Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

RethinkDB VS Cloudant

Compare RethinkDB VS Cloudant and see what are their differences

RethinkDB logo RethinkDB

The open-source database for the realtime web

Cloudant logo Cloudant

A scalable JSON document database for web, mobile, IoT and serverless applications.
  • RethinkDB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-13
  • Cloudant Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-07

RethinkDB features and specs

  • Real-time Capabilities
    RethinkDB offers built-in real-time capabilities that allow applications to subscribe to data changes. This makes it ideal for building real-time applications like live dashboards, multiplayer games, or collaborative tools.
  • Flexible Query Language
    RethinkDB's query language, ReQL, is highly flexible and allows for complex queries. It supports operations such as joins, aggregations, and transformations directly within the database.
  • Distributed Database
    RethinkDB is designed to be distributed from the ground up. It can automatically replicate data and distribute queries across multiple machines to improve scalability and fault tolerance.
  • Web-based Administration
    RethinkDB provides a user-friendly web-based administration interface that simplifies database management and monitoring. This interface makes it easier for developers and system administrators to manage their databases.
  • JSON Data Model
    RethinkDB uses JSON as its data model, which makes it easy to store and work with structured data. This can be especially beneficial for web developers who are used to working with JSON data.

Possible disadvantages of RethinkDB

  • Limited Ecosystem
    Compared to more established databases like MySQL or MongoDB, RethinkDB has a smaller ecosystem. This means fewer third-party tools, libraries, and community support are available.
  • Stalled Development
    After the company behind RethinkDB shut down in 2016, the development slowed significantly. Although the project was later open-sourced and the community keeps it alive, the updates and new features are not as frequent.
  • Learning Curve
    While ReQL is powerful, it can have a steep learning curve for developers who are new to RethinkDB or who are more familiar with SQL or other NoSQL query languages.
  • Resource Intensive
    RethinkDB can be more resource-intensive compared to some other databases. It may require more RAM and CPU resources to achieve optimal performance, which can be a consideration for resource-constrained environments.
  • Fewer Enterprise Features
    RethinkDB lacks some enterprise-level features such as advanced security options, comprehensive backup solutions, and robust user management compared to other database systems like MongoDB or PostgreSQL.

Cloudant features and specs

  • Scalability
    Cloudant offers elastic scaling, meaning it can handle large amounts of traffic and data without compromising performance. This is particularly beneficial for applications with unpredictable workloads.
  • Fully Managed Service
    As a fully managed database as a service (DBaaS), Cloudant takes care of database administration tasks such as hardware provisioning, updates, backups, and scaling, allowing developers to focus on building applications.
  • High Availability
    Cloudant is designed to provide high availability with its distributed architecture, which includes automatic replication and data redundancy across multiple servers and data centers.
  • Global Distribution
    Cloudant provides global distribution capabilities, allowing users to deploy databases closer to their users to reduce latency and improve performance across different geographical locations.
  • Integration
    Cloudant integrates well with other IBM Cloud services and third-party tools, providing flexibility and leveraging existing ecosystems for extended capabilities.

Possible disadvantages of Cloudant

  • Cost
    For businesses with limited budgets, the cost of using a fully managed service like Cloudant can be higher compared to self-hosting. Pricing can increase significantly with data growth and additional features.
  • Complexity
    Despite being a managed service, Cloudant's variety of features and configurations might have a learning curve for new users or those not familiar with distributed databases.
  • Limited Query Capabilities
    While Cloudant does support complex querying capabilities, it may not be as advanced or fast as some SQL-based databases when it comes to certain types of queries.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Relying on Cloudant and integrating deeply into its ecosystem can lead to challenges in migrating to other databases or cloud providers in the future.
  • Data Consistency
    As a NoSQL database, Cloudant might not offer strong consistency by default, which could be a limitation for applications requiring immediate consistency across distributed environments.

RethinkDB videos

Mike Glukhovsky - RethinkDB Year in Review 2015

More videos:

  • Review - RethinkDB for Windows: developer preview
  • Review - Michael Glukhovsky - Advancing the realtime web with RethinkDB

Cloudant videos

Introduction to Cloudant

More videos:

  • Review - Why Cloudant? Database clusters, Web apps & more
  • Review - Connect IBM Cloud Cloudant with Postman

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to RethinkDB and Cloudant)
Databases
71 71%
29% 29
NoSQL Databases
78 78%
22% 22
Relational Databases
84 84%
16% 16
Graph Databases
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

RethinkDB Reviews

12 Best Open-source Database Backend Server and Google Firebase Alternatives
RethinkDB is an open-source real-time database engine for creating modern reactive apps. It features a rich dashboard with real-time analytics and graphs, data explorer, simple learning curve, rich data models and queries with Geospatial queries support, and a large set of administration tools.The official binary packages for RethinkDB are available for: Ubuntu, Debian,...
Source: medevel.com
9 Best MongoDB alternatives in 2019
RethinkDB is the open-source, scalable DBMS system. It helps you to makes real-time building apps dramatically easier. This DBMS tool offers a flexible query language, intuitive operations, monitoring APIs, and is easy to set up and learn.
Source: www.guru99.com

Cloudant Reviews

9 Best MongoDB alternatives in 2019
IBM Cloudant is a distributed DBMS system and full management JSON document. It helps you to store web and mobile apps which allows you to maintain data access and availability at extreme scale.
Source: www.guru99.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, RethinkDB seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 12 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.

RethinkDB mentions (12)

  • Ask HN: How Can I Make My Front End React to Database Changes in Real-Time?
    Throwing RethinkDB in the mix as well. https://rethinkdb.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • You forget RethinkDB, it's a shame
    I've been poking around, testing and breaking database servers for a long time (more than 20 years today). But a few years ago I came across a jewel, the grail, one of the best solutions available. Under the radar, shunned for whatever reason, RethinkDB is nonetheless one of the finest database server projects I've ever tested. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Anyone Using RethinkDB in Production?
    RethinkDB[0] looks like a "too good to be true" type of database. Anyone using it in production? What is your experience like? What are the pros and cons? [0] https://rethinkdb.com. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Help wanted for a project idea - A multi-room live chat experience, similar to Twitch chat's functionality
    Since you’re not new to the field you might want to peek https://rethinkdb.com/ since it got picked up as an open source project. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Python, the usefulness of "dataclass"
    A Data Objects represents data which can be saved inside a database. This concept is in the heart of SQLAlchemy, but as the name should be obvious: it's for SQL Database (in general). Today, there are now document databases too (like MongoDB, ArangoDB, RethinkDB that I love so much, or even PostgreSQL). So, a "data" is like a "structured and typed document" that you save "as is". That's not the same paradigm, not... - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
View more

Cloudant mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Cloudant yet. Tracking of Cloudant recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing RethinkDB and Cloudant, you can also consider the following products

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

CouchDB - HTTP + JSON document database with Map Reduce views and peer-based replication

ArangoDB - A distributed open-source database with a flexible data model for documents, graphs, and key-values.

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

OrientDB - OrientDB - The World's First Distributed Multi-Model NoSQL Database with a Graph Database Engine.

PostgreSQL - PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system.