CouchDB vs. MariaDB: Which Is Better?

Every day you visit grocery stores, clothing stores, e-commerce portals, or a bank. Ever wondered how they keep track of customers, employees, and other crucial information?

The answer is databases.

Comparison

It is best to try to compare all of the resources available to you these days to ensure you are getting the kind of value that you think you are. Many people don’t realize that they may be getting taken for a ride on some deal that they have made.

 When the subject matter is as important as databases, it is best to try to get this sorted out ASAP. You certainly don’t want to overspend on something that isn’t going to cut it for you, particularly not when there are so many potential options available to you. Take the time to figure out which ones will work the best for you, and then use those. 

Databases

In simple terms, a database is a collection of information. It is organized to ensure easy accessibility, management, and updating of information.

A database (DB) is useful when you need to store data or facilitate a search. The storage of large volumes of data and modification of data can be easily managed with databases. Here, the search and sorting are quick and easy.

Types of Databases

There are various types of databases: 

• Relational database.

• Distributed database.

• Cloud database.

• Graph database.

• NoSQL database.

Apache CouchDB

Apache CouchDB is a NoSQL database. NoSQL databases are beneficial for managing large amounts of distributed and unstructured data. CouchDB was initially released in 2005. The current version (3.1.1) was released in September 2020. It supports cross-platform operating systems. 

Apache CouchDB's open source DB employs multiple formats and protocols to store, transfer, or process the given data. It is document-oriented. Being implemented in Erlang, CouchDB uses JSON for data storage. Additionally, JavaScript is its query language, which uses MapReduce. Further, it employs HTTP as its API.

Unlike a relational database, this does not support data storage in tables. Instead, it considers each database as a collection of independent documents. The most distinguishing feature of CouchDB is its multi-master replication feature. Thus, it ensures scalability that, in turn, aids in developing high-performance systems.

MariaDB

MariaDB is the most-used relational database. A relational DB uses a tabular structure for storing data. This ensures easy re-organization and multiple access patterns. 

MariaDB is an open source database that is community-developed. It is highly compatible with MySQL. Thus it matches the APIs and commands of MySQL. Besides, it includes storage engines such as MyRocks, Aria, and ColumnStore.

MariaDB is developed by MariaDB Corporation Ab and the MariaDB Foundation. It was initially released 11 years ago in 2009. However, the stabilized version was released in February 2021. It is compatible with Linux, Windows, and macOS operating systems.

A Detailed Comparison Between CouchDB and MariaDB

Lotus Notes inspire CouchDB. It is scalable and is globally distributed. One can access it over the desktop as well as mobile. However, MariaDB is known for its high availability. It is secure and has high-performance capabilities.

DBMS

The primary database model of CouchDB is Document Store, and the secondary is Spatial DBMS. On the other hand, MariaDB uses a relational database management system (DBMS) as its primary database model. The secondary database models employed by MariaDB are Document Store, Spatial DBMS, and Graph DBMS.

Regarding the ranking of DB engines, we see a significant distinction. CouchDB scores 16.01, whereas MariaDB scores 96.37. The overall ranking of CouchDB and MariaDB is #39 and #12, respectively. 

Both have open-source licenses. However, neither of them is restricted to the cloud. While CouchDB uses Erlang as its implementation language, MariaDB uses C and C++. While the prior is schema-free, the latter has a data scheme.

Programming Languages

CouchDB and MariaDB support common programming languages such as C, C#, Erlang, Java, JavaScript, Objective-C, Python, OCaml, Ruby, PHP, and Haskell. On the flip side, CouchDB supports ColdFusion, Perl, Smalltalk, Lisp, PL/SQL, and Lua. Similarly, MariaDB supports Ada, TCL, C++, D, Eiffel, Go, and Scheme.

Operating Systems

CouchDB is flexible and adapts itself to any given operating system. It is compatible with Android, Linux, OS X, Windows, BSD, and Solaris. On the other hand, Maria is restricted only to FreeBSD, Windows, Solaris, and Linux. CouchDB employs RESTful HTTP/ JSON API as its access method. 

Similarly, MariaDB uses ADO.NET, JDBC, ODBC, and a proprietary native API. 

MariaDB supports typing, SQL, and XML, unlike CouchDB. It also is compatible with foreign keys and in-memory capabilities. On the other hand, CouchDB supports MapReduce. However, both support secondary indexes, triggers, and concurrency and are durable.  

While CouchDB offers sharding as the only partition method, MariaDB has several options for horizontal parting and sharding. Both employ multi-source and source-replica replication methods. CouchDB has eventual consistency, whereas MariaDB has immediate consistency. CouchDB does not support ACID transactions, unlike MariaDB.

Famous Companies

Some famous companies that bank on CouchDB are Akamai Technologies, GenCorp Technologies, Hothead Games, etc. Similarly, companies like Accenture, Grooveshark, CUNY, Northrop Grumman, and others.

Winding Up the Comparison

On a concluding note, developers prefer CouchDB because of JSON. However, many others vote for MariaDB as it is a MySQL replacement. Reviews have proved that MariaDB meets the business requirements better than CouchDB as it offers high performance. Besides, MariaDB offers better product support too. 

The preference for MariaDB was higher than CouchDB for feature updates and roadmaps. However, if you are searching for a small and fast server in any mobile app development, CouchDB is the one for you.

If you have any doubts, please do ask in the comment section.