MySQL vs. MongoDB

The MongoDB vs. MySQL com­par­i­son is looking like a dead heat. MySQL, with its strong security ar­chi­tec­ture and high usability is extremely con­vinc­ing, whereas MongoDB is sig­nif­i­cant­ly more flexible.

Database man­age­ment systems are of the utmost im­por­tance for most web projects. For a long time, MySQL was the be-all and end-all. In the meantime, however, there are some com­peti­tors that are preferred by more and more users. While MariaDB still has many sim­i­lar­i­ties compared to MySQL, there are also al­ter­na­tives that take a com­plete­ly different approach. MongoDB is worth a special mention. However, this poses the question, es­pe­cial­ly for beginners, which of the two databases is best suited to their purposes? Before comparing MySQL vs. MongoDB, we’ll briefly introduce the two opponents.

MySQL is the “oldie” among the current database man­age­ment systems. The software, which was initially developed by MySQL AB and is now dis­trib­uted by Oracle Cor­po­ra­tion, has been around since 1995. MySQL is open source and is used as a re­la­tion­al database man­age­ment system (RDBMS) primarily for data storage of web services. Large companies such as Meta, Twitter or YouTube rely wholly or partly on MySQL, which is also embedded in numerous products. The software runs on Linux, macOS and Windows, among others, and has become the default solution for databases. The name is composed of “My” and “Struc­tured Query Language”.

MongoDB is quite a bit younger than MySQL but has built up a loyal following since its initial release in 2009. The database system was developed by MongoDB, Inc., which initially operated under the name 10gen. The software is written in C++ and is document oriented. MongoDB sees itself as a NoSQL system, where the “No” in this case stands for “not only”. Above all, the special feature of such a non-re­la­tion­al method is its great scal­a­bil­i­ty, which also char­ac­ter­izes MongoDB. The unusual name is composed of the words “huMONGOus” and “DataBase”. MongoDB is also open source.

If you compare the two systems, you’ll notice that both systems have sim­i­lar­i­ties and com­mon­al­i­ties. So, before we look at the dif­fer­ences, some of which are sig­nif­i­cant, it’s worth taking a look at the points that connect the two opponents.

• Purpose: As much as MySQL and MongoDB differ from each other, at their core they’re used with a similar purpose. Both act as man­age­ment systems for databases and are mainly used when working with web projects.
• Operating systems: Both systems can be used on and with all common operating systems.
• Open source: The MySQL vs. MongoDB duel won’t be decided by money. Both systems are free and open source. This means they can the­o­ret­i­cal­ly be further developed and adapted as desired.
• Community and doc­u­men­ta­tion: Both providers have a large and en­thu­si­as­tic community. Users can quickly find help and answers to questions and problems. In addition, both systems are well doc­u­ment­ed, so that many am­bi­gu­i­ties can easily be resolved by the users them­selves.
• Learning curve: Since both options are logically struc­tured, it’s rel­a­tive­ly easy to un­der­stand the features and the structure. Whether you want to learn MySQL or go for a hands-on MongoDB tutorial, you can progress quickly.

While both systems have a few things in common, the dif­fer­ences clearly outweigh the sim­i­lar­i­ties. This is how MongoDB and MySQL stand out from each other in a direct com­par­i­son:

Probably the biggest and most obvious dif­fer­ence can be found in the func­tion­al­i­ty. MySQL uses a re­la­tion­al approach. All data is stored in tables that contain columns and rows. A key is then used to link these together when a query is made. In contrast, MongoDB is an object- or document-oriented system. Data is stored in BSON format, which is similar to JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). These can then be combined as desired in col­lec­tions. In the MySQL vs. MongoDB com­par­i­son, the documents are not subject to a fixed schema, while the tables are always struc­tured iden­ti­cal­ly.

MySQL and MongoDB also have different query arrange­ments. While MySQL relies entirely on SQL as the query language and uses the join function to work with other tables to retrieve data, MongoDB takes a different approach. MQL (Mongo Query Language) is a separate language that’s re­spon­si­ble for pro­cess­ing the data. This offers numerous CRUD functions (Create, Read, Update, Delete).

There are also major dif­fer­ences in the ar­chi­tec­ture. The NoSQL model follows a Nexus ar­chi­tec­ture and is therefore com­par­a­tive­ly flexible. MySQL, on the other hand, relies on a classic client-server ar­chi­tec­ture and thus scores with optimized storage per­for­mance.

The above-mentioned points already show that the newer solution in the MongoDB vs. MySQL duel can be used much more flexibly. This goal was one of the main reasons for de­vel­op­ing the NoSQL solution. Schemas and designs can be changed easily, quickly and without downtime. MySQL, on the other hand, relies on a fixed schema to which all tables are subject, and changes are not easily done. The situation is similar with scal­a­bil­i­ty. MySQL is com­par­a­tive­ly fixed here, too, only vertical scaling is possible. MongoDB, on the other hand, is very flexible and offers hor­i­zon­tal scaling options.

The free and flexible approach means that MongoDB is faster than MySQL. Queries can be answered and processed im­me­di­ate­ly. MySQL, on the other hand, is somewhat slower when dealing with large amounts of data due to its fixed table structure.

The com­par­a­tive­ly rigid struc­tures ensure that MySQL is con­sid­ered sig­nif­i­cant­ly more secure. With MongoDB, security problems can occur if mistakes are made when es­tab­lish­ing a structure.

If you’re faced with the question of which data man­age­ment system to rely on in the future, it helps to take a look at the re­spec­tive ad­van­tages and dis­ad­van­tages.

Pros:

• Ver­sa­til­i­ty: MySQL is com­pat­i­ble with numerous platforms, networks and systems, and is suitable for a variety of formats and sizes.
• Security: MySQL is very well protected by security features like SSL and fixed struc­tures.
• User-friend­li­ness: MySQL is very user-friendly, easy to learn and extremely well doc­u­ment­ed.
• Storage engine: A handy storage engine lets you identify tables that you use par­tic­u­lar­ly fre­quent­ly.

Cons:

• Flex­i­bil­i­ty: MySQL is sig­nif­i­cant­ly more static than MongoDB.
• De­pen­den­cy: The system is dependent on SQL and doesn’t provide any al­ter­na­tives.
• In­te­gra­tion: MySQL doesn’t support Java or Python in­te­gra­tion.

Pros:

• Flex­i­bil­i­ty: MongoDB is very flexible, scalable and therefore usable for numerous tasks.
• Repli­ca­tion: Data can be repli­cat­ed quickly and easily. This is also ad­van­ta­geous from a security per­spec­tive.
• Storage: Even data with different sizes and formats can be stored without negative effects.
• User-friend­li­ness: MongoDB is easy to learn and very logical.

Cons:

• Memory con­sump­tion: MongoDB’s memory con­sump­tion is com­par­a­tive­ly high.
• Stored pro­ce­dures: An es­tab­lished logic cannot au­to­mat­i­cal­ly be im­ple­ment­ed on databases.

There’s no winner in the MySQL vs. MongoDB duel. Both systems are perfectly suited for databases of any kind. So, in the end, it depends on what re­quire­ments your use case entails. MySQL is somewhat easier to use in the beginning and is es­pe­cial­ly suitable for projects that follow a fixed structure or don’t need to be scaled. The strong security ar­chi­tec­ture is also a big advantage when dealing with par­tic­u­lar­ly sensitive data.

If you need high scal­a­bil­i­ty and faster basic speed, MongoDB is a good choice. However, both database systems offer very good solutions. Here are their features once again at a glance: