A database is must need for any software development and which database to choose is one of the main requirement for software architecture. In the 2020 year, As a developer, we have lots of choices for the databases. We can have mainly two types of database. So, let’s start with our most popular databases…
As above SQL have mainly relational databases and NoSQL means not only SQL databases. If you are not comfortable about NoSQL databases – like what is NoSQL database and types of NoSQL databases. I would recommend reading our latest article about NoSQL databases. So, Now we can go through our top 10 databases by the advantage and disadvantage of each. So, You will choose the right one for your application. Here we have a list of databases for the 2020 year.
Most Popular Databases
- Oracle
- Its really famous among all developers, easy to use, well-written documents, amazing new features like JSON from SQL and so on.
- MySQL
- Enterprises can commence out utilizing the free community server and later upgrade to the commercial version.
- Microsoft SQL Server
- MS SQL Server is a relational database management system built for the basic function of storing retrieving data as required by other applications.
- PostgreSQL
- It (pronounced as post-gress-Q-L) is an open source relational database management system developed by a worldwide team of volunteers.
- MongoDB
- MongoDB is a cross-platform, document-oriented database that provides, high performance, high availability, and easy scalability.
- DB2
- DB2 is a database product from IBM. DB2 is designed to store, analyze and retrieve the data efficiently.
- Redis
- It is an open source, advanced key-value store and an apt solution for building high-performance, scalable web applications.
- Elasticsearch
- It is a real-time distributed and open source full-text search and analytics engine.
- SQLite
- SQLite is a relational database management system contained in a C library. In contrast to many other database management systems, SQLite is not a client–server database engine. Rather, it is embedded into the end program. Best for mobile application.
- Microsoft Access
- It is a Database Management System from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools.
Most Popular Databases among Programmers
Database | Developer | License | Written in |
Oracle | Oracle Corporation | Proprietary | Assembly language, C, C++ |
MySQL | Oracle Corporation | GPL (version 2) or proprietary | C, C++ |
Microsoft SQL Server | Microsoft Corporation | Proprietary | C, C++ |
PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL Global Development Group | PostgreSQL License (free and open-source, permissive) | C |
MongoDB | MongoDB Inc. | Various | C++, C, JavaScript |
DB2 | IBM | Proprietary EULA | Assembly language, C, C++ |
Redis | Salvatore Sanfilippo | BSD | ANSI C |
SQLite | Dwayne Richard Hipp | Public Domain | C |
Microsoft Access | Microsoft Corporation | Trialware |
Database Ranking

Click here for Best NoSQL databases
1. Oracle

Yes, Oracle is king in the race for most popular databases. Why? – its really famous among all developers, easy to use, well-written documents, amazing new features ( JSON from SQL, Robust Code using Constants for Data Type Lengths feature, long name support, list tag improved, etc). Oracle Database 18c takes the management of customer’s enterprise data to the next level, helping customers on their journey to the cloud. Oracle Database 12c offers a wide range of features to help customers meet specific requirements in the areas of performance and scalability, high availability, security and compliance, data warehousing and big data, and manageability, both on-premises and on Oracle Cloud.
- Developed by: Oracle Corporation
- Written in: Assembly language, C, C++
- Blog: Oracle NoSQL
- Download: Oracle NoSQL
- Latest version: 19.5
Features
- Oracle NoSQL Database handle big data
- Supports SQL, and it can be accessed from Oracle relational databases
- Oracle NoSQL Database using Java/C API to read and write data
- Distributed database
- Provides access to the data through the node for the requested key.
Pros of Oracle
- Based on PL/SQL Programming construct
- Peer to peer communities help to solve all problems
- Oracle database is secure and ensures that user data is not tampered with through prompt updates.
Cons of Oracle
- High cost for small organizations
- Require significant resources for installation
- Hardware upgrades may be required to even implement Oracle
- takes up a lot of space
2. MySQL

Enterprises can commence out utilizing the free community server and later upgrade to the commercial version. Mysql runs on Linux, Windows, OSX and FreeBSD and Solaris. MySQL is customizable. The open-source GPL license allows programmers to modify the MySQL software to fit their own specific environments.MySQL uses a standard form of the well-known SQL data language. Intuitive graphical utilizer interface for designing database tables. Due to its open-source community, MySQL has a sizably voluminous bank of tutorials and information to avail you get commenced and solve quandaries. MySQL supports large databases, up to 50 million rows or more in a table. The default file size limit for a table is 4GB, but you can increase this. Support for partitioning and replication, as well as for Xpath and for stored procedures, triggers, and views.
- Developed by: Oracle Corporation
- Written in C, C++
- Latest version: 8.0.2121
- Download: MySql
Features
- Scalable
- Easy to use
- High Security
- Supports Novell Cluster Services
- Fast
- Runs on many operating systems
Pros of MySQL
- supports large databases, up to 50 million rows or more in a table
- open-source
- Implement a variety of user interfaces
Cons of MySQL
- No built-in support for XML or OLAP
- Support is available for the free version
- Take a lot of time and effort to create incremental backups
3. Microsoft SQL Server

