{"id":166457,"date":"2023-02-10T11:40:53","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T10:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liora.io\/en\/?p=166457"},"modified":"2026-02-17T09:26:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:26:01","slug":"sql-vs-nosql","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liora.io\/en\/sql-vs-nosql","title":{"rendered":"SQL vs NoSQL: differences, uses, advantages and disadvantages"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Data Analysts, Data Scientists and Data Engineers require Data, making database management a fundamental aspect of their work. A DataBase Management System (DBMS)<\/a> is software that allows one or more users to access a database. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It controls access (identification, security) and process requests for data ingestion, modification, retrieval, or deletion. There are two main families<\/b> of DBMS: SQL DBMS and NoSQL DBMS.\u00a0To determine which one is the best technology, we will examine these two and compare their differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is an SQL database?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SQL databases (Structured Query Language<\/b>) are also called relational databases. They consist of a set of tables<\/b> in which the data are classified by category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each column of these tables corresponds to one of these categories and contains a certain number of data from this category. These tables generally have a fixed schema<\/b>, i.e. the form of the tables is defined (number of columns, titles, data type, and possibly other constraints). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is an example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"nosql_vs_sql\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We can see that each column corresponds to a specific category and that the columns have a well-defined type (ID User, first name …). These relational databases have been used since their creation by IBM in the 70’s<\/b> and are the most common, well-known, and, to some extent, the easiest to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a NoSQL database?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

NoSQL databases are, as the name implies, the opposite of SQL<\/b>, i.e. they are non-relational<\/b>. These databases do not require a fixed schema and are easily scalable. Several types can be adapted to multiple data formats, for example, documents, graphs, or even formats with keys. The goal is to be able to retrieve data<\/b> from the same place without having to go through relationships between tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s go back to the previous example with a document format, most often it is a JSON<\/b> object that is used (document type). In this case, each of the SQL column attributes is a field and the details of a person’s record would be the data values associated with each field:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

User ID<\/b>: “452<\/i>” , First Name<\/b>: “Laure<\/i>“, Name<\/b>: “Moulin<\/i>“, City_of_residence<\/b>: “Toulouse<\/i>” , Department<\/b>: “Haute-Garonne<\/i>” , Region<\/b>: “Occitanie<\/i>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each type of NoSQL database is designed according to a specific situation<\/b> and the respective technical constraints justify a particular structure. NoSQL databases were developed at the end of the 2000s and quickly became popular<\/b> thanks to their ability to manage large distributed Big Data databases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Become an expert with databases<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Table of differences between SQL and NoSQL<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
<\/th>\n SQL<\/th>\n NoSQL<\/th>\n <\/tr>\n <\/thead>\n
Definition<\/strong><\/td>\n Relational<\/td>\n Non-relational or distributed<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Application<\/strong><\/td>\n Query to analyze and recover data<\/td>\n Suitable for a variety of modern application technologies such as WebApp<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Query Language<\/strong><\/td>\n SQL<\/td>\n Several languages<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Type<\/strong><\/td>\n Table<\/td>\n Document \/ Charts \/ Key-Values<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Schema<\/strong><\/td>\n Fixed and pre-defined<\/td>\n Dynamic<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Data Management System (DMS) examples<\/strong><\/td>\n Oracle, PostGres, MySql<\/td>\n MongoDB, Neo4J<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Adapted for<\/strong><\/td>\n Intensive and complex requests<\/td>\n Large database, Big Data<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Creation<\/strong><\/td>\n 1970’s<\/td>\n 2000’s<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Open Source<\/strong><\/td>\n Open source (PostGres, MySql) and commercial (Oracle) mix<\/td>\n Open source majority<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Benefits<\/strong><\/td>\n Optimized storage and stability<\/td>\n Easy and flexible storage<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Disadvantages<\/strong><\/td>\n Rigidity and the need for expertise<\/td>\n Sometimes overly permissive<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n <\/table>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

SQL and NoSQL: which technology to choose?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Both technologies have the same objective, which is to store data, but do it in very different ways as we have seen. We will now see how to know which one to choose for your projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choose SQL :<\/p>\n\n\n\n