Top 10 Popular NoSQL Databases for Developers 2025

NoSQL databases are non-relational databases used to handle large-scale unstructured and semi-structured data. These technologies will have a market value of $15.59 billion in 2025 and are forecasted to reach $50.39 billion by 2029, according to data from the NoSQL Databases Global Market Report. Developing software or applications with a suitable NoSQL database brings significant high-performance advantages and improved efficiency.

This post gives you the list of top 10 NoSQL databases in 2025, especially for developers. After reading this blog, you can get knowledge about each database’s applications and benefits to make the right decision for your project.

>> You may be interested in:

• Database Scaling Explained: A Guide to Efficient Growth
• Mastering Index in SQL to Improve Database Performance
• Understanding 6 Different Types of Indexes in SQL

Before getting to analyze in detail, take a look at the brief comparison of NoSQL databases to have an overview of them.

MongoDB

MongoDB is a document-based NoSQL database known for its scalability, flexibility, and high performance. MongoDB operates differently from traditional relational databases. It stores data in BSON format (which is similar to JSON) to manage adaptable data structures. With features like aggregation, replication, and indexing, MongoDB is well-suited for implementing cloud-native applications.

Why Should Developers Choose MongoDB?

• Schema Flexibility: No predefined schemas needed, making it easy to adapt data models as applications grow.
• Highly Scalable: Supports horizontal scaling (sharding) to handle large volumes of data efficiently.
• Powerful Queries: Provides filtering, aggregation, indexing, and full-text search for advanced data retrieval.
• Easy to Learn: Uses MongoDB Query Language (MQL), which is similar to JavaScript, making it beginner-friendly.
• Strong Community & Cloud Support: Has an active developer community, and offers MongoDB Atlas for cloud deployment.

Redis

Redis (Remote Dictionary Server) is a NoSQL in-memory database system with high speed, minimal latency, and adaptive data format capabilities. This database uses RAM for data storage to effectively function in caching, real-time analytics, message brokering, and session management. Even under heavy loads, Redis helps high-traffic APIs and leaderboards maintain both speed and reliability.

Why Should Developers Choose Redis?

• Fast Performance: Performs less than 1 millisecond to respond with in-memory storage.
• Rich Data Structures: Be flexible in supporting strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets, bitsets, etc.
• Simple to Use: Uses a simple command-line interface with minimal setup required.
• Messaging & Streams: Enables real-time processing of events, which is convenient for notifications, chat apps, and microservices.

Apache Cassandra

Enterprise organizations trust Apache Cassandra to handle large datasets because it features high scalability and reliability as a wide-column store database. The peer-to-peer architecture of Apache Cassandra operates as a masterless system that delivers automatic failover, decentralized control, and linear scalability features. This database system is ideal for time-series data, IoT applications, and other high workloads.

Why Should Developers Choose Apache Cassandra?

• Masterless Architecture: All nodes are treated equally, against the single point of failure threat.
• Linear Scalability: Easily adds more nodes without downtime, ensuring seamless expansion.
• Fault Tolerance: Automatically replicates data to handle hardware failures.
• Tunable Consistency: The developers can set the trade-off among consistency, availability, and partition tolerance.

Couchbase

Couchbase is a high-speed distributed NoSQL database system that merges key-value storage and document-oriented capabilities. The system functions as a low-latency platform for high-speed applications requiring flexible data items, real-time responsiveness, and scalability features. This database stands out because it provides a built-in caching system, SQL-like query language (N1QL), and offline support, which is suitable for mobile, e-commerce applications, and computing systems.

Why Should Developers Choose Couchbase?

• Hybrid Data Model: Support both document (JSON) and key-value storage in one system.
• High Performance & Low Latency: Uses in-memory caching to speed up read and write operations.
• N1QL Query Language: Provides SQL-like queries to JSON data that is easier for developers who are familiar with SQL.
• Integrated Mobile Sync: Supports offline-first apps with automatic data sync to the cloud.

Amazon DynamoDB

Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database service by AWS, which enables serverless architecture and supports high availability and fast responses. This platform supports two data models including key-value pairs and documents. Since AWS handles all the infrastructure, developers don’t have to worry about managing servers, scaling, or backups when using DynamoDB, making it an ideal choice for cloud-based applications.

Why Should Developers Choose Amazon DynamoDB?

• Fully Managed & Serverless: AWS takes care of infrastructure management, scale, or backups, you do not need to do it.
• Auto Scaling: Automatically adjusts read or write capacity based on demand, reducing costs.
• Tight AWS Ecosystem Integration: Integrates seamlessly with AWS Lambda, API Gateway, S3, and other AWS services.
• Built-in Security & Compliance: Provides encryption, access controls, and audit features for enterprise applications.

HBase

As one of the best NoSQL databases for big data, HBase is a reliable solution for handling data operating on top of Apache Hadoop installation. This database runs as a column-family NoSQL system with strong capabilities in high-speed data writing, batch analytics, and real-time big data processing abilities. Therefore, HBase is a preferred choice of massive tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for data storage, log processing, and big data analytics.

Why Should Developers Choose HBase?