The most widely used commercial DBMS. It constrained to Windows, but this is an advantage if your enterprise uses mostly Microsoft products. It is platform dependent. It is both GUI and command based software. It supports SQL language which is an IBM product, non-procedural, common database, and case-insensitive language.
- Developed by: Microsoft Corporation
- Written in C, C++
- Blog: SQL Server Blog
- Download: Microsoft SQL Server
Features
- High Performance
- Platform dependent
- Install different versions in one machine
- Generates scripts for data movement
Pros of Microsoft SQL Server
- Reduce temporary database problem
- Separate security privileges
- Maintain standby server
- supports SQL (SEQUEL) language
Cons of Microsoft SQL Server
- Integration Services issue to import files
- Ideal for only large organizations
4. PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is a particularly scalable object-relational database. PostgreSQL runs on Linux, Windows, OSX and several other systems. PostgreSQL was developed based on POSTGRES 4.2 at Berkeley Computer Science Department, University of California. The original name of PostgreSQL is Postgres. Major enhancements in PostgreSQL 10 include Logical replication using publish, Declarative table partitioning, Improved query parallelism, Stronger password authentication based on SCRAM-SHA-256, Improved monitoring and control, Significant general performance improvements etc.
- Developed by: PostgreSQL Global Development Group
- Written in C
- Companies who use PostgreSQL: Apple, Cisco, Fujitsu, Skype, and IMDb
- Latest version: 12.3
- Blog: PostgreSQL
- Download: PostgreSQL
Features
- Support for tablespaces, as well as for stored procedures, joins, views, triggers, etc.
- Multi-version concurrency control (MVCC)
- Point-in-time recovery
- Foreign keys
- Asynchronous replication
Pros of PostgreSQL
- Predefined functions
- A number of interfaces
- Scalable
- Supports JSON
Cons of PostgreSQL
- Less-mature replication software
- Configuration can be confusing
5. MongoDB

The most popular NoSQL DB; nevertheless retains some SQL properties like query and index. Fortifies a wide range of programming languages like Scala, Groovy, Clojure, and Java – eminently more than NoSQL rival Cassandra. MongoDB is Best for dynamic queries and for defining indexes.MongoDB uses a flexible structure which can be easily modified and extended rather than an SQL database. A schema can be written without downtime. Fortifies Linux, OSX, and Windows, but the DB size is circumscribed to 2.5 GB on 32bit systems.MongoDB uses MMAPv1 and WiredTiger storage engines.
- Developed by: MongoDB Inc. in 2007
- Written in C++
Features
- Provides high performance
- Auto-sharding
- Run over multiple servers
- Supports Master-Slave replication
- Data is stored in the form of JSON style documents
- index any field in a document
- It has an automatic load balancing configuration because of data placed in shards
- Supports regular expression searches
- Easy to administer in the case of failures
Pros of MongoDB
- Easy to setup MongoDB
- MongoDB Inc. provides professional support to its clients
- Support ad-hoc query
- High-Speed Database
- Schema-less database
- Horizontally scalable database
- Performance is very high
Cons of MongoDB
- Doesn’t support joins
- Data Size is High
- Nesting of documents is limited
- Increase unnecessary usage of memory
6. DB2

IBM’s answer to Oracle’s 11g, available in host and Windows/Linux versions. DB2 runs on Linux, UNIX, Windows, and mainframes. The DB2 is ideal for IBM host environments. For IBM DB2, the UDB version 10.5 with the features of BLU Acceleration and its code name as ‘Kepler’. The Latest version of DB2 is DB2 Express-C that is not permitted for use in high availability environments such as involving replication, active-passive, or shared disk clustering.
- Developed by: IBM
- Written in C, C++, Assembly language
- Latest version: 11.5
- Download: DB2
Features
- 11.1 extends native encryption
- 11.1 adds enhancements aimed at environments
- 11.1 provides a simplified installation and deployment process
- 11.1 extends native encryption
Pros of DB2
- At a time run multiple jobs using Task Scheduler
- Support for both SQL and NoSQL data models.
- Hosted from the cloud, a physical server or both at the same time
- Error codes and exit codes can determine which jobs are run
Cons of DB2
- High cost for a small organization
- Basic support is available for three years
7. Redis

