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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Databases
  4. Databases
  5. Oracle vs SQLite

Oracle vs SQLite

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Oracle
Oracle
Stacks2.6K
Followers1.8K
Votes113
SQLite
SQLite
Stacks19.9K
Followers15.2K
Votes535

Oracle vs SQLite: What are the differences?

Introduction

Oracle and SQLite are both popular database management systems (DBMS) used for different purposes. However, they have key differences in terms of their features, scalability, performance, licensing, and support options.

  1. Scalability: One significant difference between Oracle and SQLite is their scalability. Oracle is designed to handle large-scale enterprise-level databases and can handle heavy workloads. It offers features like partitioning, sharding, and clustering to distribute data across multiple servers and ensure high availability. On the other hand, SQLite is a lightweight DBMS mainly used for small embedded systems or mobile applications. It is not suitable for handling large datasets or heavy concurrent workloads.

  2. Performance: Another notable difference is the performance of Oracle and SQLite. Oracle is renowned for its high-performance capabilities and optimization features. It has advanced indexing mechanisms, query optimization, and caching techniques that enhance query execution speed. Additionally, Oracle supports parallel processing to efficiently handle complex queries. In contrast, SQLite focuses on simplicity and efficiency rather than raw performance. It sacrifices some advanced features to maintain a small footprint and low memory usage, which can result in slower performance compared to Oracle in certain scenarios.

  3. Features: Oracle and SQLite also differ in terms of the features they offer. Oracle is a feature-rich DBMS with a comprehensive set of functionalities. It provides advanced security features, robust transaction management, support for various datatypes, and extensive SQL language support. Oracle also offers specialized tools for administration, monitoring, and performance tuning. On the other hand, SQLite focuses on simplicity and ease of use. It provides basic functionality for data storage and retrieval without many advanced features commonly found in enterprise-level DBMS.

  4. Licensing: The licensing models of Oracle and SQLite differ significantly. Oracle is a commercial DBMS that requires purchasing licenses based on the number of users, CPUs, or defined metrics. It offers different editions (e.g., Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition) with varying features and pricing options. In contrast, SQLite follows a public domain license that allows it to be freely used, copied, modified, and distributed. This makes SQLite an attractive choice for open-source and non-revenue generating projects.

  5. Support Options: Oracle and SQLite also differ in terms of available support options. Oracle offers extensive support through its Oracle Support Portal, where users can access documentation, patches, updates, and contact Oracle support. Commercial users can also opt for paid support contracts with service-level agreements (SLAs). On the other hand, SQLite is primarily community-driven and does not provide official support channels. Users can seek help from the online community forums and mailing lists but may not have guaranteed professional technical support.

  6. Deployment: The way Oracle and SQLite are deployed also varies. Oracle is typically deployed as a standalone database server or as a cluster of multiple servers for high availability and scalability. It requires dedicated hardware resources and specialized database administrators for installation, configuration, and management. In contrast, SQLite is a serverless DBMS that can be embedded within applications or accessed through local file access. It does not require a separate server installation, making it easier to deploy and manage in small-scale applications or embedded systems.

In summary, Oracle is a powerful enterprise-level DBMS designed for large-scale databases, offering extensive features, scalability, and performance optimizations. It is licensed commercially and provides comprehensive support options. On the other hand, SQLite is a lightweight DBMS focused on simplicity and efficiency, suitable for small-scale applications or embedded systems. It follows a public domain license and relies on community-driven support.

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Advice on Oracle, SQLite

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
Daniel
Daniel

Data Engineer at Dimensigon

Jul 18, 2020

Decided

We have chosen Tibero over Oracle because we want to offer a PL/SQL-as-a-Service that the users can deploy in any Cloud without concerns from our website at some standard cost. With Oracle Database, developers would have to worry about what they implement and the related costs of each feature but the licensing model from Tibero is just 1 price and we have all features included, so we don't have to worry and developers using our SQLaaS neither. PostgreSQL would be open source. We have chosen Tibero over Oracle because we want to offer a PL/SQL that you can deploy in any Cloud without concerns. PostgreSQL would be the open source option but we need to offer an SQLaaS with encryption and more enterprise features in the background and best value option we have found, it was Tibero Database for PL/SQL-based applications.

495k views495k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Oracle
Oracle
SQLite
SQLite

Oracle Database is an RDBMS. An RDBMS that implements object-oriented features such as user-defined types, inheritance, and polymorphism is called an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS). Oracle Database has extended the relational model to an object-relational model, making it possible to store complex business models in a relational database.

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.

Statistics
Stacks
2.6K
Stacks
19.9K
Followers
1.8K
Followers
15.2K
Votes
113
Votes
535
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 44
    Reliable
  • 33
    Enterprise
  • 15
    High Availability
  • 5
    Hard to maintain
  • 5
    Expensive
Cons
  • 14
    Expensive
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

What are some alternatives to Oracle, SQLite?

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.

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.

InfluxDB

InfluxDB

InfluxDB is a scalable datastore for metrics, events, and real-time analytics. It has a built-in HTTP API so you don't have to write any server side code to get up and running. InfluxDB is designed to be scalable, simple to install and manage, and fast to get data in and out.

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