The most popular databases in 2024

Databases are a lot like plumbing. A user, much like a home owner, is not necessarily aware of how a database is structured and can at best see snippets of it here and here, but a large part of their activity depends on this underlying structure. A system lives or dies depending on the integrity of its database.

It's no surprise, then, that according to the US Bureau of Labor database administrator positions are a growing trend in IT, with an annual increase of 9%. As new jobs open every day, a newcomer may wonder: what are the most popular databases that IT companies work with?

The following list of databases was inspired by Stack Overflow's annual Developer Survey . Keep in mind that it is not exhaustive and the order may change depending on the area. That said, there is little debate about whether most top 10 lists would cover these databases.

As expected, although SQL is still the undisputed leader, NoSQL databases (non-SQL or not just SQL) continue to see steady growth in the market as more and more companies adopt these solutions due to their scalability and lower point investment entry.

That said, here is our list of the most popular databases in 2024.

#10 Elasticsearch

Used by: Cisco, eBay, Microsoft, The Mayo Clinic, The New York Times and Wikipedia.

Elasticsearch is an open source search and analytics engine based on Apache's Lucene. It is a distributed, multi-tenant full-text search engine with an HTTP interface built in Java that optimizes data for real-time searches and efficient results. It can handle virtually any type of data: integers, floats, strings, dates, geo, and more in structured or unstructured formats.

Although the name may suggest otherwise, it can be used as a complete database for research, analysis, observability, and security. The fact that it is open source makes it ideal for projects working on a limited budget.

#9 Firebase

Used by: Google and affiliates

Firebase Realtime Database is part of the Firebase Google suite. It is a cloud-based document storage system with iOS, Android, and JavaScript-based clients. Clients connect to a single shared database and download the latest information.

Firebase development services are ideal for serverless projects as everything is done in the cloud. If a client is unable to access the web, the application saves a cache of data and loads it when connected to the internet. This also means that a project can be scaled up without the need for additional hardware investment.

On the other hand, Firebase has a commercial license, so it is one of the most expensive options on the list.

#8 Oracle

Used by: Wells Fargo, PNC, Samsung Electronics, Honeywell

Perhaps the oldest database on this list, Oracle is a well-known database service with over 40 years on the market. It is one of the leading databases for online transaction processing and data storage.

Oracle offers on-premises, cloud, and hybrid packages depending on consumer needs. It has support for all the most popular programming languages, as well as relational, columnar, XML, JSON, spatial, graphical and unstructured data.

The two biggest problems with Oracle are: A. it is very expensive and B. it is extremely complex. Therefore, it takes a while to learn how to work efficiently with Oracle and how to maintain a server. On the other hand, it's worth the effort.

#7MariaDB

Used by: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Red Hat, Ubuntu

From the creators of MySQL comes MariaDB, an open source database that promises to be the same as its predecessor, but better: more scalable, more secure, with greater availability and designed with tools and services for companies. The story behind MariaDB is quite interesting. When MySQL was purchased by Oracle, some developers created this fork as a means of ensuring that their project would remain open source.

It was developed as a drop-in replacement for MySQL, so not only are the command lines between projects nearly identical, but switching from one to another is as simple as deleting MySQL, installing MariaDB, and then running a command line (at least that's the promise).

Just like its siblings, it supports all the most popular programming languages ​​and can run on any server operating system.

#6 Redis

Used by: Twitter, GitHub, Weibo, Pinterest, Snapchat, Craigslist

Remote Dictionary Server is the most popular open source key-value database on the market. Created by Salvatore Sanfilippo as an advancement for his own entrepreneurship, it has grown into one of the most important databases for those looking for quick access and easy implementation.

What sets Redis apart from other key-value databases is the idea of ​​persistence. Redis forks copies of data to disk and recovers them if necessary. Typical use cases are session caching, full page caching, message queuing applications, and leaderboards.

#5MongoDB

Used by: Uber, Lyft, stack.

The creators of MongoDB call it the leading NoSQL solution, and they're not exaggerating, as you can see from this list. MongoDB is the most popular document type database on the market. Of course, the biggest advantage is that it is schemaless, so there is no need to design the schema in advance, saving a lot of time.

MongoDB is fast. Its benchmarks are impressive, and compared to the competition, it's quite easy to scale. Plus, it's an open source solution, so it's pretty easy to see why it's become such a popular option in such a short time.

#4SQLite

Used by: Oberlin College, Internet Brands, Inc.

The only RDBMS (Relationship Database Management System) on this list that is not a client-server mechanism. Instead, like a C library, it is usually incorporated into the final program. SQLite is perfect for situations where you want all the functionality of a relational database without the processing power of needing a server. For example, Firefox uses SQLite to store user information such as settings, history and bookmarks.

Any developer thinking about building an on-premises application that involves data processing, such as a financial analysis tool or data analytics software, will find a powerful tool in SQLite.

#3Microsoft SQL Server

Used by: Wells Fargo, Harris Corporation, General Electric, Yahoo

Originally released in 1981, Microsoft SQL Server is one of the most popular and robust services on the market. The plethora of products that fall under Microsoft SQL may seem overwhelming at first glance, but just like Windows, the portfolio is designed with simplicity in mind. There is a product for each customer, you just need to know which features are needed. This is one of those cases where less is more.

Microsoft has always strived for ease of use, which is why this service has one of the most simplified installations on the market and is a cloud-based counterpart, Azure, which is one of the most advanced options for developers and companies.

#2 PostgreSQL

Used by: Instagram, Spotify, Twitch, IMDB

Originally founded as Ingres, a database engine developed at the University of California, it eventually evolved into PostgreSQL (a kind of play on words) and has since steadily grown into one of the most famous open source relational databases and well supported.

This mechanism is famous for presenting transactions with Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Durability (ACID) properties. This is achieved using some pretty ingenious tricks like multiversion concurrency control.

Finally, PostgreSQL also has the advantage of having one of the healthiest and most helpful communities in the IT world. For most developers, learning PostgreSQL is a no-brainer.

#1 MySQL

Used by: Practically everyone…

We all knew who would come first on this list of the most popular databases: MySQL. This one needs no introduction. Created in 1995 and written in C++, it's basically the gold standard for database engines, with support for almost every system known to mankind.

It is well known for its security, easy scalability, high performance, and a very strong community that continues to work on and update MySQL to this day. Currently owned by Oracle, MySQL is available as an open source license or as a proprietary license, depending on what you need.

The future of databases…

Everyone is talking about big data, AI and machine learning. And although we may be impressed by the potential applications, we cannot forget that each of these technologies depends on the quality of the data, as well as the robustness of the database that contains them.

For this reason, as we move towards more refined technologies, database management has a key role to play, firstly by ensuring data integrity and secondly by providing efficient storage and retrieval systems that allow us to working with amounts of data that were only a dream. a few decades ago.

In the end, none of the most popular databases covered here is the true database that rules them all, each has its strengths and weaknesses and are designed to solve specific problems, as time passes and new trends emerge, We will likely see new approaches emerge to fill the need for emerging technologies.