Non-Relational Databases

TrustRadius Top Rated for 2023

Top Rated Products

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InterSystems IRIS

InterSystems IRIS is a complete cloud-first data platform that includes a multi-model transactional data management engine, an application development platform, and interoperability engine, and an open analytics platform.It is is the next generation of InterSystems' data management…

2
Astra DB

Astra DB from DataStax is a vector database for developers that need to get accurate Generative AI applications into production, fast.

3
Couchbase Server

Couchbase Server is a cloud-native, distributed database that fuses the strengths of relational databases such as SQL and ACID transactions with JSON flexibility and scale that defines NoSQL. It is available as a service in commercial clouds and supports hybrid and private cloud…

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(1-25 of 46)

1
Couchbase Server

Couchbase Server is a cloud-native, distributed database that fuses the strengths of relational databases such as SQL and ACID transactions with JSON flexibility and scale that defines NoSQL. It is available as a service in commercial clouds and supports hybrid and private cloud…

2
IBM Cloud Databases

IBM Cloud Databases are open source data stores for enterprise application development. Built on a Kubernetes foundation, they offer a database platform for serverless applications. They are designed to scale storage and compute resources seamlessly without being constrained by the…

3
Amazon DynamoDB

Amazon DynamoDB is a cloud-native, NoSQL, serverless database service.

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4
MongoDB

MongoDB is an open source document-oriented database system. It is part of the NoSQL family of database systems. Instead of storing data in tables as is done in a "classical" relational database, MongoDB stores structured data as JSON-like documents with dynamic schemas (MongoDB…

5
IBM Cloudant

Cloudant is an open source non-relational, distributed database service that requires zero-configuration. It's based on the Apache-backed CouchDB project and the creator of the open source BigCouch project. Cloudant's service provides integrated data management, search, and analytics…

6
InterSystems IRIS

InterSystems IRIS is a complete cloud-first data platform that includes a multi-model transactional data management engine, an application development platform, and interoperability engine, and an open analytics platform.It is is the next generation of InterSystems' data management…

7
Astra DB

Astra DB from DataStax is a vector database for developers that need to get accurate Generative AI applications into production, fast.

8
Apache Cassandra

Cassandra is a no-SQL database from Apache.

9
Apache HBase

The Apache HBase project's goal is the hosting of very large tables -- billions of rows X millions of columns -- atop clusters of commodity hardware. Apache HBase is an open-source, distributed, versioned, non-relational database modeled after Google's Bigtable.

10
Neo4j

Neo4j is an open source embeddable graph database developed by Neo Technologies based in San Mateo, California with an office in Sweden.

11
Amazon ElastiCache

Amazon ElastiCache offers fully managed Redis and Memcached.

12
InterSystems Caché

InterSystems Cache is a database management system (DBMS) and non-relational database.

13
Google Cloud Datastore

Google Cloud Datastore is a NoSQL "schemaless" database as a service, supporting diverse data types. The database is managed; Google manages sharding and replication and prices according to storage and activity.

14
Adabas

Adabas is a database management system (DBMS) platform from Software AG.

15
Titan Distributed Graph Database

Titan is an open-source distributed graph database developed by Aurelius. Aurelius is now part of Datastax (since February 2015).

16
Couchbase Capella

The Couchbase Capella product is a fully managed DBaaS automating setup and ongoing operations.

17
Amazon SimpleDB

Amazon SimpleDB is a non-relational data store and service.

18
IBM IMS

IBM IMS, for Information Management System, is a database and transaction server.

19
Percona Server for MongoDB

Percona Server for MongoDB is a free and open-source drop-in replacement for MongoDB Community Edition. It combines all the features and benefits of MongoDB Community Edition with enterprise-class features from Percona. Built on the MongoDB Community Edition, Percona Server for MongoDB…

20
Amazon DocumentDB (with MongoDB compatibility)

Amazon DocumentDB (with MongoDB compatibility) is presented by the vendor as a fast, scalable, highly available, and fully managed document database service that supports MongoDB workloads. As a document database, Amazon DocumentDB is designed to make it easy to store, query, and…

21
Terrastore (discontinued)

Terrastore was a distributed document database. Devolopment stopped in 2011 and the project is not active.

