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New DB-Engines Ranking shows the popularity of database management systems
by Matthias Gelbmann, Paul Andlinger, 3 October 2012
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DB-Engines Ranking
DB-Engines introduces a new ranking system for database management systems.
The Top 10
| Rank | DBMS | Database Model | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Oracle | RDBMS | 1619.13 |
| 2. | Microsoft SQL Server | RDBMS | 1242.91 |
| 3. | MySQL | RDBMS | 1232.76 |
| 4. | Microsoft Access | RDBMS | 220.44 |
| 5. | DB2 | RDBMS | 163.52 |
| 6. | PostgreSQL | RDBMS | 144.07 |
| 7. | MongoDB | Document store | 72.92 |
| 8. | SQLite | RDBMS | 64.40 |
| 9. | Cassandra | Wide-column store | 57.96 |
| 10. | Memcached | Key-value store | 21.58 |
You can find more systems in the full ranking.
It is hardly a surprise that Oracle is the most popular database management system, whereas the fact that DB2 ranks only 5th was unexpected for us, because DB2 is considered one of the so-called "Big 3" commercial systems, together with Oracle and SQL Server. Instead of DB2 it's MySQL, the most popular open source system, that can compete with the other two in popularity. The last slot in the top 5 is taken by MS Access, which certainly owes its popularity the fact that it is part of MS Office.
The most popular NoSQL system is MongoDB at rank 7, only a few ranks but many score points ahead of Cassandra and Memcached.
How is the ranking calculated?
The ranking is a mixture of 5 factors, you find the details in the description of the ranking method.
What is the purpose of a ranking system?
When selecting any software technology for a project, the popularity of the candidates is normally amongst the set of criteria. Nobody wants to end up with a tool that hardly anyone else uses, which makes it difficult to find experienced engineers, and which increases the risk that development of the tool is discontinued.
When consulting our customers on the choice of a database management system, we repeatedly faced the problem that the popularity of these systems is hard to estimate, particularly in the area of NoSQL systems. New systems seem to pop up at every corner, many of them look great on paper, and many of them will not exist anymore in a few year's time. We needed a way to identify systems that have a good chance to survive and to prosper.
It is essential to note, that obviously popularity should not be the most important factor when selecting a technology. But if other things don't provide a clear decision, then we recommend considering it.
We will monitor the popularity of all systems by publishing a monthly update of this ranking. We look forward to see how it evolves over time.
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