Relational Database Design vs Non-Relational Databases

Developers should learn relational database design when building applications that require structured, consistent, and scalable data storage, such as e-commerce platforms, content management systems, or financial software meets developers should use non-relational databases when dealing with big data, real-time web applications, or scenarios requiring high scalability and performance, such as social media platforms, iot systems, or content management. Here's our take.

Relational Database Design

Nice Pick

Developers should learn relational database design when building applications that require structured, consistent, and scalable data storage, such as e-commerce platforms, content management systems, or financial software

Pros

• It is essential for preventing data anomalies, ensuring ACID compliance, and facilitating complex queries through SQL
• Related to: sql, normalization

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Non-Relational Databases

Developers should use non-relational databases when dealing with big data, real-time web applications, or scenarios requiring high scalability and performance, such as social media platforms, IoT systems, or content management

Pros

• They are ideal for applications with evolving data schemas, where the rigid structure of relational databases would be a limitation, and for distributed systems that need to scale out across multiple servers
• Related to: mongodb, cassandra

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Relational Database Design is a concept while Non-Relational Databases is a database. We picked Relational Database Design based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Relational Database Design wins

Based on overall popularity. Relational Database Design is more widely used, but Non-Relational Databases excels in its own space.