NoSQL Databases
NoSQL databases store data in formats other than traditional relational tables — documents (MongoDB), key-value pairs (Redis), wide columns (Cassandra), or graphs (Neo4j). They offer flexibility in da…
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Definition
NoSQL databases store data in formats other than traditional relational tables — documents (MongoDB), key-value pairs (Redis), wide columns (Cassandra), or graphs (Neo4j). They offer flexibility in data structure, horizontal scalability, and performance for specific use cases that relational databases handle less efficiently.
Key Points
- Types: document (MongoDB), key-value (Redis), column-family (Cassandra), graph (Neo4j)
- Flexible schemas — no need to define structure upfront
- Horizontal scaling — add more servers to handle more load
- Best for: unstructured data, caching, real-time features, content management
Frequently Asked Questions
PostgreSQL for: relational data (users, orders), complex queries with JOINs, ACID compliance, and when data structure is well-defined. MongoDB for: flexible/evolving schemas, document-heavy applications (CMS, product catalogues), and when different documents need different fields. Many applications use both — PostgreSQL for core data and MongoDB for content.
Both. Redis is primarily used as an in-memory cache (extremely fast reads) for session storage, API response caching, and rate limiting. It can also serve as a primary database for specific use cases (real-time leaderboards, pub/sub messaging). Most Indian applications use Redis as a caching layer in front of PostgreSQL or MongoDB.
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