SQLite vs. MySQL

SQLite is a library that gets embedded inside the application that makes use of it. It offers an amazing set of tools to handle all sorts of data. As a self-contained, file-based database, SQLite can be compared to hosted alternatives, like MySQL.

Supported Data Types

SQLite’s supports BLOB, NULL, INTEGER, TEXT, whereas MySQL’s supports NUMERIC, DATE, DATETIME, TIMESTAMP, NTINYTEXT, BLOB, TEXT, MEDIUMBLOB, MEDIUMTEXT,TIME, YEAR, CHAR, VARCHAR, TINYBLOB, TINYINT, SMALLINT, MEDIUMINT, INT or INTEGER, BIGINT, FLOAT, DOUBLE, DOUBLE DECIMAL, LONGBLOB, LONGTEXT, PRECISION, REAL, ENUM, and SET. Both the SQLite and MYSQL have certain advantages.

SQLite is file-based — the database consists of a single file on the disk, which makes it extremely portable and reliable. Although it might appear like a “simple” DB implementation, SQL is used in SQLite. SQLite is meant to be great for both developing and testing and offers more than what is needed for development.

On the other hand, MySQL is very easy to work with. For instance, it can be easily installed, third-party tools make it a simple database to get started with, and it's enriched with features. It supports a lot of SQL functionality that is expected from an RDBMS. MySQL is secured, which makes it highly advanced, too. It can even handle a good amount of data and hence can be used at-scale. As far as speed is concerned, MySQL works efficiently and effectively.

Disadvantages

No user management: Advanced databases make user support a high priority. SQLite doesn’t support such features.

Can't tinker for increased performance: As far as the design is concerned, SQLite lacks the ability to tinker with it to squeeze out higher performance. The library is absolutely simple to tune and use — it isn't complicated, but, as a result, you can't really tweak it further.

Reliability: And as far as design is concerned, MySQL doesn’t intend to do everything, but it measures up to the functional expectations that some state-of-the-art apps require. MySQL is a little less reliable than RDBMSs. MySQL is an open source product, but there are complaints about the development process.

What to Use and When?

There are some questions regarding when to use SQLite and MySQL. Let's take a look.

When to Use SQLite?

• All applications that require portability and don’t require expansion.
• In cases where applications need to read or write files to disk directly.

When to Use MySQL?

• Where high-security features are required for data access.
• For websites that work on MySQL despite some constraints. It's a scalable tool that is easy to manage.

Therefore, both SQLite and MySQL are suitable in their own niches with their own functions.