SQLite vs PostgreSQL or MySQL

MySQL and Postgres are quite popular databases, but did you know there's another, perhaps even more common one, SQLite! It's a database embedded in your application and is the most widely used one in the world. How come? Because it's embedded in everyday applications, like your web browser for instance. But here's the twist, you can embed SQLite's power into your own applications. Even better, it's so potent and nifty that it can cater to your specific requirements and distribute the workload across numerous users. Kent Dodds is going to explain to us how SQLite works and ways we can capitalize on it. We're notably familiar with MySQL and Postgres, and they're great solutions that we use frequently. From an operational standpoint, SQLite is unique because the whole database is contained in just one file, it's as simple as that. Above everything, thanks to its indexing system, it's fully equipped to manage large data sets effectively. For example, it says here that SQLite has zero latency impact. Why is that? Because it's embedded right next to your applications. This gives app developers one less thing to worry about, like how many queries you're making against the data set. With the database at your fingertips, you can make numerous queries at once while maintaining solid performance. And one interesting thing that isn't mentioned in this document is that SQLite is often the secret ingredient in many high-performance, scalable and low-latency memory database solutions. This multi-faceted technology is harnessed and repackaged in a way that you could simply get without any cost by integrating it directly into your apps. A world where there is one less service to worry about sounds great to me. This is in contrast with using Postgres, MySQL and other databases which require you to maintain and be skilled in operating these systems. These systems have their own considerations when scaling. With SQLite, however, not dealing with these additional systems is a significant benefit. Ownership costs are reduced, product simplicity and operation and uptime are improved. And guess what? SQLite comes with extra performance benefits too. Your app and product's data volume needs should dictate whether SQLite can benefit you. From a product and business viewpoint, reducing complexity and cost is important. Many enterprise-based businesses do this by leveraging SQLite behind the scenes and repackaging it. Let's look at SQLite database size: generally considered to handle smaller data sets, maybe just a few gigabytes. However, Kent talks about exabytes. Amazingly, SQLite can handle exabytes! Most web developers don't even come close to needing that volume. Even databases like MySQL and Postgres, while capable, need an infrastructure to handle such volume. But it seems SQLite can also handle this. Large amounts of data can be efficiently stored in a SQLite database. Excitingly, SQLite can be faster at retrieving data than other systems, and even from the file system directly: it's 35% faster than accessing individual files directly from the disk. Moreover, the read-write latency of SQLite is competitive with individual files on a disk. SQLite is a mature database, extensively used and continuously optimized over the years. The fact that it can be integrated into your app with such performance capabilities suggests that you can build powerful apps, dealing with large volumes of data, swiftly. This will guarantee an impressive user experience. Compared to more expensive systems like Postgres and MySQL, SQLite presents an exciting alternative. You should definitely give SQLite a go: just import the client library and point it at a file.db name. You can even keep it in-memory. Through SQLite, you can eliminate the need to run separate containers for Postgres and MySQL. SQLite does have some limitations. For example, subscriptions of data, a neat pattern with Postgres and MySQL, which allows the database to serve as an event emitter, is not supported by SQLite. Similarly, workbenches and SQL coordinated systems cannot connect directly to SQLite. Extra effort is required with SQLite to bring the data into your overall data environment. Another drawback is that SQLite does not support plugins, popular with vector databases, or enumerations. Should you use SQLite as your database of choice? The answer is likely yes, given the performance, accessibility, and capability to be shared across multiple systems. While more traditional systems like MySQL and Postgres offer their own advantages, they require additional efforts and skills to manage and scale. SQLite simplifies things and offers enhanced performance. As long as your main purpose isn't heavy business data and analytics, SQLite seems a pretty good choice. An aspect to appreciate about SQLite is its ability to handle exabyte volumes of data; a feature I didn't think was possible before. It appears as a very satisfying database to use.