For simplicity
May 14, 2021
For simplicity
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with H2 Database Engine
[H2 Database Engine is] being used for two different purposes. One is for running unit tests for application during compilation phase. This application runs is MySQL database normally, but for unit test purposes that is impractical. In compilation phase an in-memory H2 database is constructed and application tests are run against that. Another purpose is a small authentication security web-application that runs in a single instance. In this case some authentication related details are stored in H2 database that is stored to disk.
- Simple setup, only needs a dependency added to application & few config lines.
- Quick startup
- Easy to use, existing code for MySQL works with H2 too
- There's a warning in official FAQ "Is it Reliable?"-section which makes it seem like H2 is not yet a mature product.
- If raw SQL queries are used there maybe be differences between MySQL & H2. ORM library should be used.
- Support seems to be community-based only.
- Easy setup, developers don't need to setup databases for running tests
- Persistence, although H2 is often referred as in-memory database, saving the database to disk is easy and data stays between application restarts
- MySQL compatibility
- Doesn't take time from developers, once it's configs are set up for testing it works in everyone's development environments
- Easy to integrate in application, no need to setup separate database software, no maintenance
- No need to deal with infrastructure related issues/costs - database runs in same machine as the application that uses it.
Both MySQL & H2 [Database Engine] are relational databases & use same query language. Application features can be implemented with both but if it's expected that the application will be used by large user base or is complex MySQL is better. Cloud providers provide scaling support for MySQL and also it's more battle-tested. H2 is good when it's a small application as H2 is easier & quicker to set up.
Do you think H2 Database Engine delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with H2 Database Engine's feature set?
Yes
Did H2 Database Engine live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of H2 Database Engine go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy H2 Database Engine again?
Yes