15 Greatest Free Database Software program for Information Administration in 2024

Whether or not you’re a marketer or software program developer, you’ve got most likely heard of “database”.

A database is a part of any pc system that shops and organizes knowledge in a handy type. The idea of database software program isn’t arduous to understand as all of us use databases persistently.

Think about an Excel spreadsheet: a group of knowledge organized into columns and rows. A database operates equally however normally on a bigger scale throughout many interconnected computer systems and with extra advanced types of knowledge.

However getting your palms on the very best database software program might be difficult. Quite a few choices can be found, and deciding which is best for you is not straightforward. We’ve compiled an inventory of the highest free database software program, together with their execs and cons. 

It’s essential to contemplate a number of elements, particularly when deciding on database software program to develop purposes. The database software program presents strong knowledge administration capabilities, together with environment friendly knowledge parsing for streamlined info dealing with. This consists of asking the fitting questions on a software program’s capabilities, making certain whether or not to spend money on studying a brand new database and determining what you need to obtain along with your purposes.

If you happen to do not need to pay, loads of free database options are divided into two predominant teams: relational and non-relational. However, in the event you haven’t selected the database software program (paid or free) you need to use, right here are some things to contemplate:

• Complexity: Sure database software program might be reasonably advanced and require some technical data. However, some challenge administration software program simplifies managing project-related knowledge.
• Safety: No one needs their knowledge to fall into the improper palms. Selecting software program that makes use of cutting-edge knowledge safety protocols is crucial.
• Integrations: Software program integrations enable customers to deal with knowledge throughout many purposes, comparable to CRM software program or messaging apps.
• Pricing: As we discover a few of the prime free database software program, some purposes may have premium plans that present extra options, storage capability, and extra. So select a database resolution that provides the very best worth for cash.

How did we choose and consider the very best database software program?

At G2, we rank software program options utilizing a proprietary algorithm that considers buyer satisfaction and market presence based mostly on genuine consumer critiques. Our market analysis analysts and writers spend weeks testing options towards a number of standards set for a software program class. We offer you unbiased software program evaluations; that is the G2 distinction! We didn’t settle for fee or change hyperlinks for product placements on this record. Please learn our G2 Analysis Scoring Methodology for extra particulars.

A relational database is an organized assortment of knowledge parts linked collectively by predefined associations. These parts are organized in a sequence of tables with rows and columns.

Relational database software program helps companies draw significant info by way of linked tables. Customers can simply comprehend the patterns and connections or how the tables are associated.

The record under accommodates real-user critiques of the very best free relational database options available on the market. To be included on this record, the developed purposes must be free and:

• Provide knowledge storage
• Construction knowledge in a relational mannequin by defining a desk with rows and columns
• Let customers acquire, replace, ship, or delete knowledge

*This record relies on G2 knowledge collected in 2024. Some critiques could have been edited for readability.

1. Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) permits customers to construct, handle, and increase databases within the cloud. It presents scalable capability whereas automating time-consuming administrative duties, together with {hardware} provisioning, setup, patches, and backups.

It frees companies to deal with providers and gives them with the wanted efficiency and safety. Prime operational options embrace the Amazon RDS Administration Console, the AWS RDS Command-Line Interface, and easy API requires fast and straightforward setup. 

What customers like finest: 

“What I like finest about Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is its capability to simplify the administration of relational databases with automated backups, scaling, and upkeep. This permits customers to deal with software improvement with out worrying in regards to the underlying database infrastructure. The seamless integration with different AWS providers and strong safety features additional improve its enchantment.”

– Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) Evaluation, Cuong M. 

What customers dislike: 

“As a managed service, RDS could not provide the identical stage of customization and management as self-managed databases, which could be a limitation for sure superior use instances.“

– Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) Evaluation, Nireeksha P. 

2. IBM Db2

IBM Db2 is a relational database administration system (RDBMS) that effectively shops, analyzes, and retrieves knowledge. Firms of all sizes use Db2 for transactional and analytical processes because it presents steady knowledge availability to maintain them operating easily. Db2 additionally helps NoSQL options, comparable to XML, graph retailer, and JSON.

