Item: RavenDB
Rating: 10
Author: Richard Norman

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use RavenDB as a developer and a software architect on pretty much every project that requires data storage. Mostly its consumer-facing applications that require rapid response times [need some work]. It's very quick to develop with and we get awesome read performance from it which is why we use it. It is also easy to maintain.

Pros and Cons

Easy to implement an Event Sourced Architecture
Very rapid response times
Highly abstract to enable smart design

Large scale complex data updates can be painful
Finding people who know how to use it and appreciate it
Doesn't support direct GraphQL (yet)

Return on Investment

Cheap hosting through Raven Cloud makes it affordable
Much faster development
Easier to design smarter systems
Nightmare getting clients to adopt it because it's not well known

Alternatives Considered

MongoDB, Apache CouchDB and Azure Cosmos DB

[RavenDB is] just simply much cleverer than the competition. The map reduce indexing is a league above anything else I have used. Nothing else comes close on abstraction as well. Read performance is terrifying due to querying pre calculated indexes. It is just a pity it is not better known and that more people haven't adopted it.

Key Insights

Do you think RavenDB delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with RavenDB's feature set?

Yes

Did RavenDB live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of RavenDB go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy RavenDB again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio IDE, Oracle Database

Usability

Really good .NET client that is very easy to use. The management studio is excellent and puts anything that Microsoft or Oracle have to shame. Very quick to develop with once the complexity hurdle has been overcome. Initially using it can be a bit painful until you fully grasp the event sourced nature of the indexing.

Support Rating

Oren will usually answer any question you post about his product. There are not many founders and designers of systems that make the same effort that he does in supporting both his product and the community in general. The documentation can be a bit overwhelming due to the complex nature of the product but everything is there if you need it.

Likelihood to Recommend

[RavenDB can handle] anything abstract. Being able to select an interface or base class from an Index brings a whole new world of flexibility to my designs. Having a spit of CRUD documents and Data Transfer Objects through indexing also makes it very easy to build with, once you get the hang of it. The biggest challenge is getting other developers to understand how it works. It is more complicated than your average SQL solution and does require a smarter developer to use it.

If you need read performance or abstraction from a datastore look no further.

Overall Satisfaction with RavenDB