing, making it suitable for applications with high levels of concurrent user activity.
7. Data Integrity and Validation: PostgreSQL enforces data integrity through constraints, triggers, and foreign keys, ensuring data accuracy and consistency.

Use Cases for PostgreSQL:

1. Structured Data: Applications that rely on structured and well-defined data schemas, such as e-commerce platforms, financial systems, and inventory management, can benefit from PostgreSQL’s relational model.
2. Hybrid Models: PostgreSQL’s support for JSON and JSONB data types allows you to combine structured and semi-structured data in a single database. This is useful for scenarios where some data fits well in a relational model while others are more flexible and document-like.
3. Complex Queries and Reporting: Applications requiring complex queries, aggregations, and ad-hoc reporting can take advantage of PostgreSQL’s robust SQL capabilities.
4. Full-Text Search and Text Analytics: With extensions like “pg_trgm” and “pg_fulltext,” PostgreSQL can efficiently handle full-text search and text analysis, making it suitable for content-rich applications.
5. Geospatial Applications: PostgreSQL’s PostGIS extension enables geospatial data storage and querying, making it an excellent choice for geographic data applications.
6. Time-Series Data: Applications dealing with time-series data, such as IoT platforms and monitoring systems, can benefit from PostgreSQL’s support for time-series extensions.

6. Apache Cassandra

Apache Cassandra is a distributed NoSQL database management system designed for scalability, high availability, and fault tolerance. It excels at handling large amounts of data across multiple commodity servers, making it well-suited for applications that require high write throughput and continuous uptime.

Key Features and Advantages of Apache Cassandra:

1. Distributed Architecture: Cassandra is built for distribution across a cluster of machines, providing scalability by allowing you to add more nodes as your data grows. This architecture ensures high availability and fault tolerance.
2. Linear Scalability: Cassandra’s architecture allows you to distribute data evenly across nodes, ensuring the system can scale linearly to accommodate increasing data and traffic.
3. High Write Throughput: Cassandra is optimized for write-intensive workloads, making it an excellent choice for applications that require rapid and efficient data insertion.
4. No Single Point of Failure: Cassandra’s decentralized architecture eliminates single points of failure, enhancing resilience and minimizing downtime.
5. Tunable Consistency: Cassandra provides tunable consistency levels, allowing you to choose the level of data consistency required for different parts of your application.
6. Schema Flexibility: Cassandra offers a flexible schema design, allowing you to add, modify, or remove columns without affecting existing data. This is particularly useful as application requirements evolve.
7. Query Language (CQL): Cassandra provides its query language called CQL (Cassandra Query Language), which resembles SQL and is familiar to those with SQL database experience.
8. Time-Series Data: Cassandra is well-suited for managing time-series data, making it suitable for applications that involve tracking events and metrics over time.

Use Cases for Apache Cassandra:

1. Big Data and Analytics: Applications dealing with large volumes of data, such as real-time analytics, user behavior tracking, and log data storage, can benefit from Cassandra’s scalability and high write-throughput.
2. IoT Data Management: Cassandra’s ability to handle high-frequency writes and scale horizontally makes it a good fit for managing data generated by Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
3. Content Management Systems: Cassandra’s distributed nature can benefit content-rich applications like content management systems, especially when dealing with high traffic and frequent updates.
4. Event Tracking and Logging: Applications that require continuous event tracking, logging, and monitoring, such as monitoring tools and error tracking systems, can leverage Cassandra’s performance and scalability.
5. Recommendation Engines: Cassandra can be used to build recommendation engines that require processing large volumes of user interaction data to generate personalized recommendations.
6. Messaging Systems: Real-time messaging applications that demand low latency and high throughput, such as chat platforms and notification systems, can benefit from Cassandra’s distributed design.

7. IBM Cloudant

IBM Cloudant is a distributed NoSQL database service built on top of Apache CouchDB. It offers a fully managed, globally distributed database environment that is designed to handle highly available and scalable applications. Cloudant emphasizes ease of use, scalability, and global data distribution.