• Big Data Integration: Works smoothly with Hadoop, Spark, and HDFS for big data analytics.
• High Write Throughput: Optimizes batch writes and real-time data updates.
• Automatic Sharding & Scalability: Horizontally scales across nodes with minimal downtime.
• Strong Consistency: HBase, unlike most NoSQL databases, provides consistent data on all nodes.
• Fault-Tolerant Architecture: Automatically replicates data across servers to prevent data loss during failures.

Amazon ElastiCache

Amazon ElastiCache operates as a fully managed data store that provides in-memory support for Redis and Memcached systems to maximize AWS application performance. Through its management features, Amazon ElastiCache enables developers to achieve faster application speeds by decreasing query demands and providing fast response times. 

Developers use ElastiCache to automate scaling, replication, and maintenance. This allows them to focus on building high-performance applications instead of managing caching systems.

Why Should Developers Choose Amazon ElastiCache?

• High-speed Operations: Use in-memory caching to deliver quick response times.
• Fully Managed by AWS: AWS handles setup, scaling, monitoring, and maintenance, thereby lowering operational expenses and workload.
• High Availability & Fault Tolerance: Offers multi-AZ replication, failover, and backup features.
• Seamless AWS Integration: Seamlessly integrates with DynamoDB, RDS, Lambda, and other AWS services.
• Cache Options: Supports Redis (advanced data structures) and Memcached (simple key-value caching) for different use cases.

CouchDB

Apache CouchDB is a document-oriented NoSQL database that uses JSON to store data, JavaScript for queries, and a RESTful HTTP API for interactions. It is designed for scalability, fault tolerance, and offline-first applications. With multi-master replication features, CouchDB proves to be an excellent solution for distributed applications and mobile applications that need device synchronization.

Why Should Developers Choose CouchDB?

• RESTful API & JSON Storage: Offers easy integration for web and mobile application developers.
• Multi-Master Replication: Provides automatic synchronizing between multiple database instances.
• Offline-First Support: Scales perfectly with PouchDB, using local storage on devices that are synced to the cloud.

Oracle NoSQL

The distributed key-value Oracle NoSQL database provides software development with high availability functions, scalability, and strong consistency features. This database system was developed by Oracle with flexible data models and ACID transaction support. Oracle NoSQL is often used by financial services, e-commerce applications, Internet of Things platforms, and real-time analytics to optimize throughput performance.

Why Should Developers Choose Oracle NoSQL?

• Flexible Data Models: Supports key-value, document (JSON), and table-based storage.
• Enterprise-Class Performance: Designed for low-latency transactions with high consistency.
• ACID Transactions: Offers data integrity and reliability for critical applications that require consistent and accurate data.
• Smooth Oracle Integration: Ideal for Oracle Cloud, Oracle Database, and business applications.

Azure Cosmos DB

Azure Cosmos DB is a cloud-based, fully managed NoSQL database designed for building low-latency applications. Highly flexible for different types of applications, this database supports multiple data models, including document, key-value, graph, and column-family models. Therefore, it becomes the top selection for real-time AI, IoT, and multi-region cloud applications.

Why Should Developers Choose Azure Cosmos DB?

• Multi-Model Support: Supports document (JSON), key-value, graph, column-family, and table-based storage.
• Distribution: The system automatically distributes data to multiple regions for high availability in global distribution.
• Low-Latency & High Performance: Guarantees single-digit millisecond response times, even under heavy loads.
• Seamless Functionality with Azure: Allows the platform to work alongside Azure Functions, AI tools, and IoT services.

FAQs

1. What is the best free NoSQL database?

The 5 best open-source NoSQL databases are MongoDB, Redis, Apache Cassandra, CouchDB, and HBase. These free databases are used and supported by many experts from developer communities, proving their reliability and popularity.

2. What are the different types of NoSQL databases?

There are four main types of NoSQL databases categorized by their data models:

• Document Stores Model: Keep data through JSON-like documents which provides developers with easy access and flexibility (e.g. MongoDB, CouchDB).
• Key-Value Stores Model: Store data as pairs of key and value, which provides fast lookup functions and efficient cache operations (e.g. Redis, DynamoDB, Riak).
• Wide-Column Stores Model: Organize data through columns instead of rows to achieve high efficiency in big data analytics (e.g. Apache Cassandra, HBase, ScyllaDB).
• Graph Databases: Store relationship-based data in graph structures, which is useful for social networks and recommendation systems. (e.g., Neo4j, ArangoDB, JanusGraph)

3. What is the cheapest NoSQL database?

NoSQL database costs depend on your needs. However, several options are offering free or low-cost plans. For example, Amazon DynamoDB or MongoDB provide free tiers with limited storage and requests. Redis and Couchbase offer free open-source versions. If you're looking for a long-term and cost-effective solution, MongoDB or Cassandra can be suitable.

>> Related Articles:

• SQL vs NoSQL Databases: What's the Difference & When to Use?
• Vector Database vs Graph Database: Which One Is Better?

Conclusion

Top 10  NoSQL databases above have been used for diverse development applications such as caching requirements, big data analytics, and web-scale applications. Your selection of a NoSQL database has to be based on your application needs, scalability, and the desired level of performance. 

Choosing a good software database can improve an application’s performance by optimizing application design and each database's strength. Hope that this list of NoSQL databases can help you define your best-suited technology for your project.

>>> Follow and Contact Relia Software for more information!