What customers like finest: 

“IBM Db2 is a steady platform and built-in relational database administration system that leverages high-performance, virtualization, and vitality effectivity options. Additionally, it’s supported by totally different media.”

– IBM Db2 Evaluation, Sachin D.

What customers dislike: 

“It might be nice if we might have help to have a local UI instrument to view knowledge and execute queries. The question efficiency is likely to be sluggish generally for long-running processes.”

– IBM Db2 Evaluation, Vignesh V.

3. MariaDB

MariaDB relieves companies of proprietary databases’ prices, limitations, and intricacy, permitting them to deal with what issues most: constructing inventive, customer-facing apps. MariaDB employs pluggable, purpose-built storage engines to accommodate workloads that historically wanted a variety of specialist databases.

MariaDB gives unequalled operational agility with out shedding crucial company capabilities comparable to real ACID compliance and full SQL.

What customers like finest: 

“It is a dependable and open-source database system that does not fear the customers. I used this database over oracle due to its efficiency and availability. We will depart an impression on the shoppers through the use of the MariaDB database.”

– MariaDB Evaluation, Tabassum Okay.

What customers dislike: 

“It isn’t handy for an enormous stream of knowledge. Additional, it performs comparatively properly by way of clustering and is consistently up to date with new options and features.”

– MariaDB Evaluation, Satyam G.

A doc database (usually generally known as a document-oriented database or a doc retailer) shops knowledge within the type of paperwork. It is a non-relational (often known as NoSQL) database well-suited for catalogs, consumer profiles, and content material administration programs, the place every doc is exclusive and modifications over time.

Doc database software program makes it a lot simpler for programmers to avoid wasting and question knowledge in a database as a result of they make use of the identical document-model format as their codebase. Versatile indexing, strong advert hoc searches, and analytics over collections of paperwork are all potential with doc databases.

The record under accommodates actual consumer critiques from the very best free doc database options available on the market. Along with being a free software, to be included on this record, it’s essential to additionally:

• Provide knowledge storage
• Construction knowledge in a doc mannequin
• Let customers retrieve knowledge

*This record relies on G2 knowledge collected in 2024. Some critiques could have been edited for readability.

1. Couchbase

Couchbase is a feature-rich database administration system for small and midsize organizations and large companies in varied industries, together with banking, lodges, vitality, info know-how (IT), retail, telecommunications, and manufacturing. 

Couchbase is a multi-model NoSQL database designed completely for mission-critical purposes.It’s a document-oriented distributed database that mixes two standard NoSQL applied sciences: Membase and CouchDB.

What customers like finest: 

“Simple to get began. We will question over the DB utilizing N1QL, which is similar to SQL, so it would not want additional data to get began. The UI may be very clear and straightforward to know. Indexing is straightforward to implement; we are able to see all of the accessible indices, and whereas operating the queries, we are able to see which index was picked up. Cherished this feature.”

– Couchbase Evaluation, Amit P.

What customers dislike: 

“Including licensed customers was a bit difficult. Nevertheless, my crew figured it out after some poking round.”

– Couchbase Evaluation, Nico P.

2. ArangoDB

ArangoDB is a extremely scalable, multi-model database that excels in dealing with advanced, interconnected knowledge constructions. As a doc database, it is optimized for storing and querying knowledge in a versatile JSON-like format, making it excellent for purposes that require speedy improvement and environment friendly knowledge administration.

What customers like finest: 

“The combination of the doc, search, and graph fashions has made our selections simpler. We will restrict our stack to make use of Arango and never have an explosion of vendor programs for every goal.”

– ArangoDB Evaluation, Kevin B.

What customers dislike: 

“Creating Property graphs is straightforward. Nevertheless, there isn’t a direct option to create an RDF/OWL graph. RDF triples are helpful in machine studying.”

– ArangoDB Evaluation, Amardeep Singh S.

3. MarkLogic 

MarkLogic is an enterprise-grade NoSQL doc database famend for its capability to deal with huge volumes of numerous knowledge, together with XML, JSON, and RDF. It presents a singular mix of database, search, and software server functionalities inside a single platform.

