When is it appropriate to use couchDB?

Question

I'm currently writing an app with quite a few different data persistence needs at very different layers and I keep wondering... when is it appropriate and when is it not appropriate to use couchDB to satisfy my persistence needs?

Answer 1

Do you have a relational requirement ? CouchDb (as you know) doesn't have the relational structure of a normal database.

Is the RESTful nature of CouchDb important for what you're doing ?

Perhaps most importantly, who's going to support this going forward, and will they be capable of handling CouchDb? It's a fairly niche tool, and finding people experienced with it will not be easy.

Answer 2

See:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/644695/what-are-the-advantages-of-couchdb-vs-a-rdbms
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/441441/why-should-i-use-document-based-database-instead-of-relational-database
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/337344/pros-cons-of-document-based-database-vs-relational-database

Answer 3

It's really a case-by-case thing, I'd say. CouchDB is simply a type of database, depending on your project it might be a perfect fit or it might be painfully limiting -- just like an RDBMS can be a perfect fit or a nightmare.

More details?