22
Cray Graph Engine (CGE), discontinued

The Cray Graph Engine (CGE) lets the user analyze data using pattern matching and filtering, sophisticated graph algorithms and analysis, in an interactive system that scales to graphs with billions of edges. It is not supported since the acquisition of Cray by HPE in 2019.

23
TerminusDB
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TerminusDB is an open-source knowledge graph database supported by the company of the same name headquartered in Dublin. The solution boasts reliable, private & efficient revision control & collaboration. The solution also boasts flexible data storage, sharing, and versioning capabilities.…

24
Huawei Cloud Graph Engine Service (GES)

Graph Engine Service (GES) on Huawei Cloud facilitates querying and analysis of graph-structure data based on various relationships. It is specifically suited for scenarios requiring analysis of rich relationship data, including social relationship analysis, recommendations, precision…

25
Cambridge Semantics AnzoGraph DB
0 reviews

Cambridge Semantics in Boston offers AnzoGraph DB, a massively parallel processing (MPP) native graph database built for diverse data harmonization and analytics at scale (trillions of triples & more), speed and deep link insights. It is used for embedded analytics that require graph…

Videos for Non-Relational Databases

Relational vs Non-Relational Databases: What's the Difference?
07:37
There are main types of databases: SQL vs NoSQL. But could you tell the core difference between them? Let’s take a closer look.

Learn More About Non-Relational Databases

What are Non-Relational Databases?

Non-relational databases do not use the rows/columns table format of relational databases. They have different and varying frameworks of storing and modeling data. By relaxing certain rules these databases provide increased scalability and availability. The term “non-relational database” is sometimes used synonymously with NoSQL databases. Document-oriented databases, key-value databases, object databases and graph databases are non-relational databases.


Non-relational databases grew in popularity due to their ability to meet the aggressive scaling needs of web applications appearing on popular websites (e.g. social media). They also are suited to support Big Data applications with their high throughput of unstructured data. Non-relational databases can also store data in memory for persistence, to more easily read this fast-moving data. Finally, popular non-relational databases are open source and present little or no upfront cost, and no licensing fees.

Non-Relational Database Features & Capabilities

Notable capabilities and advantages of non-relational database are:

  • Can be purpose-built to specific data models

  • “Tableless” and opaque data storage

  • Can manage unstructured or multi-structured data

  • No need for a predefined schema

  • Better manage abstract data

  • Support graph data modeling

  • Support document-oriented data store

  • Less strict consistency (e.g. eventual consistency) models

  • Better operational performance

  • Require fewer computing resources

  • More horizontal and vertical scalability

Non-Relational Database Comparison

When choosing a non-relational database, there are a few factors you should consider to make the right selection for your business.

Data Analysis and Modeling: Many non-relational databases include features for data analytics and modeling, while others are focused more exclusively on storage. If you don’t already have an analytics tool, you should consider a tool that includes analytics features.


Performance: Different database solutions offer different read write speeds, and compute efficiency. If your organization has need for the fastest operations possible, performance should be a major consideration.


Scalability: Non-relational databases are naturally highly scalable, but some focus more on scalability and expansion than others. Consider your scalability needs when choosing a non-relational database.

Pricing Information

Many non-relational databases are open source and available free without a license. Non-relational databases also provide more flexible data center budgeting. Adding or removing servers need not create downtime. Scalability and availability are their greatest advantages. Non-relational databases can also be deployed across cheaper, commodified servers relative to their RDBMS counterparts.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When is a non-relational database a good choice?

Non-relational databases offer a variety of different frameworks, such as graph based or document based. The most common reason to use a non-relational database is when scalability is a major concern. Non-relational databases often handle rapid scaling better than relational databases.

Are there free or open-source non-relational databases?

Unlike many other business software options, there are many feature complete, free and open-source options for businesses that are able to implement them without any assistance. These non-relational databases are a great choice for businesses that won’t need ongoing support for their database from a third party.


Check out the best free database software options

How do non-relational databases differ from NoSQL databases

The terms are often used interchangeably, but the main difference between the two is that many non-relational databases do support SQL compatible queries while NoSQL databases don’t.