What customers like finest: 

“MarkLogic is a database platform managing massive dataflows and totally different datatypes. It additionally shops varied structured and unstructured queries together with varied dataflows that may be managed beneath a single gadget. It helps customers for quicker indexing and search from massive datasets and permits customers to deal with growing quantities of knowledge. MarkLogic is compliant with atomicity, isolation, sturdiness, and consistency. MarkLogic might be built-in with varied third-party instruments and gives confidentiality, integrity, and auditing.”

– MarkLogic Evaluation, Harshit L. 

What customers dislike: 

“The license value is extraordinarily excessive and so is the quantity of house required to retailer knowledge.” 

– MarkLogic Evaluation, Abdalla H. 

A graph database represents and shops knowledge utilizing graph constructions for semantic queries, comparable to nodes, edges, and properties. A graph is a vital aspect within the system and connects the info gadgets to a set of nodes and edges, the place the sides point out the nodes’ relationships.

These relationships immediately join saved knowledge and, in lots of circumstances, retrieve it in a single operation. As a result of relationships are preserved indefinitely within the database, querying them is fast. Graph databases can simply show interconnections, which is useful for extensively interconnected info.

The record under accommodates actual consumer critiques of the very best free graph database options available on the market. To be included on this record, not solely do you need to be a free software, but additionally:

• Provide knowledge storage
• Retailer and construction knowledge in a topographical schema
• Let customers retrieve knowledge utilizing a querying language

*This record relies on G2 knowledge collected in 2024. Some critiques could have been edited for readability.

1. Neo4j 

Neo4j is an open-source graph database that helps companies make data-driven selections because it exhibits the relationships between individuals, processes, and programs. Neo4j maintains interconnected knowledge by default, making knowledge simpler to grasp. Firms may also use the property graph mannequin to develop machine studying and AI fashions.

What customers like finest: 

“Neo4j is probably the most interactive and straightforward to make use of or question instrument I’ve ever labored with. The ciphers are so user-friendly that somebody with no data of programming or question languages can get began at any second, which provides us an edge in explaining the BI evaluation and parameters to our clients. Visualizations enable you debug and resolve the problems approach quicker than different DBs. And their integration with most cloud providers permits a clean integration in our purposes.“

– Neo4j Evaluation, Gariba G. 

What customers dislike: 

“I didn’t discover numerous assets to assist after I obtained caught. Additionally, the setup course of was a bit tedious, particularly with solely the documentation to go off, however I managed to determine the drivers points.”

– Neo4j Evaluation, Ian J. 

2. ArangoDB

ArangoDB is a flexible, multi-model database that seamlessly integrates graph, doc, and key-value knowledge fashions inside a single platform. This unified strategy empowers builders to effectively handle and question advanced datasets. It shops and queries paperwork, graphs, and key-value knowledge utilizing a single, declarative question language (AQL). Ensures knowledge integrity and consistency throughout a number of operations.

What customers like finest: 

“I like that it is extremely versatile with its multi-model strategy; you may have the ability of a doc retailer with graph search, which basically means that you can do no matter you do with each doc shops and with SQL databases, plus rather more because of the graph traversal. The AQL language may be very intuitive and so fast to study. Velocity is nice, too. It’s straightforward to make use of for prototyping, and it gives you with a superb DevOps instrument for cluster set up on Kubernetes.”

– ArangoDB Evaluation, Delio D. 

What customers dislike: 

“It was a little bit of a studying curve on how knowledge is shared over the nodes within the cluster, which is crucial to know to get good efficiency when executing queries. Whereas it is seldom you need to change the identify of a group, that’s potential when working with a single standalone server, however it’s not potential in a cluster setup.

It is not possible to set most popular service hours for upkeep (upgrades) for the clusters of their cloud service, so except we provoke upgrades manually, they will begin throughout our primetime.”

– ArangoDB Evaluation, Johan S. 

3. Dgraph

Dgraph is a graph database system with a single schema improvement mannequin. Customers can use the instrument to develop a schema, deploy it, and obtain quick database and API entry with out writing any code.

Dgraph permits customers to decide on between GraphQL and DQL, so anybody with no prior data of graph databases to get began.

