MongoDB vs MySQL: A Detailed Study To Choose The Best One?

The today’s world is fast.

Everyone wants to run like Usain Bolt.

Especially in the tech world, if your application is taking more than 2 or 3 sec to load, you will be way behind and thrown out of the competition by Google.

So, whenever we talk about the speed of an app, the first thing comes in the mind is how the database is performing or how much fast database operations of your app are.

Not just the speed, there are plenty of factors that need to be considered while choosing a best database.

Nowadays, you have lot of options to choose from the hundreds of databases.

Right?

Yes, but still you have to choose the best and compatible one for your app.

Also, we’ve number of real-time database options like Google cloud firebase and Google cloud firestore.

Here, we’re going to compare the Relational database and non-relational database, i.e. MySQL vs MongoDB.

May be you are thinking to choose a database what other people are choosing by just comparing the market need.

Okay..

Before, having the one to one faceoff, let’s see the trends of MongoDB vs MySQL.

Do you think, to choose a database, it is just enough to compare the market trends?

No, you need to go through the certain levels such as security, speed & performance, storage type of schema and importantly the compatibility with your application.

And it is very much crucial when you choose between a relational database and non-relational database for your next app.

Therefore, I thought let’s have a detailed comparison between MongoDB and MySQL database.

Also, this article will give you a clear idea to choose the best database for your business.

So, let’s get started with the MondoDB vs MySQL faceoff.

What is MySQL?

MySQL is an open-source relational database management system.

MySQL is the combination of,

My is the name of co-founder Michael Widenius’s daughter.

SQL is the abbreviation for Structured Query Language.

Also, MySQL has following features,

Allows to implement a database with columns, records, and indexes

Offers data integrity between the rows and the tables

Support query caching, ACID transactions, and joins

Provides data access to the users by using host and query languages

MySQL is almost compatible with all the available operating systems, like Windows, Linux, Unix, Apple, FreeBSD and many others.

Also, it supports various storage engines, like InnoDB (it is the default one), Federated, MyISAM, Memory, CSV, Archive, Blackhole and Merge.

What is MongoDB?

MongoDB is a free and opensource document oriened database.

It’s classified under the NoSQL database.

MongoDB has following features,

Each document has a different number of fields, size, and content. Each documentation in MongoDB is stored in a JSON-like format (i.e. Binary JSON (BSN)).

The documents in MongoDB doesn’t need to have a schema defined beforehand. Instead, the fields (i.e. records) can be created on the go.

Data model available within the MongoDB allows developers to represent hierarchical relationships, store arrays, and other more complex structures more easily.

This NoSQL solution often comes with embedding, auto-sharding, and onboard replication for better scalability and high availability.

Also, it stores the data in flexible JSON-like documents with schemas.

Moreover, MongoDB is used mostly whenever the user needs a transferable JSON data between the server and client.

Mostly, I’ve seen that MongoDB is used with Node.js driven projects.

Also, MongoDB is designed to provide features like embedding, auto-sharding and replication for better scalability and high availability.

MongoDB vs MySQL – Terminology and Features Differences

Before choosing the right one, it’s important to review the major features and the difference between their core functions.

So, here we will see how much MongoDB is different from MySQL.

The list of terminology differences between two databases.

Now, let’s compare the core features of these two databases.

Furthermore, you can see the detailed comparison of MongoDB and MySQL by MongoDB over here.

MongoDB vs MySQL Query Language

Here, we can see the difference in a main query language for MongoDB and MySQL.

Below are the few examples that will help you see the difference.

1. Select Query Example

MySQL SELECT * FROM users MongoDB db.users.find()

2. Insert Query Example

MySQL INSERT INTO users (user_id, age, status) VALUES ('bcd001', 45, 'A') MongoDB db.users.insert({user_id: 'bcd001', age: 45, status: 'A'})

3. Update Query Example

MySQL UPDATE users SET status = 'C' WHERE age > 25 MongoDB db.users.update({ age: { $gt: 25 } }, { $set: { status: 'C' } }, { multi: true })

MongoDB vs MySQL Speed

The speed of your application does not only depend on server, framework, platform but also it depends on the database operations.

So, I would like to do the performance testing before choosing a database?

No, people has already done that for us.

Here, let’s see the MongoDB and MySQL Test Performance in Nodejs

Moreover, you can see the source of this comparison over here.

We have got the basic idea on MongoDB vs MySQL performance but still it is not a wise decision to choose a database based on the past analysis done by someone else.

MongoDB vs MySQL Security

MongoDB uses a role-based access control with a set of privileges. Also, it has security features like authentication, auditing, and authorization.

Where MySQL use a privilege-based security. It means MySQL authenticates a user and provides the privileges on a particular database such as CREATE, SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE and so on.

In MongoDB, it’s possible to utilize the features like Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) for encryption purposes. It will ensure that it is only accessed and read by the intended client.

Before setting a mindset, you should read the detailed article on MongoDB security weaknesses by Trustwave

Now, the most important aspect is to review which database is most compatible with your application and how much less headache you will have after selecting a database for your app.

So, let’s see how we can choose the MongoDB or MySQL for our business.

Which is best for your business, MongoDB or MySQL?

Now, it’s the time to choose the best database for your business between MongoDB and MySQL.

It completely depends on your project’s requirement. Because there are number of use cases needs to be considered whenever you choose database.

Here, are few of the use cases that will help you to choose the best database between MongoDB and MySQL for your next app.

Conclusion

As I mentioned earlier, to choosing a database for your app is one of the crucial calls for your success or failure.

There might be a thin line between the overall comparison of two databases but it’s very much important to analyze that with which database your application will be more compatible and more suitable as per above mentioned use cases.

So, it’s difficult to raise one winner from this two, because they both are from different niches.

Again, it completely depends on how your application would be.

Here, after reviewing all the differences, I’d like to put my point over here.

My advice would be to choose a MySQL database when your application architecture has a fixed schema, has a limited data, requires indexing and need an ease of database managing, these all features belongs to the MySQL database.

And choose a MongoDB database when you will have a non-structured data, complex to handle or there is no pre-defined schema and the data will be huge in the future, all these features are saying to use MongoDB.

Final words, I hope you find a right choice between MongoDB and MySQL for your app.

Would you like to share your thoughts based on your experience of choosing a MongoDB or MySQL?

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