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  1. Stackups
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  3. Databases
  4. Databases
  5. LokiJS vs SQLite

LokiJS vs SQLite

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

SQLite
SQLite
Stacks19.9K
Followers15.2K
Votes535
LokiJS
LokiJS
Stacks43
Followers57
Votes3
GitHub Stars6.8K
Forks483

LokiJS vs SQLite: What are the differences?

Introduction:

LokiJS and SQLite are both popular options for database management. While they serve a similar purpose, there are key differences that set them apart. The following paragraphs will outline the main distinctions between LokiJS and SQLite.

  1. Data Persistence: LokiJS is an in-memory database, which means that data is not persisted to disk by default. This makes LokiJS a good choice for applications that do not require long-term data storage. On the other hand, SQLite is a disk-based database that provides permanent data storage and persistence.

  2. SQL Support: SQLite is a relational database management system that supports SQL queries. It provides a structured environment for working with data using SQL commands. In contrast, LokiJS is a NoSQL database and does not support SQL queries. Instead, it uses JavaScript-based queries to work with data.

  3. Scalability: SQLite is designed to handle larger amounts of data and larger workloads. It can efficiently manage multiple concurrent read and write operations, making it suitable for high-traffic applications. LokiJS, on the other hand, is not optimized for scalability and may not perform as well under heavy workloads or with large datasets.

  4. Ease of Use: LokiJS is known for its simplicity and ease of use. It has a lightweight and intuitive API that makes it easy to learn and use. SQLite, on the other hand, may have a steeper learning curve for beginners due to its SQL-based query language and more complex feature set.

  5. Platform Compatibility: SQLite is a cross-platform database that can be used on a wide range of operating systems and platforms, including mobile devices and embedded systems. LokiJS, while also cross-platform, may have limited support for some platforms and may not have the same level of compatibility as SQLite.

  6. Community and Support: SQLite has a large and active community with extensive documentation, resources, and support available. It has been around for many years and is widely used, which means that finding help or solutions to problems is often easier. LokiJS, while also having a community and some support, may have fewer available resources and may not have the same level of community engagement as SQLite.

In summary, LokiJS is an in-memory NoSQL database with limited scalability and SQL query support, suitable for smaller applications that do not require long-term data persistence or complex querying. SQLite, on the other hand, is a disk-based relational database with extensive SQL support, scalability, and platform compatibility, making it a more robust choice for larger applications with long-term data storage requirements.

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Advice on SQLite, LokiJS

Dimelo
Dimelo

Nov 5, 2020

Needs adviceonSQLiteSQLiteMySQLMySQLPostgreSQLPostgreSQL

I need to add a DBMS to my stack, but I don't know which. I'm tempted to learn SQLite since it would be useful to me with its focus on local access without concurrency. However, doing so feels like I would be defeating the purpose of trying to expand my skill set since it seems like most enterprise applications have the opposite requirements.

To be able to apply what I learn to more projects, what should I try to learn? MySQL? PostgreSQL? Something else? Is there a comfortable middle ground between high applicability and ease of use?

670k views670k
Comments
Stephen
Stephen

Senior DevOps Engineer at Vital Beats

Nov 9, 2020

Review

A question you might want to think about is "What kind of experience do I want to gain, by using a DBMS?". If your aim is to have experience with SQL and any related libraries and frameworks for your language of choice (python, I think?), then it kind of doesn't matter too much which you pick so much. As others have said, SQLite would offer you the ability to very easily get started, and would give you a reasonably standard (if a little basic) SQL dialect to work with.

If your aim is actually to have a bit of "operational" experience, in terms of things like what command line tools might be available as standard for the DBMS, understanding how the DBMS handles multiple databases, when to use multiple schemas vs multiple databases, some basic privilege management etc. Then I would recommend PostgreSQL. SQLite's simplicity actually avoids most of these experiences, which is not helpful to you if that is what you hope to learn. MySQL has a few "quirks" to how it manages things like multiple databases, which may lead you to making less good decisions if you tried to take your experience over to different DBMS, especially in bigger enterprise roles. PostgreSQL is kind of a happy middle ground here, with the ability to start PostgreSQL servers via docker or docker-compose making the actual day-to-day management pretty easy, while still giving you experience of the kinds of considerations I have listed above.