What customers like finest: 

“We have now opted for the Dgraph Cloud platform for our enterprise as it’s extremely scalable with low latency. It is glorious for necessities which have real-time transactional workloads because it synchronizes buyer data successfully. Information retrieval is hassle-free & we are able to carry out arbitrary depth joins with out worrying about our cluster limitations.”

– Dgraph Evaluation, Varshini S.

What customers dislike: 

“Dgraph requires excessive RAM to retailer a graph in comparison with different choices. The managed providing would not present all of the performance potential utilizing its Kubernetes cluster. The administration needs to be completed by your self or the DevOps crew of the group.”

– Dgraph Evaluation, Aditya G.

An object-oriented database (OOD) is a system that operates with refined knowledge objects, comparable to these present in object-oriented programming (OOP) languages. An object-oriented database is structured round objects reasonably than actions and knowledge reasonably than logic.

Object-oriented databases deal with knowledge as entire objects. As a substitute of a number of tables, all info is offered in a single, immediately accessible object bundle.

An entity is represented as an object in OOP that’s maintained in reminiscence. Members of objects embrace fields, attributes, and strategies. Objects have a life cycle that includes an object’s creation, use, and disposal. A number of main OOP languages can be found right this moment, together with C++, Java, C#, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, and Perl.

The record under accommodates actual consumer critiques of the very best free object-oriented database options available on the market. To be included on this record, you need to be a free software and:

• Provide knowledge storage
• Retailer and construction knowledge in object-based knowledge fashions
• Let customers create, retailer, and replace object knowledge fashions

*This record relies on G2 knowledge collected in 2024. Some critiques could have been edited for readability.

1. IBM Db2

IBM Db2 is a scalable object-oriented database administration system (OODBMS) designed to deal with advanced knowledge constructions and relationships. As an OODBMS, Db2 presents a versatile and intuitive strategy to storing and managing knowledge, making it well-suited for purposes that require superior knowledge modeling and querying capabilities.

What customers like finest: 

“That is nice for storing and organizing our shopper’s knowledge and offers the corporate the flexibleness to make use of recordsdata and tables as we modernize our software program platform. I take advantage of Run SQL scripts probably the most to entry knowledge to check my packages with totally different knowledge units. The DB2 database is ideal for the monetary and demographic knowledge that’s the spine of our system. The system may be very safe, which is ideal for all of the delicate knowledge we’ve.”

– IBM Db2 Evaluation, Chris D.

What customers dislike: 

“There are some things that may be improved. Firstly, the mixing choices should not available. The UI might be improved to help the educational curve of latest customers.”

– IBM Db2 Evaluation, Punit S.

2. InterSystems IRIS

InterSystems IRIS is a high-performance knowledge administration platform that provides IT specialists the instruments to develop machine studying and knowledge connectivity purposes. The software program additionally helps database administration for SQL and NoSQL databases. It is primarily designed for organizations that need bespoke apps to deal with incoming knowledge rapidly and carry out real-time knowledge analytics.

What customers like finest: 

“It is quick, allows you to work with many applied sciences, not simply healthcare-related ones, and integrates many cool options into your tasks by default. With out doing any additional work, you’re going to get a hint log that means that you can search and redo processes fixing errors. It features a quick and versatile database with a tree construction that can be used with common SQL.”

– InterSystems IRIS Evaluation, Jaime L.

What customers dislike: 

“I feel the largest draw back to InterSystems Iris (and is definitely small compared to what it could possibly be) is that if you wish to add customized performance, you’ll have to study the InterSystems Particular programming language (a minimum of a little bit) to get it constructed out. It follows fairly customary programming guidelines and syntax, although, so it will not take lengthy to get transferring with it.”

– InterSystems IRIS Evaluation, Victoria C.

3. InterSystems Chaché

InterSystems Caché is a full-featured database system with all of the performance required to run mission-critical purposes, together with journaling, backup and restoration, and system administration instruments, for healthcare, banking and monetary providers, authorities, and different industries.

What customers like finest: 

“It is a swift and safe database and might talk with relational entry, net pages, and object entry.”

– InterSystems Caché Evaluation, Eike Scudellari F.

