Databases

What HN commenters recommend, ranked by distinct recommenders. Under each: what people praise most and the most common caveat, or the strongest quote where there is no summary yet.

1. 1.
   SQLite · 87 recommenders · 6 warn
   Loved for Simplicity, Web app backends · Caveat High availability
2. 2.
   PostgreSQL · 79 recommenders · 5 warn
   Loved for All-in-one, Reliability at scale · Caveat Vacuum bloat
3. 3.
   DuckDB · 60 recommenders
   Loved for Speed, Querying files directly · Caveat Not OLTP/multi-user
4. 4.
   Redis · 22 recommenders · 4 warn
   Loved for Caching speed, Easy to operate · Caveat License changes
5. 5.
   ClickHouse · 16 recommenders · 1 warns
   Loved for Query speed, Logging backend · Caveat Not transactional
6. 6.
   GGoogle Sheets · 10 recommenders · 3 warn
   Loved for Personal tracking, Lightweight database · Caveat Outgrown
7. 7.
   Supabase · 9 recommenders · 2 warn
   Loved for Developer experience, All-in-one backend · Caveat RLS exposure
8. 8.
   Valkey · 8 recommenders
   Loved for Redis compatibility, Trusted governance · Caveat Diverging from Redis
9. 9.
   Litestream · 8 recommenders · 1 warns
   Loved for Offsite backups, Proven in use · Caveat Data-loss window
10. 10.
    MySQL · 6 recommenders · 3 warn
    Loved for Simplicity, Performance · Caveat Footguns
11. 11.
    PocketBase · 6 recommenders
    Loved for Side projects, Productivity · Caveat Public API risk
12. 12.
    Neon · 6 recommenders · 1 warns
    Loved for No database ops, Branching and restores · Caveat Cost for small projects
13. 13.
    Cloudflare D1 · 5 recommenders
    Loved for Cloudflare integration, Low cost · Caveat Timeouts
14. 14.
    MusicBrainz · 5 recommenders
    Loved for Valued resource, Tagging and identification · Caveat User experience
15. 15.
    PGlite · 5 recommenders · 1 warns
    Loved for No server needed, In-browser Postgres · Caveat Single connection
16. 16.
    PgBouncer · 4 recommenders
    PgBouncer is a great piece of software. We use that heavily
17. 17.
    PgDog · 4 recommenders
    I've moved from pgbouncer to pgdog a few months ago without issue. Huge fan.
18. 18.
    HeidiSQL · 4 recommenders
    Heidi has been my go-to SQL tool for longer than I can remember.
19. 19.
    PpgBackRest · 4 recommenders
    Can't recommend pgbackrest enough. It's fantastic software
20. 20.
    Barman · 4 recommenders
    Barman has always been solid for backup and restore
21. 21.
    MariaDB · 3 recommenders
    there's literally zero risk of the MariaDB server suddenly going closed-source
22. 22.
    DuckLake · 3 recommenders
    Plus, it gives us a clear spec for implementing complex parts like time travel, snapshots, etc.
23. 23.
    sqlite-vec · 3 recommenders
    SQLite + sqlite-vec + Tantivy + a tiny embedding model will stay as my go to.
24. 24.
    TimescaleDB · 3 recommenders
    if you’re evaluating postgres, check out timescaledb.
25. 25.
    Airtable · 3 recommenders
    AirTable worked somewhat to keep moving projects forward, without growing unbounded.
26. 26.
    libsql · 3 recommenders
    Moved from SQLite to libsql for native vector search.
27. 27.
    LMDB · 3 recommenders · 1 warns
    It has worked well for me as a way to read mutable (by any client) parameters during synthesis
28. 28.
    DataGrip · 3 recommenders · 2 warn
    Then there is the DataGrip stuff, I use it all the time.
29. 29.
    MMicrosoft SQL Server · 3 recommenders · 3 warn
    we've been using a fairly basic mssql box for years in a organisation of about 300 and it humms along nicely
30. 30.
    Atlas · 3 recommenders · 2 warn
    I use https://github.com/ariga/atlas for this, migration based and schema base both has there good and bad side, I prefer both even in one project
31. 31.
    Turso · 3 recommenders · 4 warn
    I use Turso for a small project. Seems to work well.