At Vital Beats we make use of PostgreSQL, largely because it offers us a happy balance between good management and backup of data, and good standard command line tools, which is essential for us where we are deploying our solutions within Kubernetes / docker, and so more graphical tools are not always appropriate for us. PostgreSQL is also pretty universally supported in terms of language libraries and frameworks, without having to make compromises on how we want to store and layout our data.

316k views316k
Comments
Anonymous
Anonymous

Oct 29, 2019

Needs advice

Hi everyone! I am a high school student, starting a massive project. I'm building a system for a boarding school to be better connected to their students and be more efficient with information. In the meantime, I am developing a website and an android app. What's the best datastore I can use? I need to be able to access student data on the app from the main database and send push notifications. Also feed updates. What's the best approach? What's the best tool I can use to deploy the website and the database? One for testing and prototyping, and an official one... Thanks in advance!!!!

366k views366k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

SQLite
SQLite
LokiJS
LokiJS

SQLite is an embedded SQL database engine. Unlike most other SQL databases, SQLite does not have a separate server process. SQLite reads and writes directly to ordinary disk files. A complete SQL database with multiple tables, indices, triggers, and views, is contained in a single disk file.

LokiJS is a document oriented database written in javascript, published under MIT License. Its purpose is to store javascript objects as documents in a nosql fashion and retrieve them with a similar mechanism. Runs in node (including cordova/phonegap and node-webkit), nativescript and the browser.

Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
6.8K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
483
Stacks
19.9K
Stacks
43
Followers
15.2K
Followers
57
Votes
535
Votes
3
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 163
    Lightweight
  • 135
    Portable
  • 122
    Simple
  • 81
    Sql
  • 29
    Preinstalled on iOS and Android
Cons
  • 2
    Not for multi-process of multithreaded apps
  • 1
    Needs different binaries for each platform
Pros
  • 3
    Can query the objects directly
Integrations
No integrations available
Node.js
Node.js
NativeScript
NativeScript
Apache Cordova
Apache Cordova
PhoneGap
PhoneGap

What are some alternatives to SQLite, LokiJS?

MongoDB

MongoDB

MongoDB stores data in JSON-like documents that can vary in structure, offering a dynamic, flexible schema. MongoDB was also designed for high availability and scalability, with built-in replication and auto-sharding.

Redis

Redis

Redis is an open source (BSD licensed), in-memory data structure store, used as a database, cache, and message broker. Redis provides data structures such as strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets with range queries, bitmaps, hyperloglogs, geospatial indexes, and streams.

MySQL

MySQL

The MySQL software delivers a very fast, multi-threaded, multi-user, and robust SQL (Structured Query Language) database server. MySQL Server is intended for mission-critical, heavy-load production systems as well as for embedding into mass-deployed software.

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system that supports an extended subset of the SQL standard, including transactions, foreign keys, subqueries, triggers, user-defined types and functions.

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft® SQL Server is a database management and analysis system for e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions.

Cassandra

Cassandra

Partitioning means that Cassandra can distribute your data across multiple machines in an application-transparent matter. Cassandra will automatically repartition as machines are added and removed from the cluster. Row store means that like relational databases, Cassandra organizes data by rows and columns. The Cassandra Query Language (CQL) is a close relative of SQL.

Memcached

Memcached

Memcached is an in-memory key-value store for small chunks of arbitrary data (strings, objects) from results of database calls, API calls, or page rendering.

MariaDB

MariaDB

Started by core members of the original MySQL team, MariaDB actively works with outside developers to deliver the most featureful, stable, and sanely licensed open SQL server in the industry. MariaDB is designed as a drop-in replacement of MySQL(R) with more features, new storage engines, fewer bugs, and better performance.

RethinkDB

RethinkDB

RethinkDB is built to store JSON documents, and scale to multiple machines with very little effort. It has a pleasant query language that supports really useful queries like table joins and group by, and is easy to setup and learn.

ArangoDB

ArangoDB

A distributed free and open-source database with a flexible data model for documents, graphs, and key-values. Build high performance applications using a convenient SQL-like query language or JavaScript extensions.

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