What customers dislike: 

“The Studio editor is a bit outdated, and I really feel a scarcity of normal info on the open net.”

– InterSystems Caché Evaluation, Andy C.

A key-value database, generally generally known as a key-value retailer, is a non-relational database that shops knowledge utilizing a easy key-value strategy. It shops, retrieves, and maintains associative arrays as a dictionary. Dictionaries comprise objects or data with many various fields that retailer knowledge.

Keys and values might be something, from primary to stylish compound objects. Key-value databases are extremely partitionable and allow horizontal scaling that different kinds of databases can not.

When do you have to select a key-value database?

• When your software manages many small steady reads and writes, a key-value database might be unstable. It gives fast in-memory entry.
• When preserving important knowledge, comparable to shopper info, storing web sites with the URL as the important thing and the webpage as the worth, and storing shopping-cart contents, product classes, and e-commerce product particulars.
• For packages that do not must be up to date incessantly or deal with refined queries

The record under accommodates actual consumer critiques of the very best free key-value database options available on the market. To be included on this record, software program have to be free and:

• Provide knowledge storage
• Retailer and construction knowledge as a singular worth mapped to a key
• Let customers retrieve knowledge

*This record relies on G2 knowledge collected in 2024. Some critiques could have been edited for readability.

1. ScyllaDB

ScyllaDB is an open-source distributed NoSQL database. It was created to work with Apache Cassandra whereas delivering a lot higher throughputs and decreased latencies. It helps the identical protocols and file codecs as Cassandra however is a totally rewritten implementation with the C++20 language.

What customers like finest: 

“We have now been using ScyllaDB for a very long time now. It’s a dependable and extremely accessible NoSQL DB on account of its replication. Making certain that the info stays there even after a number of nodes fail.

Our in-house crew obtained an incredible assist from ScyllaDB help whereas implementing the DB attributable to its supportability with CQL. Greatest instance of knowledge consistency, reliability and efficiency.”

– ScyllaDB Evaluation, Chanchala B.

What customers dislike: 

“The setup and configuration complexity of ScyllaDB, which might be troublesome for novices. Moreover, the documentation generally lacks readability for superior options.”

– ScyllaDB Evaluation, Riya V. 

2. Couchbase

Couchbase is a distributed, NoSQL database that excels at storing and retrieving knowledge in a key-value format. As a key-value database, Couchbase is optimized for quick knowledge entry and excessive throughput, making it excellent for purposes that require speedy efficiency and scalability.

What customers like finest: 

“It is fairly quick, indexing and all might be completed with only one line and it makes the queries execute 100 instances quicker. And the very best factor I discover is the documentation. Many instances I come throughout a brand new use case and am unable to implement it. Then I search for that within the documentation and discover all of the solutions to all of the use instances I had. Does not carry out properly when knowledge will increase, numerous instances I get ambiguous timeout exceptions. Couchbase UI can be very straightforward to make use of.”

– Couchbase Evaluation, Amit P.

What customers dislike: 

“I used to be utilizing it with Spring Webflux that’s reactive, so whereas processing knowledge, the load on couchbase goes very excessive and operations begin failing. Would like to see some inbuilt help on this to deal with site visitors correctly.”

– Couchbase Evaluation, Amit P.

3. Aerospike 

Aerospike is a cloud-based, on-premise NoSQL database platform that permits e-commerce, retail, on-line gaming, telecoms, and promoting corporations to simplify multi-site clustering, cross datacenter replication, and cargo balancing, amongst different processes, on a single platform. It protects knowledge with encryption, authentication, role-based entry controls, and web site whitelisting.

What customers like finest: 

“Aerospike helps retailer knowledge as cached and the database with full XDR performance. It is a superb database by combining the ability of Redis and SQL compliant queries.”

– Aerospike Evaluation, Imran Okay.

What customers dislike: 

“Aerospike might be tough to measurement the cluster, though help is useful.”

– Aerospike Evaluation, Ido B.

A very good database serves as the muse for a mess of enterprise purposes. Find out how database administration can help your knowledge administration technique.

This text was initially printed in 2023. It has been up to date with new info.