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H2 Database Engine is the in-memory database for your automated tests
June 03, 2021

H2 Database Engine is the in-memory database for your automated tests

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with H2 Database Engine

H2 Database Engine is primarily used for running application test cases by our development team. When changes are made to our codebase, we run automated test cases, and when the test case involves data manipulation, H2 Database Engine is used instead of a full blown database such as PostgreSQL. H2 Database Engine is lightweight, simple and runs in-memory, which makes it perfect for this use case.
  • Can run as an in-memory database.
  • Simple and quick to get started with, and is light weight (only 2MB).
  • SQL compliant so it compatible with most relational databases.
  • There really is not a lot to say here as H2 Database Engine is not a general purpose database such as PostgreSQL or MySQL, so it has a niche use case for being an in-memory database, and it is very good at doing that. Perhaps one slight improvement would be some SQL queries that work with MySQL or PostgreSQL do not work with H2 Database Engine, and so if H2 Database Engine is used as an in-memory replacement for testing, that would create false negatives.
  • If H2 Database Engine can support some NoSQL databases, it would be fantastic.
  • Light weight and in-memory
  • SQL compliant
  • Improved code quality by allowing the team to run automated test cases.
  • Reduced infrastructure cost as we no longer need to have dedicated databases just for testing.
While both can run as an in-memory database, H2 Database Engine was just so much easier for us to use since we primarily use the Java stack and H2 Database Engine is also built with Java.

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

This really depends on the use case. For an in-memory replacement database for running unit test cases with, H2 Database Engine is an excellent option. However, if you are looking for a general purpose database for your production systems, then H2 Database Engine is not suited for this purpose.