Amazon DynamoDB vs Elasticsearch

AWS's NoSQL workhorse: scales like a dream, but you'll pay for every query and pray you never need a JOIN meets the search engine that thinks it's a database. Here's our take.

Amazon DynamoDB

Nice Pick

AWS's NoSQL workhorse: scales like a dream, but you'll pay for every query and pray you never need a JOIN.

Pros

• Fully managed with automatic scaling and multi-AZ replication
• Single-digit millisecond latency for key-value operations
• Built-in security, backup, and in-memory caching with DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)

Cons

• Pricing model can get expensive with high throughput or large datasets
• Limited query flexibility compared to relational databases (no JOINs, complex queries)

Elasticsearch

The search engine that thinks it's a database. Great for logs, but good luck with transactions.

Pros

• Blazing-fast full-text search and analytics
• Scalable and distributed by design
• Rich ecosystem with Kibana for visualization

Cons

• Not ACID-compliant, so avoid for transactional data
• Can be resource-hungry and complex to tune

The Verdict

Use Amazon DynamoDB if: You want fully managed with automatic scaling and multi-az replication and can live with pricing model can get expensive with high throughput or large datasets.

Use Elasticsearch if: You prioritize blazing-fast full-text search and analytics over what Amazon DynamoDB offers.

The Bottom Line

Amazon DynamoDB wins

AWS's NoSQL workhorse: scales like a dream, but you'll pay for every query and pray you never need a JOIN.