Redis stands for Remote Dictionary Server. It is open-source, networked, in-recollection, and stores keys with optional durability. When the durability of data is not needed, the in-recollection nature of Redis sanctions it to perform astronomically well compared to database systems that indite every transmutation to disk afore considering a transaction committed. All Redis operations are atomic. Redis is commonly deployed on IaaS or PaaS platforms like Amazon Web Accommodations, Rackspace, or Heroku. Many languages have Redis bindings, including: ActionScript, C, C++, C#, Clojure, Prevalent Lisp, Dart, Erlang, Go, Haskell, Haxe, Io, Java, JavaScript (Node.js), Lua, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, Pristine Data, Python, R, Ruby, Scala, Smalltalk and Tcl.
Features
- Automatic failover
- Holds its database entirely in the memory
- Transactions
- Lua scripting
- Replicate data to any number of slaves
- Keys with a limited time-to-live
- LRU eviction of keys
- Supports Publish/Subscribe
Pros of Redis
- Supports a huge variety of data types
- Easy to install
- Very fast(perform about 110000 SETs per second, about 81000 GETs per second)
- Operations are atomic
- Multi-utility tool(used in a number of use cases)
Cons of Redis
- Doesn’t support joins
- Knowledge required of Lua for stored procedures
- the dataset has to fit comfortably in memory
8. Elasticsearch

Elasticsearch is an open-source, broadly-distributable, readily-scalable, enterprise-grade search engine. Accessible through an extensive and elaborate API, Elasticsearch can power extremely fast searches that support your data discovery applications. Elasticsearch is one of the popular enterprise search engines, which is currently being used by many big organizations like Wikipedia, The Guardian, StackOverflow, GitHub etc. Elasticsearch allows a user to create replicas of their indexes and shards.
- Developed by: Elastic NV
- Written in Java
- Latest version: 7.4
- Blog: Elasticsearch
- Download: Elasticsearch
Features
- scalable up to petabytes of structured and unstructured data
- Supports multi-tenancy
- Provides scalable search, has near real-time search
Pros of Elasticsearch
- Restful API
- Document-Oriented
- Schema-free
- Powerful full-text search capabilities
Cons of Elasticsearch
- Does not support multi-language
- Asplit-brainn situations problem in rare case
9. SQLite

SQLite is a relational database management system contained in a C library. In contrast to many other database management systems, SQLite is not a client–server database engine. Rather, it is embedded into the end program.
Features
- Linearly scalable
- Maintains a quick response time
- Supports properties like Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability (ACID)
- Supports MapReduce with Apache Hadoop
- Maximal flexibility to distribute the data
- Highly scalable
- Peer-to-peer architecture
Pros of SQLite
- Highly scalable
- No single point of failure
- Multi-DC Replication
- Very quick installation & require no extra configuration or space because it a server-less installation
- Best database for mobile applications
Cons of SQLite
- if you are using this in an Andriod App development cycle then also your options are limited because it does not integrate with PostgreSQL and MySQL.
- Lack of built-in data encryption.
- offers limited scope to tune the performance in a complex scenario.
10. Microsoft Access

MS Access is DBMS from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. Like Microsoft SQL Server, it’s used is circumscribed Windows. This is ideal for getting commenced with traffic analysis, but not its performance is not designed for mid to astronomically immense-scale projects. Its fortified programming languages inhibited to C, C#, C++, Java, VBA, and Visual Rudimental.NET and link directly to data stored in other applications and databases. Access stores all database tables, queries, forms, reports, macros, and modules in the Access Jet database as a single file.
- Developed by: Microsoft Corporation
- Latest version: 16.0
- Download: Microsoft Access
Features
- Use VBA to write rich solutions with advanced data manipulation and user control
- Import and export of data to many formats(Excel, Outlook, ASCII, dBase, Paradox, FoxPro, SQL Server and Oracle)
- Jet Database format
Pros of Microsoft Access
- Only one installation needed (DBMS and design implement in one)
- Easy to install
- Easy to integrate
- Cost
Cons of Microsoft Access
- Finite Database
- Difficult to incorporate Multimedia data
- Time-critical transactions are difficult
There are multiple popular databases. According to requirements and organization needs, you have to choose. According to requirement find out a tool that is best and features match with criteria. We are recently taking a survey from different programmers who are available on google plus social media. We did a survey for all SQL and NoSQL databases.
See More: The Most popular database for 2020
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