Stop the database holy wars. Here's the ultimate decision tree: 🌳
Choose PostgreSQL if: • You need ACID transactions • Your data has relationships • You want mature ecosystem & tooling • You need complex queries (JOIN operations) • Data integrity is critical • You want SQL familiarity across your team • You're building financial, e-commerce, or ERP systems
Choose MongoDB if: • Your data is truly document-oriented • Schema needs to evolve rapidly • You're building content management systems • You need horizontal scaling out of the box • Your team is more comfortable with JSON • You're prototyping and need flexibility
Plot Twist: PostgreSQL now supports JSON documents beautifully. You can have ACID transactions AND flexible schemas. It's like having your cake and eating it too. 🍰
The Real Decision Factors:
- Team expertise (Don't fight your team's strengths)
- Query patterns (Relational vs document retrieval)
- Scaling requirements (Vertical vs horizontal)
- Consistency needs (Eventual vs strong consistency)
Pro Tip: Start with PostgreSQL. You can always add MongoDB later for specific use cases. It's harder to retrofit ACID properties into a NoSQL design.
The best database is the one your team can operate successfully in production.
What's your go-to database choice? 💾