Key Features and Advantages of IBM Cloudant:

1. Distributed Database: Cloudant’s distributed architecture allows you to distribute data across multiple nodes and data centers, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance.
2. Managed Service: Cloudant is a fully managed database service, meaning IBM handles administrative tasks such as backups, scaling, and maintenance, allowing you to focus on your application development.
3. JSON Document Storage: Cloudant uses a schema-less JSON document model, similar to MongoDB’s approach. This allows for flexibility in data modeling and easy storage of semi-structured data.
4. Global Availability: Cloudant’s data distribution capabilities make it suitable for applications with a worldwide user base, as data can be replicated across multiple data centers for low-latency access.
5. Geo-Spatial Indexing: Cloudant supports geo-spatial indexing and querying, making it suitable for location-based services and geographic data applications.
6. RESTful API: Cloudant provides a RESTful HTTP API, which makes it easy to use and compatible with various programming languages and platforms.
7. Scalability: Cloudant can automatically scale resources based on demand, allowing your application to handle varying workloads without manual intervention.

Use Cases for IBM Cloudant:

1. Web and Mobile Applications: Cloudant’s ease of use and global distribution makes it well-suited for web and mobile applications that require low-latency access for users across different regions.
2. Real-Time Analytics: Applications that need to perform real-time analytics and generate insights from large volumes of data can benefit from Cloudant’s scalability and distributed architecture.
3. IoT Platforms: Cloudant’s ability to handle high volumes of sensor and device data makes it suitable for IoT platforms that require efficient data storage and retrieval.
4. Content Management and Collaboration: Applications that involve content management, collaboration, and versioning, similar to CouchDB, can leverage Cloudant’s distributed nature and synchronization features.
5. E-Commerce: E-commerce platforms that need to handle fluctuating traffic and ensure global availability can use Cloudant for scalability and high availability.
6. Multi-Region Applications: Cloudant’s data distribution capabilities are valuable for applications that serve users in different regions and need to provide consistent access and performance.

8. CockroachDB

CockroachDB is a distributed open-source SQL database that aims to combine the scalability of NoSQL databases with the familiarity and robustness of traditional SQL databases—designed to provide global scale, strong consistency, and high availability, making it suitable for modern cloud-native applications.

Key Features and Advantages of CockroachDB:

1. Distributed SQL: CockroachDB offers a distributed SQL architecture that benefits both SQL databases and distributed systems. It supports SQL queries and transactions across a globally distributed cluster.
2. Strong Consistency: CockroachDB ensures strong consistency through its distributed transaction model, making it suitable for applications that require ACID compliance and data integrity.
3. Horizontal Scalability: CockroachDB’s architecture enables horizontal scaling by adding nodes to the cluster, allowing it to handle growing data volumes and traffic loads.
4. Global Distribution: CockroachDB supports the global distribution of data, enabling low-latency access and high availability across multiple regions and data centers.
5. Automatic Replication: CockroachDB automatically replicates data across nodes for fault tolerance and high availability, reducing the risk of data loss.
6. Linearizable Reads: CockroachDB provides linearizable reads, ensuring that the latest committed data version is always available for queries.
7. Consistent Backups: CockroachDB supports consistent and incremental backups, making data recovery and backup management easier.
8. Schema Changes: CockroachDB supports online schema changes without requiring application downtime, allowing developers to evolve their data models.

Use Cases for CockroachDB:

1. Cloud-Native Applications: CockroachDB is designed for cloud-native applications that require horizontal scalability, global distribution, and strong consistency.
2. Multi-Region Applications: Applications that need to provide low-latency access to users across different geographic regions can benefit from CockroachDB’s global distribution capabilities.
3. Transactional Systems: CockroachDB’s support for distributed transactions and strong consistency suit transactional systems, financial applications, and e-commerce platforms.
4. Data-Intensive Applications: Applications with high data volumes and require scalability, such as analytics platforms and data warehouses, can leverage CockroachDB’s distributed architecture.
5. Real-Time Applications: Real-time applications that require instant data updates and low-latency queryings, such as real-time dashboards and monitoring systems, can benefit from CockroachDB’s capabilities.
6. Migration from Legacy Systems: Organizations looking to migrate from traditional SQL databases to a modern distributed solution can consider CockroachDB for its compatibility with SQL and distributed architecture.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to MongoDB Alternatives. Here we discuss different alternatives of MongoDB like Cockroach DB, Cassandra, RethinkDB, etc with their features. You may also look at the following article to learn more:

1. Is MongoDB Open Source?
2. MongoDB vs SQL server
3. MongoDB vs Oracle
4. MongoDB Timestamp