Vitess vs YugabyteDB: What are the differences?

# Introduction
In this Markdown document, we will highlight the key differences between Vitess and YugabyteDB.

1. **Architecture**: Vitess is a database clustering system for horizontal scaling of MySQL through sharding, whereas YugabyteDB is a distributed SQL database designed for global, internet-scale applications. Vitess focuses on scaling MySQL while maintaining compatibility with its ecosystem, whereas YugabyteDB offers distributed, fault-tolerant, and geo-distributed data storage capabilities.
   
2. **Consistency Model**: Vitess guarantees strong consistency at the shard level using a concept known as VReplication, ensuring that data is consistent across all shards. On the other hand, YugabyteDB provides tunable consistency levels (strong, linearizable, and eventual) to accommodate various application requirements, offering flexibility between strong consistency and high availability.

3. **Database Compatibility**: Vitess primarily supports MySQL databases, allowing applications to benefit from its sharding and replication capabilities. In contrast, YugabyteDB is a fully distributed SQL database that supports multiple APIs, including PostgreSQL and Cassandra, providing users with the flexibility to choose the best API for their applications.

4. **Deployment Flexibility**: Vitess can be deployed as a managed service on cloud platforms such as Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) or in a self-hosted environment. In comparison, YugabyteDB offers a similar deployment model on cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Kubernetes, ensuring that users have multiple options for deploying and managing their database clusters.

5. **Data Distribution**: Vitess uses MySQL as its underlying storage engine and relies on consistent hashing for data distribution across shards. On the contrary, YugabyteDB distributes data more uniformly using its unique distributed document store, enabling automatic data partitioning and rebalancing for enhanced performance and scalability.

6. **Global Replication**: Among the notable differences, YugabyteDB offers built-in multi-region and multi-cloud replication features to support global, distributed databases, ensuring data locality and low-latency access across different regions. This global replication capability distinguishes YugabyteDB as a suitable choice for geo-distributed applications requiring high availability and disaster recovery mechanisms.

# In Summary, Vitess and YugabyteDB differ in their architecture, consistency models, database compatibility, deployment flexibility, data distribution mechanisms, and global replication features, catering to distinct use cases and preferences for scaling and managing databases in modern applications.