Item: MongoDB
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

MongoDB is a NoSQL backend storage database that we use extensively for modeling non-relational data. NoSQL databases tend to shine when defined schemas do not well suit a data set — perhaps the dataset is highly variable in the data that it holds from one entity to another, or perhaps the data's structure is simply not well understood. NoSQL and MongoDB are great for this situation.

Pros and Cons

Simplifies modeling complex, non-relational datasets.
Strong open source community.
Has solid libraries in a variety of implementation frameworks — e.g. Node JS and Mongoose.

Documentation is at times overly difficult to understand.
Versioning became confusing between major versions 3 and 4, with many still working on and implementing 4.
Lacks some of the nice-to-have features of more mature, generally relational databases like MySQL or PostgreSQL.

Return on Investment

Simplifies the modeling efforts of variable datasets with unstructured data needing storage.
Often requires another database, generally Elastic Search, for anything but the easiest relationship queries.

Alternatives Considered

PostgreSQL, MySQL and Amazon DynamoDB

We tend to choose MongoDB when we're faced with a particular situation: we know that we need a NoSQL database in general, and want an open-source implementation that allows us to prevent against platform lock-in. Amazon's new DocumentDB product even allows us to choose to use MongoDB's tooling and community, even in cases where we are not explicitly implementing MongoDB!

Other Software Used

PostgreSQL, Amazon DynamoDB, MySQL

Likelihood to Renew

We are less likely to continue using MongoDB under the hood of our applications with Amazon's announcement of DocumentDB, though MongoDB's Atlas platform is another good choice for deploying existing MongoDB applications. For situations that it is well suited for, we'll continue to use Mongo, especially for the availability of its third-party ecosystem applications like Mongoose.

Likelihood to Recommend

Amongst situations where the data being modeled is not well structured, using a NoSQL database — and using MongoDB in particular — may be a great choice. While Mongo *does* let you get away with less structure, you must be aware that less structure is not always the correct development avenue to take. Not having to manage a database schema does not necessarily make your development speed any faster.

MongoDB Review

Overall Satisfaction with MongoDB