Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

DynamoDB VS FaunaDB

Compare DynamoDB VS FaunaDB and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

DynamoDB logo DynamoDB

Amazon DynamoDB is a fast and flexible NoSQL database service for all applications that need consistent, single-digit millisecond latency at any scale. It is a fully managed cloud database and supports both document and key-value store models.

FaunaDB logo FaunaDB

FaunaDB is a serverless cloud database that offers fast global access to data via modern APIs like GraphQL without sacrificing data consistency. Ubiquitous, flexible and secure, FaunaDB helps modern developers build applications fearlessly.
  • DynamoDB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-18
  • FaunaDB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-29

DynamoDB features and specs

  • Scalability
    DynamoDB automatically scales up and down to handle your application's needs, with no intervention required. This allows for easy handling of traffic spikes and growth over time.
  • Performance
    With its fast, predictable performance at any scale, DynamoDB ensures low-latency responses, even with large volumes of data.
  • Fully Managed
    As a fully managed service, DynamoDB handles hardware provisioning, setup, configuration, replication, software patching, and backups, letting you focus on your application.
  • Flexible Data Model
    DynamoDB supports both document and key-value store models, providing flexibility in how you structure your data.
  • Security
    DynamoDB integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) to provide fine-grained access control and encrypts data at rest and in transit.
  • Global Tables
    You can create multi-region, fully replicated tables for high availability and globally distributed apps with low latency reads and writes.
  • Event-Driven Architecture
    DynamoDB integrates with AWS Lambda for automatic triggering and the creation of event-driven architectures.

Possible disadvantages of DynamoDB

  • Pricing Complexity
    DynamoDB's pricing model, which charges based on read and write capacity units, storage, and data transfer, can be complex and difficult to predict.
  • Limited Query Capabilities
    DynamoDB does not support complex queries as well as traditional SQL databases. Querying capabilities are limited primarily to primary key attributes.
  • Secondary Indexes
    While DynamoDB supports secondary indexes, their use can be limited and complex to manage effectively compared to relational databases.
  • Consistency
    DynamoDB offers eventual consistency by default. While strongly consistent reads are available, they can be more expensive and slower.
  • Data Size Limitations
    Each item in a DynamoDB table must be 400KB or less, limiting the amount of data you can store in a single item.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Using DynamoDB heavily ties your application to AWS, which can be a downside if you want to maintain flexibility in your cloud infrastructure choices.

FaunaDB features and specs

  • Global Distribution
    FaunaDB is globally distributed, which means it can handle data replication across multiple regions, ensuring low latency and high availability around the world.
  • Serverless Architecture
    FaunaDB features a fully managed, serverless architecture, which eliminates the need for manual scaling, provisioning, and maintenance of database infrastructure.
  • Strong Focus on Security
    FaunaDB incorporates strong security measures, including access control, data encryption, and multi-region data isolation, to protect sensitive information.
  • Consistency Model
    It offers a strong consistency model called 'serializability,' which ensures transactions are processed in a safe and reliable manner across distributed systems.
  • GraphQL API Support
    FaunaDB natively supports GraphQL, allowing for flexible and modern data fetching capabilities in applications without the need for middleware.
  • ACID Transactions
    FaunaDB supports ACID transactions, ensuring data integrity and consistency even in complex and distributed operations.
  • Scalability
    FaunaDB is designed to scale automatically and seamlessly with your application’s needs, without requiring complex configuration or management.

Possible disadvantages of FaunaDB

  • Pricing Complexity
    The pricing model can be complex and may become expensive as usage scales, which might be challenging for small startups or cost-conscious projects.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers might face a learning curve when dealing with FaunaDB's unique query languages and operational model, particularly for those used to traditional SQL databases.
  • Limited Ecosystem
    Compared to more established databases, FaunaDB has a smaller ecosystem of third-party tools, libraries, and community support, which might limit flexibility or integration options.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Due to its proprietary nature and specific features, moving applications from FaunaDB to another database solution might involve significant work and could lead to vendor lock-in concerns.
  • Performance Tuning Limitations
    Being serverless and fully managed, there may be fewer options for manual performance tuning or optimizations compared to self-hosted databases.

DynamoDB videos

#13 - Amazon DynamoDB Basics In Under 5 Minutes [Tutorial For Beginners]

More videos:

  • Review - AWS re:Invent 2018: Amazon DynamoDB Deep Dive: Advanced Design Patterns for DynamoDB (DAT401)
  • Review - What is Amazon DynamoDB?

FaunaDB videos

FaunaDB Basics - The Database of your Dreams

More videos:

  • Review - An Intro to FaunaDB - The First Serverless Database

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to DynamoDB and FaunaDB)
Databases
86 86%
14% 14
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
NoSQL Databases
100 100%
0% 0
GraphQL
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using DynamoDB and FaunaDB. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare DynamoDB and FaunaDB

DynamoDB Reviews

Top 5 Dynobase alternatives you should know about - March 2025 Review
Dynomate offers a comprehensive solution with native AWS SSO support, advanced multi-tab functionality, and Git-based collaboration features. NoSQL Workbench is a valuable free tool from AWS, excellent for designing and visualizing data models. The JetBrains DynamoDB Plugin brings DynamoDB into your IDE with helpful autocomplete and query-saving features.
Source: www.dynomate.io
9 Best MongoDB alternatives in 2019
Amazon DynamoDB is a nonrelational database. This database system provides consistent latency and offers built-in security, and in-memory caching. DynamoDB is a serverless database which scales automatically and backs up your data for protection
Source: www.guru99.com

FaunaDB Reviews

We have no reviews of FaunaDB yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, DynamoDB should be more popular than FaunaDB. It has been mentiond 120 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

DynamoDB mentions (120)

View more

FaunaDB mentions (71)

  • List of 45 databases in the world
    Fauna — Distributed, serverless database with document, graph, and relational models. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    FaunaDB — Serverless cloud database with native GraphQL, multi-model access, and daily free tiers up to 100 MB. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Zero-Cost Database Magic 🪄💾
    Fauna is another serverless database created by ex-Twitter engineers. It's kind of like MongoDB, but with native JOIN operations, many document databases miss. They have their own language, FQL, and also a GraphQL API. Here's a quick overview of their free tier:. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How to Beat the Cap Theorem
    Fauna[0] which if I recall correctly, also upends Cap Theorum. They implemented Calvin[1] which differs from Spanner [0]: https://fauna.com/ [1]: https://fauna.com/blog/distributed-consistency-at-scale-spanner-vs-calvin. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • How to Choose the Right Document-Oriented NoSQL Database for Your Application
    NoSQL is a term that we have become very familiar with in recent times and it is used to describe a set of databases that don't make use of SQL when writing & composing queries. There are loads of different types of NoSQL databases ranging from key-value databases like the Reddis to document-oriented databases like MongoDB and Firestore to graph databases like Neo4J to multi-paradigm databases like FaunaDB and... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing DynamoDB and FaunaDB, you can also consider the following products

AWS Lambda - Automatic, event-driven compute service

Firebase - Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications for mobile and web.

MongoDB - MongoDB (from "humongous") is a scalable, high-performance NoSQL database.

Supabase - An open source Firebase alternative

Redis - Redis is an open source in-memory data structure project implementing a distributed, in-memory key-value database with optional durability.

8base - Rethink development using 8base's low-code development platform.